On Friday, May 24, the Donbass Arena will play host to an unprecedented duel. For the first time in history, Shakhtar will play the parentless children from five orphanages in Donetsk oblast.
The Pitmen’s rivals will simultaneously be 100 children deprived of parental care. They will be helped by 11 boys from FC Shakhtar Academy in opposing Mircea Lucescu’s team, Shakhtar’s official website informs.
In such an unusual fashion, Shakhtar intends to once again put the spotlight on the problem of child abandonment. The Donetsk club is a permanent partner of the adoption programme initiated by the Development of Ukraine charity foundation.
The president, the coaches and players of Shakhtar repeatedly participated in the events held in the framework of this project. The number of Shakhtar’s opponents in the upcoming match – 111 – has been chosen not by chance: it is a reminder of the scale of orphanage problem in Ukraine.
The teams will play two halves of seven minutes. The anthem of Shakhtar, handshakes, match officials, live coverage – everything will be real.
