Antwerp vs Shakhtar Donetsk match facts

Antwerp and Shakhtar Donetsk are both looking for their first points in UEFA Champions League Group H as they meet in Belgium on Matchday 2.

Antwerp's first ever game in the competition proved a chastening one as they went down 5-0 away to Barcelona while Shakhtar's seventh successive group stage appearance began with a 3-1 loss to Porto at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.

This is the clubs' first meeting.

Form guide

Antwerp

As well as being their first game against Shakhtar, Antwerp have also never played Ukrainian opponents in UEFA competition.

Antwerp's only previous European Cup tie before this season came in 1957/58, Real Madrid winning 2-1 in Duerne in the first round first leg with Alfredo Di Stéfano scoring both goals before Héctor Rial's first-half hat-trick set up a 6-0 second-leg home victory at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Antwerp were the champions of Belgium for the fifth time, and the first since 1957, in 2022/23, a 94th-minute goal from Toby Alderweireld on the final day of the season securing a 2-2 draw with Genk to snatch the title.

Mark van Bommel's side also lifted the Belgian Cup for the second time in four seasons to complete a first domestic double.

Antwerp then beat AEK Athens 1-0 at home – despite playing almost half the match with ten men following Jelle Bataille's 50th-minute red card – and 2-1 away in the play-offs to reach the Champions League group stage in what was their first European Cup contest in 66 years.

The Great Old's most notable European campaign came when they finished runners-up in the 1992/93 European Cup Winners' Cup, losing 3-1 to Parma at Wembley. They remain the last Belgian club to reach the final of a UEFA competition.

This is Antwerp's fifth successive European campaign, their participation in the 2019/20 Europa League having ended a 25-year absence from continental competition.

The Belgian side took part in UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying last season, beating Drita of Kosovo 2-0 on aggregate in the second qualifying round and Norway's Lillestrøm 5-1 in the next round only to lose 4-2 on aggregate to İstanbul Başakşehir in the play-offs (1-1 a, 1-3 h).

The Matchday 1 loss to Barcelona was only Antwerp's second defeat in their last 11 European matches (W6 D3).

Antwerp's home European record is W16 D7 L11; they have won four and lost four of their last nine matches.

Shakhtar

Record vs Belgian clubs: W8 D5 L1 F31 A14
Away record vs Belgian clubs: W4 D2 L1

Shakhtar last faced Belgian opponents in the 2021/22 Champions League third qualifying round, beating Genk 2-1 away and at home on their way to the group stage.

That second-leg win in Kyiv made it six successive victories against teams from Belgium.

Shakhtar have also been victorious on their last four trips to Belgium, where their sole reverse came on their first visit – and first game against a Belgian club – a 1-0 loss at Club Brugge in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round first leg.

The Ukrainian side are making a seventh successive appearance in the Champions League group stage, and an 18th overall. They have featured in all but one of the last 14 seasons.

The Pitmen have failed to progress from their section in each of the last five seasons.

In 2022/23, Shakhtar kicked off with a 4-1 win at Leipzig but failed to win another game, finishing with six points to end third in Group F behind Real Madrid and the German club.

That victory at Leipzig was Shakhtar's first in the Champions League since a 2-0 win at home to Real Madrid on Matchday 5 in 2020/21, one of only two in their last 17 group games (D7 L8), and one of just five in their last 31 matches in the competition proper (D13 L13).

The Donetsk club subsequently won a dramatic Europa League knockout round play-off against Rennes, progressing 5-4 on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate draw, but were overwhelmed by Feyenoord in the round of 16 (1-1 h, 1-7 a).

Shakhtar's most successful Champions League campaign came in 2010/11, when they reached the quarter-finals before losing 6-1 on aggregate to eventual champions Barcelona.

The Ukrainian club have won only one of their last 14 Champions League group stage matches (D6 L7). Last season's victory at Leipzig is their only success in their last eight away from home (D2 L5).

That win in Leipzig is Shakhtar's sole success in their last eight European away matches – a sequence that includes six defeats.

Under Igor Jovićević, Shakhtar won their 14th Ukrainian Premier League in 2022/23, finishing five points above Dnipro-1.

Jovićević was replaced as coach by Patrick van Leeuwen in the summer.

Links and trivia

Shakhtar's Yehor Nazaryna appeared in 18 games in all competitions for Antwerp between January 2018 and September 2019.

Novatus Miroshi played in Belgium for Zulte Waregem in 2022/23 before joining Shakhtar on loan this summer.

Maryan Shved represented Belgian side Mechelen from 2020 to 2022 before signing for Shakhtar.

