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Shakhtar Donetsk Soccer Club Moves Home Games To Lviv


Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk football team has announced it is moving its home games to Lviv due to the military conflict in its native Donetsk region.

Team coach Mircea Lucescu made the announcement on the Shakhtar Donetsk website on July 23.

Lucescu wrote that "we'll train and reside in Kyiv, and Arena Lviv will be our home."

The western city of Lviv is some 1,000 kilometers from Donetsk city.

The announcement came shortly after Shakhtar won the Ukrainian Super Cup in Lviv on July 22, defeating Dynamo Kyiv 2-0.

Shakhtar won the game without six of its star South American players, who have refused to report to the team citing safety reasons.

Donetsk is the largest city controlled by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and is currently a battleground area as Ukrainian forces try to recapture the region.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa

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