Chelsea FC’s signing of Ukrainian football star leads to cash for war effort

Around €23 million of Mykhailo Mudryk’s transfer fee will be donated to Ukrainian soldiers and their families, his former club’s president says.

A large part of the mega transfer fee for Ukrainian football star Mykhailo Mudryk will be donated to support Ukrainian soldiers, according to the president of Mudryk’s now-former team, Shakhtar Donetsk.

The 22-year-old Mudryk has signed an eight-and-a-half-year deal for €70 million, plus a further €30 million in bonuses, with Chelsea Football Club, after Shakhtar club president Rinat Akhmetov met with Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali on January 14, Politico reports.

Akhmetov said in a statement on January 16: “I am allocating $25 million (UAH 1 billion) today to help our soldiers, defenders, and their families. The money will be used to cover different needs — from providing medical and prosthetic treatment and psychological support to meeting specific requests.”

He also announced the launch of the “Heart of Azovstal,” a project to support families of fallen soldiers and the Mariupol defenders, Ukrainian forces who made headlines when they held on for weeks at a steel mill against Russian troops in the besieged city.

Akhmetov thanked the international community for their support. “Today we are able to talk about Ukrainian football thanks to the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian people, and the tremendous support of the entire civilized world. Only by joining efforts we will defeat the evil that has come to our homes.”

He said he wishes to see a friendly Shakhtar Donetsk vs Chelsea match at Donbass Arena, Donetsk’s home ground, once Ukraine has won the war against Russia.