FC Dynamo Kyiv president Ihor Surkis has commented upon the situation concerning the Ukrainian Premier League “single TV pool”.
“At the moment 4 clubs don’t settle for what’s offered regarding the “single pool”. I’ll speak only for Dynamo. As for other clubs that disagree, I know there opinion only from some interviews.
Dynamo position is as follows: these days, as war is on in our country, when the whole Ukraine is fighting against russian invaders, it should be free and totally available to watch the national league matches. We want everyone, who’s interested in football and Dynamo, to be able to watch.
That’s why we had only one condition – let us broadcast Dynamo home games on one of the national TV channels and our YouTube channel with several-minute delay. There’s nothing else we want.
This issue is especially important today. Fans’ interests are our priority. They should be able to watch out matches for free.
I’ll give you an example. The second leg against SK Sturm Graz on 2+2 channel was watched by 3-3,5 million people. Meanwhile on Setanta the figure equaled to around 350 thousand. Approximately the same was with the game against Fenerbahce in Istanbul. We want each fan to have an opportunity to watch Dynamo games.
When broadcasting Dynamo home matches, we initiate fundraising to help Ukrainian Armed Forces and humanitarian organizations. That’s what we also did during our charity games and we keep doing that.
Sports results are secondary for Dynamo nowadays. The major priority is helping Ukraine. The team won against Fenerbahce in extra time and left for England right away to play a charity match against Everton. Then there was a long flight and a match against Sturm. Social responsibility means the world today.
We’re ready to support the “single pool”, but we want fans’ interests and situation in the country to be taken into account”.
