Former Shakhtar defender Jadson refused to travel to Moscow for a CSKA match
Kyiv • UNN
Former Shakhtar player Jadson refused to take part in Vágner Love's friends' match in Moscow. He explained the decision as being out of respect for Ukraine.
Ukrainian champion and UEFA Cup winner with Donetsk's "Shakhtar," Jadson refused to travel to Moscow for the "CSKA" match, to which he had been invited to play in the final match of his friend—the Brazilian Vágner Love. Jadson wrote about this on Instagram, reports UNN.
Details
On Saturday, September 26, a match is to take place in Moscow between a team of "CSKA" legends and a team of friends of Vágner Love, who played for the "Horsemen" from 2004 to 2011 and then returned to "CSKA" in 2013.
On Monday, September 21, Moscow's "CSKA" announced that Dmitry Kuznetsov and Elvir Rahimic, the Berezutski brothers, Miloš Krasić, Zoran Tošić, and Mark González would play for the legends' team.
The team of Vágner Love's friends will include Russia national team's naturalized goalkeeper Guilherme, as well as Brazilian Renato Augusto.
The invited footballers also included 42-year-old former Donetsk "Shakhtar" midfielder Jadson.
Jadson's appearance caused a considerable wave of criticism in Ukrainian sports circles, but today the Brazilian denied that he would travel to the aggressor country.
I will not go to the game. My friend Vágner Love invited me, but I understand that I should not go out of respect for the Ukrainian people and the club I love—"Shakhtar." Vágner Love is a wonderful friend, but I understand that the situation is much more delicate now
It should be noted that Jadson played for Donetsk's "Shakhtar" from 2005 to 2012, where he became the champion of Ukraine, won the Ukrainian Cup and Super Cup, and also won the UEFA Cup in 2009, scoring the decisive goal in the final against "Werder."
Jadson is also a recipient of the Order of Merit, 3rd Class, awarded for achieving an outstanding sporting result—the 2009 UEFA Cup victory—and for demonstrating courage, selflessness and the will to win, as well as strengthening the international authority of Ukrainian football; he received it from Viktor Yushchenko.
Which famous footballers have visited Moscow
In May 2026, 2006 world champions with the Italian national team Andrea Pirlo and Marco Materazzi attended the Russian Cup Superfinal at the Luzhniki Stadium. The former footballers were guests at the match between "Spartak" and "Krasnodar."
In April last year, former Roma and Italy striker Francesco Totti arrived in Russia to take part in the "Bookmakers' Rating" ceremony, which was held in Moscow.
That same April, former France, Real Madrid and Chelsea midfielder Claude Makélélé went to Russia to play in a gala match marking the 20th anniversary of Moscow's "CSKA" winning the UEFA Cup. Makélélé played for Andriy Shevchenko's team in a charity match in support of Ukraine.
Also last year, it was reported that Andriy Shevchenko's former Chelsea teammates, striker Didier Drogba and goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, who played in a charity match in support of Ukraine, planned to travel to Russia to play in a gala match marking the 20th anniversary of Moscow's "CSKA" winning the UEFA Cup.