Shakhtar Donetsk v Hoffenheim facts

Having lost out in qualifying 12 months ago, Hoffenheim make their UEFA Champions League group debut away to a Shakhtar Donetsk side who boast a solid record at home to German visitors.

• This is just Hoffenheim's second season in European competition, and they begin against seasoned campaigners. This is Shakhtar's 13th UEFA Champions League group campaign, and their eighth in nine seasons.

Form guide
Shakhtar
• Shakhtar qualified as winners of the Ukrainian league, claiming the title for the 11th time in 2017/18, when they completed a domestic double for the second season in succession.

• Quarter-finalists in 2010/11, Shakhtar reached the last 16 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League, losing to Roma on away goals (2-1 home, 1-0 away).

• Shakhtar won all four of their home matches in last season's competition, beating Napoli, Feyenoord and Manchester City – who are also in their 2018/19 section – in the group stage.

• The Ukrainian side have got out of their group in three of their last five participations.

• Shakhtar have drawn their last five home meetings with German clubs – the last three all finishing 0-0. Most recently they beat Schalke in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League round of 32 (0-0 home, 3-0 away).

• This is only the second time Shakhtar have been drawn alongside German opposition in the UEFA Champions League group stage; they picked up a single point from their two games against Bayer Leverkusen in 2013/14 (0-4 away, 0-0 home).

Hoffenheim
• Third in last season's Bundesliga – their highest ever finish – Hoffenheim made their European bow against eventual runners-up Liverpool in last season's UEFA Champions League play-offs (1-2 home, 2-4 away).

• They went on to pick up five points in the UEFA Europa League group stage, finishing fourth in a section that also included Braga, Ludogorets and İstanbul Başakşehir.

• Hoffenheim have lost three of their four European away games, the exception a 1-1 draw at İstanbul Başakşehir on matchday four of last season's UEFA Europa League.

• Die Kraichgauer have won only one of their eight European matches, home and away – although, having lost the first four, they have been beaten only once in the last four.

• Hoffenheim are the 13th German club to feature in the UEFA Champions League – a joint competition record with Spain.

Links and trivia
• Andrej Kramarić scored both goals as Croatia won 2-0 in Ukraine on the final day of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying to earn a play-off place; Andriy Pyatov, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Mykola Matviyenko, Taras Stepanenko, Marlos and Viktor Kovalenko were all in the home side.

• Kasim Adams Nuhu played all 180 minutes as Switzerland's Young Boys knocked out Shakhtar's domestic rivals Dynamo Kyiv in last season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. He also featured twice against Dynamo when the teams were reunited in the UEFA Europea League group stage.

• Shakhtar forward Olarenwaju Kayode and Hoffenheim winger Felipe Pires were Austria Wien team-mates in 2016/17.

Latest news

Shakhtar
• Summer transfers
In: Olarenwaju Kayode (Manchester City, loan made permanent), Fernando Pedro (Palmeiras), Oleksii Shevchenko (Karpaty Lviv), Maycon (Corinthians), Júnior Moraes (Dynamo Kyiv), Marquinhos Cipriano (São Paulo)
Out: Fred (Manchester United), Bernard (Everton), Facundo Ferreyra (Benfica), Darijo Srna (Cagliari), Ruslan Fomin (Mariupol), Ivan Petryak (Ferencváros, loan), Dodo (Vitória SC, loan), Gustavo Blanco Leschuk (Málaga, loan), Eduard Sobol (Jablonec, loan), Mykyta Shevchenko (Karpaty Lviv, loan)

• Shakhtar began this season with a 1-0 loss to Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Super Cup on 21 July.

• That and the 1-0 loss against the same opponents in Kyiv on 3 August are the only times Shakhtar have failed to win in nine competitive matches this season.

• Shakhtar have scored 15 goals in their last five league games, conceding three. They were 2-0 winners against Olexandria on Saturday.

• Coach Paulo Fonseca signed a new two-year contract with Shakhtar at the end of last season.

• Wellington Nem suffered an injury before Shakhtar's last league fixture and will miss matchday one, while Dentinho (absent since 25 July) and Ivan Ordets (thigh) are also injured. Olarenwaju Kayode (not specified) has also not yet played this season but is back in full training.

Hoffenheim
• Summer transfers
In: Leonardo Bittencourt (Köln), Ishak Belfodil (Standard Liège), Joshua Brenet (PSV), Vincenzo Grifo (Mönchengladbach), Kasim Nuhu (Young Boys)
Out: Eugen Polanski (unknown), Mark Uth (Schalke), Benedikt Gimber (Ingolstadt), In-hyeok Park (Daejeon), Philipp Ochs (Aalborg, loan)

• Four of Hoffenheim's last six Bundesliga games have finished 3-1, including the first two this season, a defeat at Bayern on the opening day and win against Freiburg. They went down 2-1 at Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday.

• Ádám Szalai is the joint leading scorer in the Bundesliga this season with three goals in the first three matches.

• Hoffenheim won 6-1 at third-tier Kaiserslautern in the German Cup first round on 18 August; they will visit RB Leipzig in the next round in October.

• Kasim Nuhu (ankle) and Kevin Akpoguma (head) had to be substituted against Freiburg and were both absent at the weekend.

• Benjamin Hübner has been out since 3 August due to concussion, Kerem Demirbay suffered an ankle injury on 11 August and Nadiem Amiri underwent foot surgery in mid-August.

• Dennis Geiger is missing since 10 March because of a hamstring injury. Lukas Rupp has not played this season after suffering a knee injury on 5 May.

• Steven Zuber scored Switzerland's opening goal in a 6-0 win against Iceland in the UEFA Nations League on 8 September. The following day, Nico Schulz marked his international debut with Germany's winner in a friendly against Peru (2-1).