How would the independence of Donbass affect Ukrainian football?

Everything changed in Ukrainian football in 2014. The pro-European protests in Kiev that took down Viktor Yanukovych's government, the Donbass war, and the annexation of Crimea to Russia forever changed the face of football in Ukraine.

FC Sevastopol and Tavriya Simferopol left Ukrainian football at the end of that year, but UEFA wouldn't allow them to play in Russia. They now play in the Crimean league. The latter were Ukraine's first champions after they won their independence from the Soviet Union, and are the only team to have won it alongside Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Kiev.

Now, with another possible war coming, football will see the effects as well.

"I pray for a return home every day," Darijo Srna told MARCA, speaking about Shakhtar and their playing away from home in Donetsk since 2014. "All of my things are still there. I thought the conflict would end sooner.

"The war cannot last for 20 years. It's the second I've lived in my life, so I can be sure when I say that health and peace are the two most important things we can have. Children have to go back to school."

Their modern Donbass Arena, where Spain beat Portugal on penalties in Euro 2012, was bombed, forcing the club to play in Lviv from 2014-16, then in Kharkiv from 2017/2020, and now they play in Kiev and 750 kilometres from home.

Two teams still in Donbass

FC Zorya suffered a similar situation, now playing 400 kilometres away from home in Zoporiyia.

Two other Donbass teams remain in their stadiums. FC Mariupol are bottom of the Premier Division and played in Dnipro in 2014/15. FC Kramatorsk are in the second division.