With two teams playing in an empty stadium hundreds of miles away from their hometowns, the Ukrainian football league started its new season Tuesday after a poignant ceremony paying tribute to those fighting in the war with Russia.
The opening match at Kyiv’s 65,500-seat Olympic stadium — where spectators were not allowed in — saw two teams from the war-torn east of the country, Shaktar Donetsk and Metalist 1925, play out a 0-0 draw. The result, though, was always going to be an afterthought.
