Sergey Palkin: The Architect of Shakhtar’s Domestic Dynasty
At the turn of the millennium, Shakhtar Donetsk was an emerging force seeking to challenge all-conquering powerhouse Dynamo Kyiv for domestic supremacy. Fast-forward a quarter-century, and they’ve cemented their status as the kings of Ukrainian football, having won 15 of the last 24 Ukrainian Premier League titles, as well as a national record 15 Ukrainian Cups and nine Ukrainian Super Cups. There are many factors behind Shakhtar’s stranglehold on Ukrainian football, but one of the biggest reasons has been the arrival of Sergey Palkin.
Born in Kryvyi Rih on October 22, 1974, Palkin was 16 years old when Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union. He graduated from the National Academy of Management in Kyiv and worked as a Senior Accountant for Coopers & Lybrand JV between 1997 to 2001 before being appointed Deputy CEO for Budgeting & Economics at Kryvyi Rih Cement & Mining Plant JSC in 2001, eventually being promoted to the Economics & Finance Director in 2002.
Whilst Palkin started to cut his teeth in the finance field, Shakhtar started to make a name for themselves as a respectable underdog, winning their first-ever trophy in the 1994/95 Ukrainian Cup and adding three more to their cabinet before claiming their maiden championship. Having watched Dynamo Kyiv win the last nine championships (finishing runners-up in the previous four years), Shakhtar finally put an end to Dynamo’s dominance when they won the domestic double in 2001/02. Shortly after that, Palkin joined Shakhtar as their Chief Financial Officer on June 3, 2003, and one year later, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer.
“At the time, I was working at Heidelberg Cement Group Ukraine when I received an offer to join Shakhtar as a financial director,” stated Palkin in an exclusive R.org interview. “I accepted it, and just a few months later, I was promoted to CEO. It was the very beginning of Shakhtar’s modern era under the leadership and vision of our president, Rinat Akhmetov. It was a bold and ambitious project, and I didn’t hesitate for a second to be part of it.”
“Like most kids, I played football growing up — but just for fun, at the grassroots level. I never dreamed of becoming a professional player. Back in the seventies and eighties, there was no real concept of modern football management or professional club operations in our region, so the idea of working in football wasn’t something that even existed at the time.”
Laying the Foundations at Shakhtar
It has been exactly three decades since Akhmetov became Shakhtar president after his predecessor Akhat Bragin was killed in a mysterious bombing at the team’s stadium. Since then, Akhmetov has steered Shakhtar to success thanks in large part to two influential hires in 2004, that of Palkin and Mircea Lucescu.
Across Lucescu’s 12-year spell in charge, Shakhtar tapped into the Romanian coach’s fluent Portuguese and free-flowing tactical approach to attract a number of promising Brazilian stars like Willian and Fernandinho, developing them in the Ukrainian Premier League and the UEFA Champions League, before selling them to Europe’s biggest clubs for massive fees. And whilst the events of the past three years have tampered with their ability to attract rising Brazilian prospects, they’re still keeping the faith in their blueprint: 19 months after joining from Palmeiras for €12 million + €3 million in add-ons, Kevin left Shakhtar and joined Fulham for a club-record expenditure of €40 million on August 31, 2025.
“We’ve been active in Brazil for over 20 years, and it’s been a fantastic journey — Fernandinho, Willian, Douglas Costa, Fred, and Alex Teixeira all came through Shakhtar before reaching Europe’s biggest leagues, and Kevin is the latest success story. I’m not surprised by how well he’s done at Fulham — he has great potential and will become one of the most exciting players in the Premier League. Fans already love him, and rightly so.”
Since parting ways with Lucescu in the summer of 2016, Shakhtar have stayed the course and remained the top dog in Ukrainian football, winning two domestic doubles and one treble under Paulo Fonseca and another championship under new manager Luis Castro, before suffering a rare trophyless season in 2020/21. They responded by finishing atop the UPL for three consecutive seasons before suffering a lapse in 2024/25 and placing third in the table. Today, they find themselves in second place with 18 points from nine matches, one point behind league leaders Kryvbas.
