Shakhtar's European campaign: announcement of the match against Ilves, where to watch and who is the favorite

Today, July 10, at 9:00 PM in Slovenia, Donetsk "Shakhtar" will face Finnish "Ilves Tampere" in the first stage of the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 qualification. UNN reports on the teams' condition before the match, who is the favorite, and where to watch the game. 

"Shakhtar"

Donetsk "Shakhtar" gained the opportunity to qualify for the Europa League thanks to their victory over Kyiv "Dynamo" in the Ukrainian Cup final.

The Donetsk team will start their European campaign from the first qualifying round of the Europa League. 

Shakhtar wins the Ukrainian Football Cup15.05.24, 21:17 • 61982 views

During the summer off-season, "Shakhtar" announced the signing of a new head coach, Arda Turan, with whom a two-year contract was concluded. In the first months of summer, Israeli defender Stav Lemkin left the "miners", moving to Dutch "Twente" for 1.5 million euros. 

At the same time, several players returned to the team from loan, including Ukrainian youth national team players Oleh Ochereťko (from "Karpaty") and Eduard Kozik from "Kolos". 

During their training camp, "Shakhtar" played only two matches - against Croatian "Gorica" (a 1:0 victory for the "miners") and Czech "Slovacko" (1:1). 

FC Shakhtar at the training camp

"Ilves Tampere"

"Ilves Tampere" is a Finnish football club from the city of Tampere, founded in 1931. It plays in the Veikkausliiga. It hosts home matches at the "Tammela" stadium, which seats 8,000 spectators. In its almost century-long history, the club has won the Finnish championship once in 1983, and has also won the Finnish Cup 4 times - most recently in 2023.

In the 2024 season, the team finished second in the championship, scoring 54 points in 27 matches with a goal difference of 56:27. This gave the club the right to participate in the UEFA Europa League qualification.

As in some other European countries with cold climates, the main part of the Finnish championship matches takes place in the summer, and the season runs in a spring-autumn format. In general, the championship runs from April to October. 

Therefore, "Ilves" has already played 15 matches in the championship and is in 3rd place with 29 points, which is one point behind 1st place. The team's value is estimated at a modest 4.3 million euros. The head coach of "Ilves" is 37-year-old Finnish specialist Joonas Rantanen, who has been leading the team since October 2023. 

Joonas Rantanen - head coach of "Ilves" 

The team consists mainly of Finnish footballers, and there are also several legionnaires and players with dual citizenship. The captain is 31-year-old goalkeeper Otso Virtanen. 

Otso Virtanen - goalkeeper and team captain

The most expensive player according to Transfermarkt is right winger Oiva Jukkola (estimated value - 450 thousand euros). The top scorers this season are striker Roope Riski (6 goals and 2 assists) and midfielder Lauri Ala-Myllymäki (6 goals and 1 assist). The average age of the team is 25 years.

The team's highest achievement in European competitions is the third qualifying round of the Conference League in the 2024/2025 season, when "Ilves" lost to Swedish "Djurgården" by a total score of 4:2 over two matches. 

FC "Ilves Tampere"

Before the match

The match will take place on Thursday, July 10. The starting whistle will sound at 9:00 PM Kyiv time. Live broadcast will be available on UPL-TV. The match will be held in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, at the "Stožice" stadium.

The match will be officiated by 32-year-old Dutchman Marc Nagtegaal. His assistants are Johan Balder and Roy de Nas. The fourth official is Robin Hensgens. The VAR referee is Richard Martens, his assistant is Erwin Blank. The entire refereeing team represents the Netherlands.

For Nagtegaal, this will be his first official match with Ukrainian clubs. 

Marc Nagtegaal - chief referee of the match 

Bookmakers give a confident victory to "Shakhtar", on whose triumph one can bet with odds of 1.2. For "Ilves" to win - 18, and for a draw - 7.1.