Brentford in talks to host Shakhtar Donetsk’s Champions League matches next season

Brentford FC is in discussions with FC Shakhtar Donetsk about hosting the Ukrainian club’s home Champions League fixtures at the Gtech Community Stadium during the 2026/27 season. The arrangement would bring elite European football to the 17,000-capacity west London ground, despite Brentford themselves not qualifying for continental competition.

For Shakhtar, this is less about glamour and more about necessity. The club has been unable to host European matches on home soil for over a decade due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, forcing it to wander across the continent in search of neutral venues that meet UEFA’s requirements.

Why Brentford makes sense

Brentford’s relatively new stadium meets UEFA’s infrastructure standards for Champions League hosting. And because the club has no European commitments of its own this season, the midweek calendar is wide open.

Shakhtar currently plays its domestic Ukrainian Premier League fixtures at Arena Lviv, in western Ukraine, where security conditions are more stable. European away games, though, require a venue outside the country entirely, a constraint the club has navigated since Russia’s initial military incursion into eastern Ukraine disrupted operations at its original Donetsk home.

The competition for hosting rights

Brentford isn’t the only option on the table. Venues in Poland and Germany are also being considered as potential hosts for Shakhtar’s Champions League home matches.

No official agreement has been reached between the two clubs. The talks remain at the discussion stage, with multiple stakeholders, including UEFA, needing to sign off on any final arrangement.

What this means for both clubs

For Shakhtar, the calculus is more about stability than profit. The club’s leadership, including owner Rinat Akhmetov, has spent years managing the logistical headache of being a European contender without a permanent European home.

The Ukrainian side qualified for the Champions League’s revamped format and carries genuine pedigree in the competition, having won the UEFA Cup in 2009 and consistently featured in the group stages over the past two decades.

Shakhtar has been playing away from Donetsk since 2014, and each season brings fresh negotiations about where to stage home games.

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