“Vinnikov is not enough for Kozlovsky, he wants land near the Ukraine stadium”

Lviv Karpaty released an official statement on the situation with the stadium lease and the conflict with the Ruh leadership:

“We were very surprised to hear about Grigory Kozlovsky’s desire to initiate the termination of the Ukrainian stadium lease between the local authorities and our club.

First, Karpaty did not violate a single clause of this agreement; therefore, there is no reason to terminate the agreement. For 13 years, our club has been covering all the expenses of the Ukraine stadium. We installed a heating and irrigation system, looked after the stadium’s lawn, bleachers, facilities and territory, and performed repair work whenever possible. This stadium hosted Europa League matches and the Ukraine national team, only thanks to our efforts and resources. Millions of dollars have been spent on all of this. Igor Dedyshin, the current CEO of Rukh, will not allow lying: he worked for Karpaty for many years and knows these numbers very well.

Second, according to the agreement between the City and the Club, all Lviv teams really have the right to use the “Ukraine” stadium. But under certain conditions, if this does not interfere with our matches, it does not drain the turf and, most importantly, according to a separate agreement between Karpaty and the club that wants to play the match in Ukraine. Both “Rukh” and FC “Lviv” know this very well, because they have repeatedly fulfilled these conditions. So far, no complaints have arisen.

We saw no reason to refuse, and this time, for the match with Shakhtar, Rukh received the same terms of cooperation as FC Lviv for this season. But for some reason now claims have arisen. It seems that the management of the young club decided that, with the help of influence in the city council, they can establish their own conditions of use of the stadium, which is rented by another club.

Third, for UPL matches, the main stadium “Rukh” declared “Arena Lviv”. There the match against Shakhtar will take place. The club has also been using the Skif Stadium for several years. I mean, “Rukh” wasn’t even going to play in “Ukraine”, they just needed to get a new advantage. Grigory Kozlovsky shows once again how he wants to help Karpaty, who is going through the most difficult moments in the recent history of the club.

Or the owner of “Rukh” is not satisfied with Lake Vinnikivskoe and is already pointing to the ground around “Ukraine”. If anyone does not know, the land under the old market near the stadium has long been bought by a scandalous deputy of the City Council for residential development. We will not be surprised if he succeeds in his plans, and in a few years new avalons will grow on the site of Snopkovsky Park and the stadium. Then the real reason for Grigory Petrovich’s unwillingness to support our project to rebuild the “Ukraine” stadium will become clear.

The “Ukraine” stadium is the home of the “Karpaty”, but not a source of income. The renovation work carried out by us is not enough to make the stadium modern and comfortable. And the costs of his maintenance cannot be covered, even if Rukh plays all his home games here under our conditions. But it seems to us that the local authorities have more important expenses than the maintenance or reconstruction of the stadium. And the collective responsibility of several clubs for an arena is a good idea in theory, but highly dubious in practice, when the owner of one of these clubs agrees to decide.