Scarf of the day #8 CSKA Kyiv


 It's a good one today. The mighty CSKA Kyiv. CSKA were my favourite team in Kyiv, as you will have gathered on other posts on the blog. When I first went to Kyiv they were probably at their highest position, challenging in Europe and enjoying famous victories over Jokerit Helsinki (who now only exist as a Russian owned ice hockey club) and more impressively Red Star Belgrade. 

Disaster was around the corner, after we witnessed them 'throw' a game against Dynamo at CSKA stadium on a day where Shakhtar also appeared to win by foul means against their neighbours Metalurh, the writing was on the wall.

The mayor of Kyiv in the winter of 2001 wanted a team, and CSKA with its army heritage just wouldn't do, so he took their licence and replaced them in the Premier (then Vische) Liha with Arsenal Kyiv. CSKA more or less took on the role of a second team and despite there supposedly being this link between Arsenal and CSKA it never transpired. 

The CSKA stadium was left derelict, which in all honesty it was pretty much already, and CSKA endured a nomadic existence playing at the middle school where Shakhtar have now set up a base in the village of Schaslive and Dynamo's training camp at Konchezaspa. 

I got the scarf in the picture in 2008 from a stall on Kreschatik before going to see them play at Konchezaspa (you can see that in the archives). The season after they called it a day, but they did briefly resurface in the Kyiv Championship only to disappear again in 2013.

The ground is still there in pretty much the same condition as when they left it in 2001! It seems to be more of a venue for athletics now. I last visited it when I was over there in March 2019. Here are some photos from that trip.











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