Shakhtar Donetsk will play their home Champions League matches at Stamford Bridge this season, striking an agreement with Chelsea that gives the Ukrainian club a permanent London base for their European campaign.
The move continues Shakhtar's long search for a home away from home. The club has not been able to play at its own Donbas Arena since the conflict in eastern Ukraine forced them out of the region, with the Russian invasion further complicating matters in recent years. In that time, Shakhtar have hosted matches in Kyiv and Lviv domestically, while their European fixtures have taken them to Germany, Poland and Slovenia, among other countries.
Chelsea, meanwhile, find themselves with a rare gap in their fixture calendar after a disappointing 2025/26 Premier League campaign ended in a tenth-place finish, meaning no European football for the Blues this term. That left Stamford Bridge largely free on midweeks, prompting the club to offer up their stadium to Shakhtar for the coming Champions League season.
Confirming the arrangement, Chelsea said in a statement: