Tough test in store for Dynamo

The 2003/04 Ukraine season is starting early this year, and the traditional giants - FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Shakhtar Donetsk - are preparing to face stiff competition from three other clubs.

European plan
With the season being brought forward to give Ukrainian sides a better opportunity to be at peak fitness for the start of the European season, UEFA Champions League success will remain the chief priority for Dynamo, the 2002/03 double winners.

Dynamo priorities
Another league and cup success would not be enough to satisfy Dynamo coach Olexiy Mykhaylichenko whose side will be expecting to reach the group stage of the Champions League, if not further. Having participated in European competition in every season since 1966, winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1975 and 1986 as well as the 1975 UEFA Super Cup, expectations are naturally high at the Lobanovskiy stadium.

Transfer dealings
However, the club have been relatively restrained in the transfer market, with the 25-year-old midfield player Denis Onischenko from Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC and the 20-year-old Oleh Husev from FC Arsenal Kyiv remaining their only major signings.

Famous five
The contrast with Shakhtar, their main rivals, is dramatic, as the Donetsk club's new German coach, Bernd Schuster, has brought five new players to the club. Croatian international goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, Romanian defender Razvan Rat and midfield trio Dario Srna, Zvonimir Vukic and Serhiy Zakarliuka make up an impressive list of new signings.

Costly defeats
Three defeats by Dynamo last season - one in the league, one in the Ukrainian Cup and one in the Lobanovskiy Memorial tournament - cost Shakhtar coach Valeriy Yaremchenko his job. In the meantime, Dynamo coach Mykhaylilchenko and his assistant Oleh Bazilevich have been growing in stature, but even they may yet be eclipsed by one of the three other Ukrainian clubs who are planning a title challenge.

Ambitious outsiders
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, led by the experienced Yevhen Kucherevskyi; FC Metalurh Donetsk, with Ukraine's youngest Ukrainian coach Olexander Sevidov at the helm; and Arsenal Kyiv, commanded by Vyacheslav Hroznyi, will all provide genuine competition for Shakhtar and Dynamo. All three clubs have retained or augmented their squads from last season, and while Dnipro and Metalurh will have UEFA Cup games to play, Arsenal will be hoping to benefit from having no European distractions.