FSC Mariupol and FC Nyva play warming-up match at a tiny Demydiv village stadium 20 kilometres north of Kyiv, on August 20, 2022. The Russian invasion - that began on February 24 - put a Mariupol football club through the ordeal as their players fled the devastatingly bombed city with no thought of the game. Six months later and hundreds of kilometres away from their home base in a port hub on the Sea of Azov, FSC Mariupol are reassembled and intend to start a new Ukrainian football season.
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What you need to know:
Ukrainian football clubs decided in April to end the previous season early after it was suspended following Russia's invasion which began on February 24.
Shakhtar Donetsk led Dynamo Kyiv by two points at the top of the table when the season was interrupted, but the league decided not to award the title.
