Yes, a young one. Dnipro-1 was founded in 2015. The name Dnipro certainly sounds familiar to football fans, in 2015 this Ukrainian team with the Czech goalkeeper Jan Laštůvka in the squad reached the final of the Europa League, where they lost to Sevilla. But a few years later he went bankrupt.
The current club with a similar name does not continue the history of its predecessor, although it used its infrastructure, including the youth academy. “The former management has nothing to do with us,” announced the club’s general director Andriy Stetsenko in 2017, although some people remained in Dnipro-1. After all, a large part of the former club’s fans boycotted the newcomer’s matches, and some former players declared that the new club was not the successor the previous one.
Ukraine has been facing military aggression from Russia for many months, which is why its clubs play European cups in neighboring countries. Dnipro-1 finds cup asylum for the second season in Slovakia’s Košice. “We feel good there,” noted Dnipro-1 coach Oleksandr Kučer.
In the 3rd preliminary round #UEL we are waiting for Dnipro-1 ????????
We will enter the double match on Thursday, August 10 from 19:00 in Eden. Season ticket holders have free entry to the match and can also buy up to two tickets in advance, which starts on Wednesday 2 August from 14:00.
i ️ Information about the opponent:… pic.twitter.com/HLXz71RntC
— SK Slavia Prague (@slaviaofficial) August 1, 2023
The stadium in Košice continues to undergo renovation and improvement. “UEFA must assess whether the ongoing construction does not interfere too much with the organization of the match and also with security in and around the stadium. The Košice Football Arena (KFA) already allows European matches to be played based on its facilities and current state of completion. We lack two thousand seats and two camera platforms to meet the UEFA 4 category. We still need an exception for these things,” KFA general manager Peter Schmiedl told Šport.sk.
The server ua-football.com states in the evaluation of the last season that the results of Dnipro-1 were a pleasant surprise, the attack of the very top ranks was not expected under the new coach Kučer. As well as entering the first round of the elimination phase of the Conference League, where the Ukrainian team was stopped by the Cypriot team AEK Larnaca. “However, with beautiful results in the fall, the club overestimated its expectations in the spring,” the server referred to the less successful part of the season.
PRIMÁK with football coach David Horejš Video: Sport.cz
The team’s driving force is clear, striker Artem Dovbyk became the top scorer in the Ukrainian league last season and, according to Transfermarkt.com, is the most expensive player in Kučer’s squad with a value of 15 million euros (360 million crowns).
On Tuesday in the rematch in Athens against Panathinaikos, he still played and scored a goal, but logically teams from more prestigious leagues are interested in him and it is a big question whether he will even start against Slavia. In the past, Everton, FC Porto and clubs from Italy circled around Dovbyk, but according to reports from abroad, he is currently on the verge of leaving for Girona in Spain.
