Statement by the UPL President with regard to the incident in Kharkiv

I was present at the match between “Shakhtar” and “Dynamo” in Kharkiv on 10 November 2019. It was a special match, typical when these both team play together: high technical standard and speed, very emotional and a great atmosphere in the stadium. A match where both clubs as well as UPL can be proud of.

In the 73 minute, based on his reaction, the player Taison was confronted with racist behaviour most probably coming from sector reserved for the Dynamo supporters. For me it was a moment of full sadness and feeling helpless. The game was destroyed and the player Taison, his team mates and the Dynamo players as well as the other persons present in the stadium were consternated. I will never find a reasonable answer to understand this behaviour, even maybe only a small group of persons is involved in such kind of actions. The Ukrainian Association of Football, UPL, the clubs, the players, the real supporters and fans of our game and our commercial partners have to stand together in order to fight against any kind of racism or intolerance in order to avoid such kind of incidents in the future.

I repeat, racism and intolerance of any kind has nothing lost in our society as well as in our football.

A personal message to the player Taison and Dentinho, to whom racist shouts were aimed: you have the support of any real football fan not only in the Ukraine. You both are fantastic football players and a real added value for Shakhtar as well as for our UPL Championship. I hope that you will play still for a long time here in the Ukraine.

Thomas Grimm

UPL President