Stadium used for Euros and Champions League that is bigger than most Premier League grounds is now completely unrecognisable
A stadium once used to host the Champions League and the Euros now lies completely abandoned.
The historic Donbas Arena, former home of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk, now lies deserted despite hosting some of Europe’s top competitions.
The 52,000 capacity stadium, which is bigger than both Villa Park and Stamford Bridge, once hosted the European Championships and the Champions League but hasn’t held a game for a decade.
This is due to conflicts in Ukraine that have forced the Shakhtar Donetsk team to move stadiums four times in the past ten years.
And recent pictures gathered by The Sun have shown the severity of the damage caused to the stadium as the conflicts in Ukraine continued to escalate.
The new images of the stadium are almost unrecognisable as debris, shattered glass and overgrown vegetation have taken over the giant arena.
Work to build the stadium began in 2006 and finished in 2009, costing the club an estimated £313.4million.
Popular American singer Beyonce performed a show for the opening of the new stadium, which went on the host five seasons of home games for Shakhtar.
During this team, the Ukrainian side won the league five times in a row and went as far as quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2010/11.
The Ukrainian ground once hosted top Premier League sides Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City, with all four sides failing to come away from the stadium with three points.
The Donbas Arena also held five matches at Euro 2012, including the semi-final between Portugal and Spain.
England also played in the arena on two occasions, a 1-1 draw with France and a 1-0 victory over hosts Ukraine following a goal from Wayne Rooney.
But, in May 2014 the stadium was abandoned following a “Peace March” against the pro-Russian unrest in the country and the self-proclamation of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Just three months later, the stadium was damaged in reported artillery shelling as Ukrainian forces clashed with pro-Russian forces for control of the city.
The stadium sustained further damage in October as it was hit in more reported artillery attacks.
Donbas Arena has been empty since 2014 after Shakhtar Donetsk were forced to abandon it. (Image: Getty)
This damage has only been exacerbated by the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Shakhtar Donetsk have instead played their matches across several other stadiums in the country and abroad, with the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany their home for 2024/25.
However, while the stadium may never be used again by the football club, it will forever be immortalised in the popular multiplayer video game Call of Duty: Warzone, which used the stadium as inspiration for a part of their map.
As one of the most well-known clubs in world football, Liverpool have had some big-name players over the years.
The likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Fernando Torres and Michael Owen are all easily recognisable.
Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with a move for the Nottingham Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi.
According to a report from Football Insider, Nottingham Forest will demand £30 million for the highly-rated winger this summer and Tottenham are tracking his situation closely.
The 23-year-old winger is reportedly happy at the City Ground and he does not wish to leave the club. It will be interesting to see if Tottenham can convince him to join them.
Hudson-Odoi has had an impressive season with Nottingham Forest since joining them for a fee of just £3 million from Chelsea last summer.
The winger scored 8 goals and picked up two assists in the league last season. He could prove to be a quality acquisition for Tottenham who are in need of more quality in the final third. The 23-year-old is an expert when it comes to taking on players and beating them in one versus one situations. He will add goals to the Tottenham attack as well. His ability to slot into multiple roles in the front three will be an added bonus.
Wayne Rooney jumped to the defence of James Maddison after Gary Neville suggested that the Tottenham man made a mistake by leaving the England squad early this month.
James Maddison missed out on England’s Euros squad
Southgate’s decision to leave Maddison out of the final 26-man squad came as a surprise to many Tottenham fans, as well as some neutrals.
While the attacking midfielder had not been in the best of form since returning from injury back in February, he had been a pivotal part of the England set-up recently and had played a key role in qualification for the Euros.
However, Maddison himself took to social media to admit that he perhaps did not do enough in the second half of the season and gave Southgate a decision to make, with the 27-year-old confessing that he was heartbroken not to be on the plane to Germany.
Wayne Rooney leaps to Maddison’s defence
Neville suggested on The Overlap that the midfielder should not have left the squad early and insisted that if it was him, he would have stayed.
Responding to Neville’s comments, Rooney responded: “I wouldn’t. No way. Why would you have stayed?”
Neville then suggested that he would have felt that he owed it to his teammates to remain professional and continue training with them, to which Rooney shot back: “But not every player is you. Not every player can give that support. You have got big players.
You have got Grealish there, Harry Maguire, who I know was upset, even though he was injured. You have big players and personalities. So, for them to hide their emotions and support their teammates. You hope they could do that, but it’s very difficult.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Neville’s point is certainly understandable but it is completely normal for Maddison to feel disappointed and feel extremely hard done by and I am sure Southgate would have understood the Tottenham man’s decision to leave the camp when the decision was made.
