Name: Shakthar Donestk

Address: Artema,86A (Donetsk)

Telephone: (+380) 62 334 98 98

Fax: (+380) 62 334 99 40

Website: www.shakhtyor.donbass.com

E-mail: burlaka@fcshakhtar.com

Year founded: 1936

Stadium: Central (31,718 spectators)

Title won: 3 Ukrainian Leagues, 9 Ukrainian Cups

At first sight, the most surprising thing about Shaktar Donetsk is the great effort it is making to become a great team.  Owned by a group of powerful local entrepreneurs, Shakthar is striving to consolidate a structure worthy of any great team in the continent and has started from the bottom, by forming a team that will offer guarantees.   The secret of this team, which has competed in the Champions League, is a wise combination of the best in Ukraine football and an intelligent recruitment policy outside home.   Its defence is based on the Soviet style, with a Brazilian midfield led by Matuzalem and a powerful couple of strikers; the Rumanian Marica (he was responsible for almost getting Luis Aragonés sacked a few weeks ago) and the Brazilian player  Brandao. The team has talent, but the orange coach, the Rumanian Mircea Lucescu, has put his money on a classic 4-4-2 to guarantee support for the team.

At the moment things are going well.  Shakthar is second in its National League championship, just four points behind Dinamo Kiev. In Europe, it had the back luck to be in the same group as Valencia and Rome in the Champions League and the result was that it ended up in third place that led to its elimination.  However, its visits to the stadiums of the old continent are by no means finished.  Following its classification, as third in the group, it will now go on to play the next round of the UEFA Cup, against Lens.

The star

There is no doubt that the star player of this Shakthar that has participated in the Champions League is the Brazilian player Matuzalém. The midifield player is an essential part of Lucescu’s eleven.  After spending his youth in the Italian Calcio, the player from Natal now has the 'made in Brazil' technique and is a great attacker, which  has enabled him to score ten goals per season.  After his time in the Italian league (where he played in Naples, Brescia and Piacenza), the veteran midfield player joined the ranks of the Ukrainian club where he has already scored 15 goals in two seasons and a half.  He is a born organiser and orchestra director with great responsibility in the way in which Donetsk plays.

An important note

Spanish fans will surely remember the Rumanian player Marica.  The Shakthar striker made his debut as an international goal scorer (he has played for his country’s team on seven occasions) during a match against the Spanish team held in the Ramón de Carranza stadium in Cádiz, which ended up in an embarrassing 0-1 in favour of the Rumanians.  In Shakthar he is one of the references in attack this season.  Another fact to remember is that Maspalomas will witness the debut of the new Ukrainian goalkeeper, Andriy Pyatov, who has signed up with Donetsk for the next five seasons.  This young goalkeeper, aged 22, has come to Shakthar after playing a brilliant role in the last edition of the under-21 European Cup held in Portugal, which made Ukraine the Sub-Champion of Europe.