It was 7:30 p.m. on May 24, and the neighborhood around Kyiv’s Besarabsky Market was teeming with people. Charter buses lined Taras Shevchenko Boulevard, loading and unloading visitors who had come to Ukraine to cheer on their favorite soccer teams in the Champions League final.
Pedestrians meandered the streets, speaking a mishmash of foreign languages. Despite the large number of police deployed to the area, the officers had little to do. They mostly stood on street corners and sidewalks, chatting with one another and watching the crowds.
At a pub near the intersection of Taras Shevchenko and Besarabsky Square, a crowd of Liverpool fans and onlookers, many intoxicated, spilled out over the sidewalk into the street. They loudly — and largely unintelligibly — sang what was likely the Liverpool Football Club’s iconic anthem, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
At a bus stop around the corner, a local woman chatted on her cell phone while waiting for one of the last buses until Monday. “It’s these guys, they’re all singing…” she said to her interlocutor, explaining the noise.
You'll Never Walk Alone #liverpool #lfc
Publiée par Vlad Krasinskiy sur vendredi 25 mai 2018
That chaotic scene was the successful result of weeks of preparation by Kyiv. As Liverpool and Real Madrid got ready to face off in Kyiv’s Olympiysky Stadium on May 26, the city itself prepared to host upwards of 70 thousand fans, according to National Police estimates.
The preparations covered everything from how people will arrive in Ukraine and get around Kyiv to how the city will keep them entertained for the duration of their stay.
Transport
Some of the most significant preparations affected transport in central Kyiv. Starting on May 12, the city closed off Kyiv’s central Khreshatyk street from Independence Square to Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street to create a fan zone for 20 thousand people. It also limited movement on several nearby side streets.
Starting on May 25, the city also closed off several other central streets until May 27 — including Velyka Vasylkivska Street, which runs past the stadium; parts of Lesia Ukrainka Boulevard; and several other smaller roads. Kyiv also limited automobile transport on many other streets.
The Kyiv Metro system announced changes to the subway system. On May 26, the Olympiiska metro stop — located right outside the stadium — will be closed from 6 p.m. Additionally, the Metro has warned that access to numerous central stations — Khreschatyk, Arsenalna, Tarasa Shevchenka, Kontraktova Ploscha, Poshtova Ploscha, Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Ploscha Lva Tolstoho, Palats Ukraina, and Palats Sportu — could be restricted at any time on the day of the match.
However, the metro system will also remain open for three hours longer than usual on the night of the Champions League final — until roughly 3:15 a.m.
Around 10,000 law enforcement officers from all branches of the Interior Ministry will patrol the streets and ensure order, the Unian news agency reported.
Pre-Match Festivities
In the run-up to the Champions League final, Kyiv hosted several events to entertain guests and fans alike.
On May 19th, British singer-songwriter John Newman performed a free concert near Olyimpiysky Stadium. He was joined by a lineup of popular Ukrainian musicians, including Monatik, TAYANNA, Olya Polyakova, THE HARDKISS, Dasha Astafyeva, Serhiy Babkin, and Melovin.
The concert was organized by the Ukraina television channel, which will broadcast it on May 26.
On May 24, Kyiv launched the Union of European Football Associations’ Champions Festival. After an opening ceremony marking the arrival of the trophy, four days of soccer competitions and concerts began. The festival includes matches for players with physical and learning disabilities, youth, and children from the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. (Full schedule)
The festival also features concerts by groups like popular folk music performers DakhaBrakha and Dutch DJ Kill the Buzz.
But main attraction was the Ultimate Champions Tournament, held on May 25 and featuring four teams made up of legendary players from Real Madrid, Liverpool, Ukraine, and beyond.
Among the famous footballers taking part were Luís Figo, Roberto Carlos, Andriy Shevchenko, Deco, Henrik Larsson, Marco Materazzi, and Claude Makélélé.
Shocking Welcome
As visitors began to arrive in Ukraine, they were met with some unusual welcomes. Both players from Liverpool and Real Madrid and their fans were greeted by border guards with their faces painted in the teams’ colors.
Called “Shocking Welcome,” the project was intended to replace the “usually apathetic faces of the border guards” with “smiling, painted” ones, CFC Consulting’s Gennadiy Kurochka, who created the project, wrote on Facebook.
Border guards with faces painted in the colors of the Real Madrid soccer team wait to check the passports of players and fans arriving for the Champions League final in Kyiv. (Courtesy, Gennadiy Kurochka)
Additionally, when Liverpool arrived at Kyiv Sikorsky Airport, the team was greeted by a young soccer fan, who gave a bouquet of flowers to forward Mohamed Salah. In turn, Salah autographed the boy’s soccer ball.
A young soccer fan poses for a photograph with Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah after presenting him with a bouquet of flower. (Kyiv Sikorsky Airport)
Fan Zones
Besides the main fanzone on Khreshatyk, there are also three others in Kyiv. Two are for fans of a specific team. Liverpool fans will gather in Shevchenko Park. Real Madrid fans are set to gather near Palats Ukraina.
And fans of either team can watch the match broadcast live on a big screen at the fanzone on Kontraktova Ploscha.
There will also be a live broadcast of the match for families at Spivoche Pole (33 Lavrska St), although this one will have a Hr 299 ($11) entrance fee.
Snafus
But preparations for the Champions League have not been without problems — some of them serious.
In the run-up to the match, Kyiv hotels and landlords jacked up the prices of the rooms and apartments they planned to rent out to football fans — often to astronomical levels.
There were reportedly also cases when landlords cancelled booking agreements made far in advance to cash in on the high demand and rising prices, leaving the former renters without accommodations. In response, Kyivans who felt embarrassed by the situation launched Facebook groups offering to host football fans for free.
Additionally, online scalpers — both Ukrainian and foreign — began illegally re-selling tickets to the Champions League final at ten times the box office price.
There was also at least one violent incident. On May 24, over 20 football hooligans attacked a group of Liverpool fans as they dined in a Kyiv restaurant. Police arrested two attackers, as well as one British fan who attempted to flee the scene. So far, the police have not commented on the attackers’ motive.
That wasn’t the only bad PR associated with the Champions League final. Andriy Pavelko, the chairperson of the Football Federation of Ukraine, sparked controversy over his handling of the Champions League cup after photos of his stepdaughter with the trophy appeared online.
In the pictures, the girl posed in the backseat of a luxury car with the cup and kissed it. Pavelko’s own daughter was also photographed with the trophy.
