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Chelsea Football Newsletter
Shakhtar Donetsk have contacted Chelsea, Fulham and Brentford about the possibility of hosting their Champions League games next season.
Standard Sport reported last month that Shakhtar were in talks with several venues in Germany and England to secure a new host stadium for their European matches.
Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium was among the grounds confirmed to be under consideration, and it has now been revealed that Fulham and Chelsea have also both been contacted about potentially staging Shakhtar’s home fixtures.
Chelsea will not be playing in Europe at all next season after finishing 10th in the Premier League last term and losing the FA Cup final to Manchester City, so are able to offer up Stamford Bridge as a potential option for Shakhtar as they try to identify alternative revenue streams.
Like Chelsea and Brentford, Fulham can also offer an accessible London location and already enjoy a strong working relationship with Shakhtar after negotiating the club-record signing of Brazilian winger Kevin last summer.
Shakhtar are unable to stage their Champions League home games in Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict with Russia.
UEFA have prohibited Shakhtar from hosting European fixtures in the war-torn country for safety reasons, and last season they played their Conference League home games in the Polish city of Krakow.
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Shakhtar have not played at their previous Donbas Stadium home since 2014 and in the years since have primarily staged domestic games 620 miles away in Lviv, having also spent time playing in both Kyiv and Kharkiv.
In a statement to Standard Sport last month, an official spokesperson for Shakhtar said: “Shakhtar is currently negotiating with several venues in the United Kingdom and Germany in order to secure a host stadium for its UEFA Champions League matches next season.
“We will not comment on the process until a decision is announced in the near future.”
Though the venue for Shakhtar’s home Champions League games remains unconfirmed, a decision now appears imminent, with Champions League qualifying already under way.
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Having won their 16th Ukrainian top-flight title last season, Shakhtar do not enter the competition until the league phase, which begins on September 8.