FC Shakhtar Donetsk, a Champions League regular that hasn’t played a game at home in Ukraine for nearly a decade, is turning to Saudi Arabia for a financial boost.
Club CEO Serhii Palkin has engaged Geneva-based sports advisory firm LTT Sports, which has a base in Jeddah, to discuss deals with clubs in the Saudi Pro League including FC Al Taawoun. The aim is to sign lucrative player transfers and organize exhibition matches in the Gulf nation next season.
"We’re going to this market as we recognized Saudi Arabia has a lot of money and will host the World Cup soon,” Palkin, who has been with the club for nearly two decades, said in a recent interview from his base in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. "I believe we need to be involved in the whole process.”