Building a Dynasty in Ukraine
After passing through two phases of Europa League qualification, Shakhtar lost to Panathinaikos on penalties before dropping down to the Conference League qualifiers, where they edged Servette to a place in the league phase. Since kicking off their Conference League campaign with a 3-2 win at Aberdeen on October 2, Shakhtar have lost to LNZ Cherkasy and drawn with Polissya in the league and lost 2-1 to Legia Warsaw in Europe. They’ll be looking to bounce back on Sunday with a win against Kudrivka before facing off against Dynamo Kyiv home and away (one in the league, one in the cup), followed by a visit from Icelandic side Breidablik.
“Every season starts with the same goal — to win the championship. Last year’s result doesn’t change that. This season, we brought in a new coach [Arda Turan] and invested in young talents. Our only target is the title, and everyone at the club is fully committed to it. Success is never instant — it’s about focus, consistency, and belief. My job has always been to make sure we stay on course, improve step by step, and never lose sight of our goals. That’s the real secret behind long-term success.”
Similar to the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, Shakhtar have been able to carve out a long-term dynasty in their nation, the kind that doesn’t dissipate after losing a coach or a key player. They’ve done so thanks to a lucrative investment strategy in the Brazilian market, perennial participations in the UEFA Champions League and the consequent TV revenue, and the generous backing of Akhmetov, who is Ukraine’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $7.9 billion.
“The main reason [for Shakhtar’s dynasty] is the clear, long-term strategy set by our president. He paid attention to every detail — from building a new training base and investing in the academy, to bringing in talented players and ambitious coaches, and constructing a world-class stadium. At the same time, we’ve always focused on developing our fan base and strengthening the Shakhtar community. That combination of vision and precision has made the difference.”
Akhmetov’s affluence has proved invaluable in their domestic dominance and continental exploits, with Shakhtar winning the 2009 UEFA Europa League, reaching the UEFA Champions League knockout round in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2018, as well as reaching the Europa League semifinals in 2016 and 2020. However, it has been Palkin’s sturdy decision-making and ability to think outside of the box that have enabled Shakhtar to keep winning amidst the most unimaginable nightmare possible.
Stuck in a Faraway Land
Shakhtar played all of their matches at Central Stadium Shakhtar from their founding in 1936 all the way up to 2009, when they opened a new stadium: Donbas Arena. For a final cost of $400 million, the stadium boasted a capacity of 52,187 spectators and was used to host matches in the 2012 Euros, earning a five-star rating from UEFA. However, less than five years after the ground opening, Shakhtar were forced to abandon their world-class stadium after Russian-backed paramilitaries seized cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and proclaimed the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) as independent states, thereby commencing the Donbas war. They’ve spent the past 11 years as a refugee club, bouncing around from Donetsk to Lviv to Kharkiv and watching as their beloved stadium is pounded by artillery shelling. And ever since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022, Shakhtar have been forced to play their European matches outside of Ukraine. Shakhtar played in Warsaw in 2022/23, Hamburg in 2023/24, and Gelsenkirchen in 2024/25, and this season, they’ve had two host cities, starting off in Ljubljana before moving to Krakow.
“Since 2014, we’ve played our home European matches in seven different cities across three countries. The logistics and security challenges are constant. It’s also much harder to convince players to join during wartime, and financially, it’s almost impossible to operate in a traditional way when attendances are limited and sponsors face economic difficulties. It’s been incredibly tough. We’re probably the only club in world football that’s been without its home stadium for more than a decade, living like nomads. Our dream is to return one day and play again in front of 50,000 fans in Donetsk. But before that, we need peace — that’s the most important goal for every Ukrainian. My first, second, and third objective is peace in Ukraine. Once peace returns, everything else will follow — football, development, growth. Peace is the foundation for everything.”
Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, FIFA announced that foreign players of Ukrainian and Russian clubs could unilaterally suspend their contracts and leave their clubs, paving the way for the likes of Manor Solomon and Tetê to escape for pennies on the dollar and forcing Shakhtar to miss out on substantial transfer revenue. Shakhtar sought £43m of damages from FIFA but ultimately lost their case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“Unfortunately, FIFA’s decisions were completely one-sided. They supported players but ignored the clubs; we weren’t listened to at all. Some clubs, like Benfica, Real Madrid and Fiorentina, acted respectfully and paid fair prices for players. Others like Olympique Lyon or Tottenham Hotspur took advantage of our situation to profit from the war. Football reflects life — some people will reach out to help you, others will turn away. It’s a matter of values.”
“Since April 2022, our total revenue has exceeded $400 million, which has helped us stay balanced financially. But FIFA’s 2022 decisions had a major negative impact on our stability. We survived thanks to the support of our owner, our participation in UEFA competitions, and the transfer market in Europe. It hasn’t been easy — but we’ve managed to stay strong and keep going.”
Expanding to the United States
Despite these unimaginably challenging circumstances, Shakhtar have managed to not just survive, but thrive. Whereas other Ukrainian clubs have been forced to cease operations, with the Ukrainian Premier League going from 12th in the UEFA coefficient to 28th, Shakhtar have continued to weather the storm thanks to a heightened focus on youth development. With many of their big-name foreign players choosing to leave the war-torn club, academy products like Mykhailo Mudryk, Anatoliy Trubin, and Georgiy Sudakov have been forced to step up and deliver the goods before leaving for greener pastures.
This year, Shakhtar has tapped into its reputation as one of the best youth development clubs in world football and expanded to the other side of the Atlantic. After two months of planning, they launched one academy in Horsham, PA, on June 18, open to kids from 3 to 15 years old who are looking to get their hands on year-round training from professional kids, as well as another in Clifton, NJ, on September 7. And with Palkin at the helm, they’re not planning on slowing down.
“The idea has several layers — it’s about brand growth, community engagement, commercial value for partners, and also talent identification and development. It helps us stay connected with our fans worldwide and inspire young players with the Shakhtar philosophy. Our first step was to connect with Ukrainian communities abroad. We chose those locations because there are strong Ukrainian groups there who wanted to bring Shakhtar to their cities. That local initiative and passion are key for us.”
“The two schools in the U.S. are pilot projects, but our goal is to expand nationwide — ideally, to have a Shakhtar Academy in every state one day and have other schools around the world. Our first audience is the Ukrainian community, but our reputation goes beyond that. Shakhtar is well known worldwide, especially for our history of developing Brazilian talent. That gives us a strong and distinctive identity. We’re not here to copy others — we’re here to offer something authentic, with our own values and spirit.”
Both academies offer a free first session as well as a diverse variety of training methods depending on the age group. Whilst kids from 3-5 are focused on just having fun and learning the basics of the game, kids from 6-8 are ingrained with skills and confidence, kids from 9-11 are inculcated with structure and footballing IQ, and kids from 12-14 are trained in the competitive edge. And with a low-risk business model that allows potential franchisees to buy in for a starting fee of $20,000, as well as pay in installments depending on the academy’s success, there’s reason to believe that Shakhtar can continue spreading its name throughout North America, securing an extra source of revenue, and putting young kids on the road to footballing success.
“Shakhtar’s story is unique — we’ve lived through exile, loss, and yet constant rebirth. For more than 11 years, we’ve been away from our home city, and we’ve still managed to compete and succeed. That’s what we call our “Unbreakable Spirit.” We want to pass that on to the next generation. Resilience is the foundation of everything we do — we want our young players to grow strong, ambitious, and unafraid of challenges.”