So Champions League football will be played at Stamford Bridge this season after all.

It has been announced that Chelsea’s ground will be staging Shakhtar Donetsk’s ‘home’ matches during the 2026-27 campaign, subject to regulatory approvals.

The Athletic reported last month that the London club had been approached, and then wrote last week that they were expected to be named as the hosts.

Now that the arrangement is official, what does it all mean? The Athletic provides some answers…

How did this happen and who was involved in the discussions?

Shakhtar Donetsk have not been able to play a home game at their stadium, the Donbas Arena, since 2014, after the war with Russia broke out in the region. Donetsk is only 30 miles (48 kilometres) west of the Russian border. Over the previous four years, the Ukrainian club have staged their ‘home’ European matches in Germany, Slovenia and Poland.

For the Ukrainian Premier League, they play their home matches at Arena Lviv, in Lviv, which is on the opposite side of Ukraine, around 750 miles west of Donetsk.

Last season, Shakhtar started out playing their European games at Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and later used Synerise Arena in Krakow, Poland.

Captain Mykola Matviyenko leads Shakhtar onto the pitch in Ljubljana in July 2025 (Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)

Shakhtar, who have qualified for the group phase, wanted to use just one venue for their 2026-27 campaign and the possibility of playing in London was earmarked as a favourable possibility from the outset. Shakhtar will play four home games at Stamford Bridge and four away games during the group phase.

Club-to-club discussions with Chelsea have been going on for over a month. Chelsea were not the only London club considered, with Brentford and Fulham also spoken to.

Chelsea were deemed to be the preferred option by the beginning of this month, although another site was still in the running last week. Over the past few weeks, it has been a case of going through all the necessary paperwork and legal contracts.

Both parties wanted to give themselves as much time as possible, knowing that the first home game could take place on September 8. The play-offs conclude next week before the draw for the league phase takes place on August 27.

Does this have anything to do with the Mykhailo Mudryk deal?

When Chelsea signed Mudryk from Shakhtar for an initial £62million ($85m) in January 2023, the Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov spoke about playing a friendly against them at the Donbas Arena after the war was over.

Mykhailo Mudryk in action against Burnley in 2023 (Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

This arrangement is unrelated to the Mudryk transfer, although the strong relationship formed between the two clubs during those negotiations is a factor.

Chelsea also have no European football this season after failing to qualify, so the stadium will be available. Stamford Bridge has regularly staged games in UEFA competitions for decades, so the club have a lot of experience.

How exactly will it work?

Chelsea will still have full operational control. Shakhtar obviously have access to the site but Chelsea are running the matchday on their behalf.

The club will work with Shakhtar regarding security, stewarding and the Metropolitan Police.

It will be up to Shakhtar to decide if they want to produce a matchday programme to be sold. If they do, Chelsea will provide the staff to sell it, like they do for their own fixtures.

The prospect of any Shakhtar merchandise being available for sale is an issue still being discussed.

As with any UEFA club tournament, the European governing body’s branding will be on view around Stamford Bridge itself. Nothing will be changed to the infrastructure to include Shakhtar.

But that does not rule out something movable, like the club crest being displayed on a flag on the pitch before kick-off.

The best way to sum it up is that Stamford Bridge will operate like it normally does if Chelsea had a fixture, but Shakhtar will be the home side instead.

Who gets the money from games and how will ticketing work?

Chelsea will be paid a fee but the contractual details remain undisclosed. While there is a financial sum involved, the main priority is being in a position to assist Shakhtar.

The ticket split between Shakhtar and their opponents will be the same as if Chelsea were playing. So Shakhtar will get all the home stands, with the away fans staged in the corner/half of the Shed End. The number of tickets available to the visitors may change depending on the opponent, but that is the gist of the arrangement.

Chelsea season ticket holders and members will be able to buy a bundle of all four group matches at a discounted rate. If any season ticket holders or members want to buy one-off matches, the option is available, but without a price reduction.

Shakhtar will sell tickets to their fans on their website.

What about segregation worries?

The same measures in place for Chelsea games will be adhered to. Tickets can only be bought through official means — Shakhtar supporters buying from their club, away supporters buying from theirs or Chelsea season ticket holders/members going through the London club.

Anyone sitting in the wrong area will be moved.

Could this be awkward given Chelsea’s links to Russia via former owner Roman Abramovich?

Chelsea do not think this should be a cause for concern. Abramovich was bought out by the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium in May 2022 and as explained above, they have a stadium available to stage these games.

Besides, Stamford Bridge hosted Game4Ukraine in August 2023, a charity football match organised to raise funds for the rebuilding of facilities and buildings damaged in the conflict.

Former Chelsea forward Andriy Shevchenko appearing in a charity game at Stamford Bridge in 2023 (Henry Browne/Getty Images)

That match was played between Team Shevchenko (former Chelsea striker Andriy) and Team Zinchenko (ex-Arsenal left-back Oleksandr). A crowd of 30,000 turned up.

Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea is inextricably linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but the billionaire is viewed differently by the Ukrainian government than he is by many in the West.

Shortly after the outbreak of the war, Abramovich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom’s government and the European Union as a result of his alleged ties to Vladimir Putin, but according to the Wall Street Journal, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky asked then-United States President Joe Biden not to follow suit due to the role he might be able to play in peace talks.

Abramovich has served as a messenger between the warring countries in the four years since, and Zelensky confirmed in an interview with Sky News in June that he had met with Abramovich in Kyiv and asked him to relay an offer of face-to-face talks with Putin.

What about the impact on the pitch from all these extra games?

Chelsea cater for the playing surface to be used in four competitions a season, so this is no different. They have expert groundsmen to look after it — the four extra games during the group phase are nothing to worry about.

Did Chelsea have to seek permission from Chelsea Pitch Owners?

They have been updated on the arrangement. Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) is a supporters group that holds the freehold to the land on which Stamford Bridge, the club’s home stadium since they were founded in 1905, sits. As this arrangement with Shakhtar is not a sublease, this is not an issue regarding CPO.