Mykhailo Mudryk doping test ‘a dagger to the heart of Ukrainian football’

It was just half a year into the Russian invasion of Ukraine when, one warm September night in eastern Germany, I encountered Mykhailo Mudryk shortly after midnight.

At that time, in September 2022, Mudryk was already on his way to becoming a rising star for the Ukrainian champions, Shakhtar Donetsk. He played a crucial role in Shakhtar’s surprising 4-1 victory over German team RB Leipzig in the opening match of their Champions League campaign.

For Mudryk and his teammates, the Champions League provided a moment of relief from the turmoil back home. In February 2022, when Russian bombs shook Ukraine, many of Shakhtar’s foreign players sought shelter in a Kyiv hotel room before eventually being helped to safety by various national embassies, football organizations, and UEFA.

Shakhtar, with a squad that had been dramatically depleted by the departure of several Brazilian players seeking safer havens, continued to play on in the 2022-23 season. They were forced to play their home matches in Lviv, a relatively safer city in western Ukraine, but the threat of conflict loomed with frequent interruptions due to air raid sirens.

The team was now composed mostly of young, inexperienced players, with only one player signed for more than £2million. When they faced Real Madrid the following month, their starting lineup included 10 Ukrainian players, eight of whom had been developed through the club’s youth system, and seven who were 23 years old or younger.

At just 21 years old, Mudryk suddenly became the face of a team whose resilience and defiance embodied the spirit of the Ukrainian people.

On that eventful evening in Germany, The Athletic was with the Ukrainian team as they documented their journey to continue playing amidst the war. I briefly spoke with Mudryk and his close friend and teammate Georgiy Sudakov as they exited their hotel in Leipzig in the early hours of the morning, still reeling from their improbable victory.

Amidst his sudden rise to stardom, Mudryk’s career took an unexpected turn with his positive test for the banned substance meldonium, casting doubt on his future in football and leaving him in a precarious position.