In the opening round of the Ukrainian football championship, Shakhtar secured a dominant 5-1 victory over Kudrovka, marking the 13th time in the club’s history they have kicked off the season with a big win.
The first occasion came during the 1993/94 season under Valeriy Yaremchenko, when Shakhtar triumphed 3-0 away against Zaporizhzhia’s Metalurh. Excluding the 1990s—a period when the Donetsk side was not yet a serious contender for the title—this means that out of 11 such emphatic season openers, Shakhtar went on to claim the championship eight times, a clear majority. The most frequent success came under Mircea Lucescu, who achieved this four times. The most recent exception was the 2024/25 season: despite starting with a 5-0 rout of Vorskla under Marino Pušič, Shakhtar finished only third.
Before the match against Kudrovka, Shakhtar had started a season with a 5-1 scoreline only once before—in the 2001/02 campaign. That season, they went on to become champions…
Related Stories
