KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian champion Shakhtar Donetsk hired Dutch coach Patrick van Leeuwen on Monday to return to the club where he was a long-time youth academy director.
Shakhtar said Van Leeuwen signed a two-year contract with the club, which will play in the group stage of the Champions League starting in September.
Van Leeuwen knows Ukraine well after spending seven years with Shakhtar’s youth players until 2013 and coaching Zorya Luhansk last season to finish third in the Ukrainian league.
Shakhtar has relied more on homegrown players since its traditional group of Brazilian players left after the Russian invasion started last February. Its coach at the outbreak of war, Roberto De Zerbi, left several months later and then impressed leading Brighton to finish sixth in the English Premier League.
Van Leeuwen replaces Croatian coach Igor Jovićević, who led Shakhtar to the Ukrainian title, third place in a Champions League group that included Real Madrid and Leipzig, then was eliminated in the round of 16 of the Europa League.
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