Latest news

Antwerp

Summer transfers
In: George Ilenikhena (Amiens), Mandela Keita (Oud-Heverlee Leuven, loan), Jacob Ondrejka (Elfsborg), Chidera Ejuke (CSKA Moskva), Senne Lammens (Club Brugge), Soumaïla Coulibaly (Dortmund), Owen Wijndal (Ajax, loan)

Out: Gastón Ávila (Ajax), Willian Pacho (Frankfurt), Alexis De Sart (Brussels), Pieter Gerkens (Gent), Koji Miyoshi (Birmingham), Pierre Dwomoh (Brussels, loan), Laurit Krasniqi (Roda, loan), Christopher Scott (Hannover, loan), Birger Verstraete (Aris)

Antwerp have drawn their last three games 0-0, Saturday's stalemate at Mechelen following draws against RWDM on 23 September and at home to Gent four days later, to make their record in all competitions this season W5 D6 L2.

Antwerp's run of four games without a goal is their longest scoreless sequence since February-March 2004, when they also drew a blank for four matches in a row.

Mark van Bommel's side have won three of their first nine league games; they have drawn five of the last six.

A 3-0 win at Westerlo on 15 September is Antwerp's only victory in six games in all competitions (D4 L1).

The Matchday 1 loss at Barcelona was the first time Antwerp had conceded five goals in a game since a 5-2 UEFA Europa League reverse at Rangers on 25 February 2021. It was their heaviest defeat since another 5-0 loss, at home to Sint-Truiden in the Belgian second division on 1 March 2014.

Vincent Janssen made it five league goals for the season with the opener at Westerlo; only Arbnor Muja, who got his second of the campaign in that game, has also scored more than once.

Jelle Bataille scored Antwerp's second goal, his first in the league for the club on his 73rd appearance since he joined in June 2021.

Antwerp were 6-0 winners at home to Kortrijk on 11 August, the first time they had scored six goals in a game in exactly ten years, since a 7-2 win at KSK Heist in the second division on 11 August 2013, and their biggest victory since a 7-0 win at Beveren on 1 March 2008.

Antwerp beat Mechelen 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Belgian Super Cup on 23 July. It was their first appearance in the match since 1992 and their first victory.

Second-choice goalkeeper Ortwin De Wolf has not played this season due to a finger injury.

Björn Engels has been sidelined since February 2022 due to an Achilles tendon injury.

Shakhtar

Summer transfers
In: Denil Castillo (LDU Quito), Pedrinho (unattached), Stav Lemkin (Hapoel Tel-Aviv), Eguinaldo (Vasco da Gama), Dmytro Chygrynskiy (free agent), Newerton (São Paulo), Irakli Azarov (Crvena zvezda), Novatus Miroshi (Zulte Waregem, loan), Artur Rudko (Lech Poznań), Pedrinho (Athletico Paranaense)

Out: Valeriy Bondarenko (Kolos Kovalivka), Oleksiy Shevchenko (Chornomorets), Neven Djurasek (Aris Thessaloniki), Andriy Pyatov (retired), Manor Solomon (Tottenham), Marlon (Fluminense, loan), Olarenwaju Kayode (released), Anatoliy Trubin (Benfica), Tetê (Galatasaray), Andriy Totovytskyi (Kolos Kovalivka, loan)

Shakhtar suffered their first defeat in this season's Ukrainian Premier League on Saturday, going down 2-1 at home to Vorskla despite Oleksandr Zubkov's first goal of the season. It was their first home league loss since going down by the same scoreline against Oleksandriya on 7 August 2021; their record in their subsequent 24 home games before the weekend was W21 L3.

The Donetsk club had been unbeaten in their eight previous league games in 2023/24 (W5 D3), a three-game winning run ended by a 1-1 draw at Rukh Lviv on 23 September.

Georgiy Sudakov scored his second goal of the season, giving the Pitmen a 17th-minute lead, but four minutes later, Yaroslav Rakitskyy was sent off. That was Shakhtar's fifth red card in the league this season, and the Ukrainian champions were denied their fourth consecutive league win by an 88th-minute equaliser.

On 27 September Shakhtar were 3-0 winners at Veres Rivne in the Ukrainian Cup round of 16 courtesy of goals from Olexiy Kashchuk, Artem Bondarenko and Oleh Ocheretko.

Kashchuk's goal made him Shakhtar's top scorer in all competitions this season, with four so far.

Centre-back Mykola Matviyenko, who has not played since 9 September due to Achilles tendon issues although he was on the bench on Saturday, has three goals this season and is Shakhtar's joint top scorer in the league alongside Kashchuk.

Kashchuk returned to Shakhtar in the summer after a loan spell at Azerbaijan side Sabah, where he notched 16 goals and 12 assists last season.

Club captain Taras Stepanenko made his 400th Shakhtar appearance at Veres.

Shakhtar's first-choice striker Lassina Traoré is expected to be sidelined until the end of the year with a torn tendon; he has not been included in their UEFA Champions League squad.

Centre-back Valeriy Bondar has been out since 29 July due to a collarbone fracture.