Aug. 11, 2025, 11:17 a.m.
"Chornomorets, Seasters and Real Pharma faced unfairness from UEFA, and Elina Svitolina faced undeserved hate on social media. Read more about this and the successes of athletes from the South this week in Intent's sports digest.
Football. UEFA payment scandal
PHOTO: uefa.com
- This week, the Guardian reported that UEFA will pay 10.8 million euros in so-called solidarity payments to Russian football clubs. Since 2022, Russia has been suspended from participating in European tournaments, yet such payments continue to be steadily accrued.
- This situation looks even more outrageous due to the fact that five Ukrainian clubs have not received their payments for the past two seasons. These are Odesa' s Chornomorets and Real Pharma, as well as Zaporizhzhia's Metalurh, Kharkiv's Metalist 1925 and Phoenix Mariupol. The reason for the delay is cynically stated to be that these teams are "in the combat zone." Three women's clubs, including Odesa's Seasters, have not received payments.
- As the Ukrainian Football Association commented , UEFA did indeed send a request to see if these clubs were operating in the war zone. An official letter from the Ministry of Sports was sent to Switzerland confirming that these clubs were operating in the government-controlled territory, but there was no further development and no payments have been made. Intent will monitor the situation.
Tennis. Elina Svitolina and bullying
Elina Svitolina. PHOTO: elisvitolina/Instagram
- On Monday, Elina Svitolina suffered a disappointing defeat in the quarterfinals of the Montreal tournament against Naomi Osaka. This surprise caused a wave of inadequate comments towards the Odessan on social media. There were insults, accusations against her family, and threats of physical violence.
Examples of offensive comments. Image: elisvitolina/Instagram.
- Because of this, Elina was forced to show the inappropriate behavior of the commenters and respond to them publicly, transparently hinting that this aggression was caused by the commenters' lost bets.
To all gambling addicts: I am a mom first and an athlete second. The way you talk to a woman, to your mother, is shameful.
If your moms saw these messages, they would be disgusted.
Elina Svitolina
- Osaka herself reached the final, where she sensationally lost to young Canadian Victoria Mboko. She probably also had to endure a wave of hate on her page. The intent is to remind you of the inadmissibility of cyberbullying in any form, as well as the fact that betting is a form of gambling and can cause addiction and further inappropriate behavior.
Games and results
PHOTO: FC Chornomorets
- "Chornomorets won its second victory at the start of the First League and the first away from home. "Podillya conceded a goal from Yaroslav Rakitskyi in Khmelnytskyi quite early on and had little chance to equalize, but Yevhen Ryazantsev doubled the lead in the second half.
First League
Podillya - Chornomorets 0: 2
Second League
Girnyk-Sport - Chornomorets-2 1:1
PHOTO: Seasters FC
- Unlike their male counterparts,Seasters are playing in the elite division of the Ukrainian championshipthis year. But this did not stop the "sisters" from starting the new season with two victories.
Major League. Women
EMC-Podillya - Seasters 1:3
Seasters - Kryvbas 3:0
Marta Kostiuk. PHOTO: sport24.ua
- As mentioned above, Svitolina's tournament in Montreal ended in an upsetting defeat in the quarterfinals. At the same stage, another Ukrainian, Marta Kostiuk, ended the competition due to injury .
WTA1000. Montreal.
1/4 finals
Naomi Osaka - Elina Svitolina 6:2, 6:2
Elena Rybakina - Marta Kostiuk 6:1, 2:1, Kostiuk eliminated
Diana Yastremskaya. PHOTO: Getty Images
- A new tournament in Cincinnati started this week. It was not very successful for the Ukrainian women - Svitolina and Starobutseva lost their opening matches, and Kostiuk, despite starting with a crushing victory, was forced to withdraw from the competition again due to injury. The only one left in the fight is Diana Jastremska, against whom world number two Coco Goff will try to take revenge .
WTA1000. Cincinnati
First round
Leolia Zhang - Yulia Starodubtseva 7:5, 1:6, 6:4
Second round
Barbora Krejcikova - Elina Svitolina 2:6, 6:4, 6:3
Marta Kostiuk - Tatiana Maria 6:0, 6:1
Diana Jastremska - Victoria Tomova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
Julia Starodubtseva - Magdalena Franch 6-1, 6-1
Third round
Iga Svietek - Marta Kostiuk - withdrawal of Kostiuk
Diana Jastremska - Coco Goff
Events of the week
Matvey Kolesnikov. PHOTOS: Draughts in Ukraine
- Matviy Kolesnikov from Mykolaiv won the title of European champion in 100 cadet checkers. Matvii managed to score 16 points out of 18 possible in the blitz.
<i>Alina Shapovalova. PHOTO: Seaster Media</i>
- Alina Shapovalova from Odesa won silver at the Junior World Sailing Championships in the ICLA6 class. The world championship in this age group was held in the United States.
The Ukrainian national team at the opening of the World Games. Image: Ukrainian Sports Committee
- The first week of the World Games in Chengdu , China, was successful for Ukraine - our athletes have already won 7 gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze medals. Ukraine ranks 4th in the medal standings.
Photo of the week
PHOTO: Anzhelika Terliuga/Instagram
- It's great to see AnzhelikaTerliuha from Odesa among the medalists , who returned to the sport after giving birth to her daughter and took second place at this level of competition. It is with her, as well as with her husband and coach Volodymyr Zaretskyi, that she can be seen in the award ceremony.
Traditionally, we wish you and your favorite athletes and teams every success!
Адлен Муатс