November 8 – A Ukrainian top-flight game lasted a record four hours, 36 minutes because of the danger of Russian air attacks.
Dnipro-1 secured a 1-0 win over FC Oleksandriya on Monday, having already seen kickoff initially delayed by 15 minutes
Players were then subjected to an hour’s delay caused by another siren after being ordered off the pitch. The match was then postponed for a further hour and a half with just one minute remaining of normal time.
The game, which was initially due to start at 5pm local time, eventually finished close to 10pm.
Ukraine is holding its domestic season despite the war with Russia but games take place behind closed doors for security and safety reasons.
Dnipro had only started playing again at their home stadium in September, having relocated to the west following Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
With Dnipro-1 now second in the Ukrainian Premier League, the team’s defender Eduard Sarapiy told the club website his team were desperate to finish the match.
“This is the first such long game for us, and it could have ended badly for us. We wanted to play all of the game. We took to the pitch and tried to finish the game only by winning it,” he said.
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