The moment has arrived for set-piece drills at LNZ Cherkasy’s modern, polished training complex. As players jostle in the penalty area during a corner routine, one of them jokes, “Arsenal!”, a remark that quickly circulates among the group. Competing at such a level remains a goal, but they are moving closer to it. This week, a side from a region once considered a football outpost in Ukraine will play its first European fixture, marking a wartime achievement with few contemporary equivalents.
“We’re creating history,” says LNZ forward Mark Assinor once the physical battles have ended and training concludes. “The mindset has shifted, and I believe this is merely the beginning for this club.”
On Thursday, they meet Belgian club Gent, seasoned campaigners in Europe, in the Conference League’s second qualifying round. LNZ secured this opportunity last season by claiming second place in Ukraine’s premier division—an extraordinary feat considering they competed in the fourth tier as recently as 2021 and only became a professional club the year before.
After an apparently interminable six-mile journey across the Dnipro river, one of the first landmarks is a billboard displaying: “Cherkasy, football centre of Ukraine” in LNZ’s vivid purple shade. The nation’s geographic centre lies just a short distance away, yet the local club now radiates ambition and conviction. LNZ led the table at the midway stage of the 2025-26 season, eventually ending behind the powerhouse Shakhtar Donetsk, but something remarkable has awakened nonetheless.
“Nobody anticipated anything from us,” remarks Vasyl Kayuk, seated in a restaurant facing the club’s downtown headquarters, finishing a post-training meal prepared for the squad. At just 26, Kayuk is the youngest chief executive ever in Ukraine’s top division. “Being young and having no one believe in you is the greatest motivation and edge.” Alongside an equally youthful, spirited staff, he is determined that LNZ will shatter expectations.
“This city has never experienced anything like this,” Kayuk adds. LNZ has been around for two decades, but in a football environment severely disrupted by Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, it stands out as a club expanding rapidly. Its owners, a local agricultural firm that gives the club its name, have planted the seeds through deliberate investment, undeterred by the ongoing national crisis, with the ambition of creating a lasting success that serves as a symbol of hope for Ukraine.
“We often say we are marathon runners, not sprinters,” he explains. “Our goal is to develop this club and establish stability.” LNZ surpassed all expectations in merely their third season in the top flight, after placing 12th the previous year. When they stunned everyone with a 4-1 victory at Shakhtar last October, with Assinor among the scorers, an unlikely title push began. A subsequent series of draws allowed Shakhtar to pull clear, but the groundwork is being set to ensure LNZ remain genuine contenders.
As one of the few older figures in this youthful environment, head coach Vitaliy Ponomaryov injects a note of caution. “I doubt that celebrating today’s success will benefit us tomorrow,” he states, back at the training complex. “I told the players explicitly today that we must put everything behind us, establish new objectives, and keep improving.”
In certain respects, the 52‑year‑old Ponomaryov embodies the traditional Ukrainian approach: a direct, unembellished coach not prone to overstatement. Yet he possesses hidden layers, including a period working as an assistant referee in top‑division matches during the 2000s. Since arriving last year from Rukh Lviv, where he collaborated with Kayuk, he has crafted an adaptable, highly effective team that is at ease switching between styles.
“The previous season was tough, but he arrived and instilled a winning mindset,” Assinor notes. The Ghanaian forward was a sparkling discovery in 2024, following spells at little‑known clubs in Poland and Slovakia, perfectly illustrating a scouting structure designed to avoid large transfer fees. “Once we understood we could accomplish something, belief spread through the squad. He motivated everyone from the moment he came in.”
LNZ will stage the first leg against Gent in Plock, Poland. Ukrainian teams still must host European fixtures abroad due to the volatile situation at home. This reality permeates every aspect of life, even at an energetic, progressive club like this. In the training ground gym, one of the physiotherapists, Artur Pohorilyi, recounts his experiences as a combat medic and how he survived a blast near Izyum in 2023. Club doctor Roman Mishchenko volunteers at a hospital for wounded soldiers in Cherkasy, to which LNZ also contributes financially. Mishchenko is additionally involved in Ukraine’s advanced system for amputee footballers.
A few miles along the river, inside a converted Soviet‑era sanatorium, LNZ’s academy nurtures future stars. The under‑16s coach, Alexei Bulgakov, previously worked for the now‑dormant FC Mariupol before Russia attacked and seized the city. He managed to flee, but the cost—his home destroyed and forced separation from his family—was beyond comprehension. Bulgakov speaks vividly of a childhood immersed in local football, recalling matches between 52 worker teams at Mariupol’s sprawling Ilyich steel plant.
Among the players he now coaches are several youngsters from unlawfully occupied regions of Ukraine. Some of their parents still live there. “We talk among ourselves, share memories of landmarks and buildings in our cities, and hope that one day we can return,” he says. “The club recognises the difficulties these young players face and is very happy to offer them opportunities.”
They aspire to build futures within LNZ’s swiftly growing structure. The training facility is fresh and impressive in the Ukrainian context, yet it is regarded as only 35% finished, with plans for three additional pitches, an indoor dome, and a new stadium on the site. That process could take another five years. Attendances at their ageing downtown stadium tripled last season to over 2,000, a considerable accomplishment during wartime. Children under 14 can enter free of charge, and a matchday culture is being cultivated in a city finally establishing its identity in elite football.
“We aim to paint this city purple, our signature colour,” Kayuk states. “This club belongs to our people, but we also want Ukrainians to identify with us, with the centre of the country, and when they think of Cherkasy, they think of football. We intend to become a genuine force in our league.” A contest with Arsenal’s set‑piece experts still appears distant, but Gent could be the first international rivals to experience the rising strength of the purple wave.
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