For the Champions League matches, Shakhtar has therefore found home at Volkparstadion from Hamburg. A stadium where Belgian football has some historical landmarks: Daniel Van Buyten (2004-06), Emile Mpenza (2004-06), Vincent Kompany (2006-08), Vadis Odjidja (2008-09), Orel Mangala (2018-19), Amadou Onana (2020-21) and, well before them, the ex-back of Sclessin… Gérard Plessers (1984-88) accumulated 13 seasons and some 350 matches there. German league. Ernst Happel (Club Bruges, Standard), Horst Hrubesch (Standard), Bernd Hollerbach (Mouscron, Saint-Trond), Thorsten Fink (currently Sint-Truiden) also worked there as a coach. And today in the fight for the head of the German D2, HSV lines up in its ranks Ignace Van der Bempt (ex-Club Bruges, Diablotin U21) and… the king of assists Jean-Luc Dompé (ex-Standard, Eupen, Gand, Saint-Trond et Zulte Waregem).
“Last year, we played our matches in Poland in Gdansk: this season, we concluded a nice contract with Hamburg” resumes Oleg Barkov. “We also had contacts with Düsseldorf and Shalke 04, but this city of Hamburg is very convenient for us. The club plays in D2, it does not have a European Cup and the stadium is perfectly adapted (Editor’s note: it will host 5 matches of the next Euro 2024). Hamburg is a football-crazy city: tonight there is our match against Antwerp, Friday there is the derby between Sankt-Pauli and HSV, decisive for the promotion to the Bundesliga, and on Saturday the city hosts the draw of the next Euro. But above all, many Ukrainians live here and symbolically, it is crucial to play here: there will be 47,000 spectators this evening against Antwerp. Even before the Champions League draw, without even knowing our opponents, we had already sold 25,000 subscriptions!“
