Donetsk, Jun 29 — DAN. Teams from the Donetsk People’s Republic will take part in the Commonwealth League football tournament which will run from August to November 2023, said DPR Acting Sport and Tourism Minister Yury Martynov.
The “Commonwealth League” will gather teams from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, ” Martynov told the Donetsk News Agency. “In the adult group, the DPR will be represented by football clubs Gvardeyets (Donetsk), Shakhtyor (Donetsk) and Olympia (Mariupol).”
Junior group U-16 includes Shakhtyor Donbassa (Donetsk), Bazhanovets-Avangard (Makeyevka), and Children’s Sport School No 1 (Khartsyzsk), while the U-14 group includes Bazhanovets (Makeyevka), and the youth teams from football clubs Olympia (Mariupol) and Gvardeyets (Donetsk), he said.
The Commonwealth League, a new football tournament was first announced in March 2022, and the theme was followed up in August. The initial plan was to establish a championship for football clubs from Crimea, the DPR, LPR and the Zaporozhye, Kharkov and Kherson regions, as well as from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Martynov also told DAN that the issue of a DPR team’s participation in the Russian championship was under consideration.*jk