Shakhtar Donetsk vs Young Boys facts

Shakhtar Donetsk and Young Boys are both looking for their first win of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League when they meet at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen on Matchday 4.

The teams have a single point between them after three matches, Shakhtar opening with a 0-0 draw at debutants Bologna but subsequently losing 0-3 against Atalanta and 1-0 at Arsenal. Young Boys were beaten 0-3 at home by Aston Villa on Matchday 1 before losing 5-0 at Barcelona and conceding in the 93rd minute to go down 0-1 at home to Inter Milan last time out.

Previous meetings

2016/17 Champions League third qualifying round
Shakhtar 2-0 Young Boys
Young Boys 2-0 Shakhtar (aet, 4-2 pens)
Shakhtar looked well set to progress as first-leg goals in Lviv from Bernard (27) and – after the visitors had lost Milan Vilotić to a 55th-minute second yellow card – Yevhen Seleznyov (75) put them in control.

Two quickfire second-half strikes from Yuya Kubo (54, 60) in Bern levelled the tie, however, and YB held their nerve in the shoot-out, converting four of their five kicks with Fred and Yaroslav Rakitskyy both failing from the spot for Shakhtar.

Form guide

Shakhtar 

Record vs Swiss clubs: W8 D1 L3 F25 A15
Home record vs Swiss clubs: W5 D0 L0

Shakhtar's last game against Swiss opponents was a 4-1 win against Basel in the one-off UEFA Europa League quarter-final in Gelsenkirchen in August 2020.

That made it four wins in their last five games with Swiss opponents (L1) and six in the last eight (L2).

The Pitmen have scored 14 goals in winning all five home matches against Swiss visitors, conceding only two and keeping four clean sheets including in each of the last three matches.

The Ukrainian side are making an eighth successive appearance in the Champions League proper, and a 19th overall. They have featured in all but one of the last 15 seasons.

The Pitmen have failed to progress to the knockout rounds in each of the last six campaigns.

In 2023/24, Shakhtar were third in Group H behind Barcelona and Porto despite winning three of their six games. They lost the others, including a decisive 5-3 defeat in Portugal on Matchday 6.

That sent them into the Europa League where Marseille proved too strong in their knockout round play-off (2-2 h, 1-3 a).

Shakhtar's most successful Champions League campaign came in 2010/11, when they reached the quarter-finals before losing 6-1 on aggregate to eventual champions Barcelona.

The Pitmen have won only eight of their last 28 home European games (D12 L8).

Shakhtar have eight wins in their last 39 matches in the Champions League proper, home and away (D14 L17).

Under Marino Pušić, who had been appointed in October, Shakhtar won their 15th Ukrainian Premier League in 2023/24. They also lifted the Ukrainian Cup for a record 14th time, a ninth domestic double.

Young Boys

Record vs Ukrainian clubs: W2 D1 L3 F7 A8
Away record vs Ukrainian clubs: W0 D1 L2

Young Boys have played four matches against Dynamo Kyiv since their 2016 contests against Shakhtar, winning on away goals in the 2017/18 Champions League third qualifying round (1-3 a, 2-0 h) but picking up only one point in the Europa League group stage later in the same campaign (2-2 a, 0-1 h).

YB have reached the Champions League proper four times – all in the last seven seasons.

In 2023/24, the Swiss side finished third in their section behind Manchester City and Leipzig but ahead of Crvena Zvezda thanks to a 2-0 home win against the Serbian side on Matchday 5; they had drawn 2-2 in Belgrade, losing their other four games.

Young Boys therefore moved across into the Europa League but their campaign lasted only one tie, a defeat against Sporting CP in the knockout round play-offs (1-3 h, 1-1 a).

The Bern club started this season in the Champions League play-offs, winning 3-2 at home to Galatasaray and sealing a place in the league phase with a 1-0 away victory.

The victory in Istanbul ended Young Boys' run of five games without an away European win (D3 L2).

YB have never won an away game in ten attempts in the Champions League proper; a 2-2 draw at Crvena Zvezda last season is one of only two in which they avoided defeat, the other a 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Matchday 6 in 2021/22.

Young Boys won their sixth Swiss Super League title in seven years in 2023/24, their 17th championship overall.

Links and trivia

Taras Stepanenko set up a goal as Shakhtar beat Young Boys in the first leg of that 2016/17 tie; he is the only player remaining from either club who featured in those games.

Latest news

Shakhtar

The Pitmen have won seven of their 11 league games this season (D2 L2), beating Chornomorets 2-1 on Saturday thanks to Artem Bondarenko's sixth goal of the season.

On 27 October Shakhtar conceded a late equaliser to draw 1-1 at Dynamo Kyiv. Bondarenko opened the scoring before Dmytro Kryskiv was sent off just past the hour.

Georgiy Sudakov is Shakhtar's top scorer (seven) and assist provider (three) this season. He scored four and set up the other in Shakhtar's 5-1 victory against LNZ Cherkasy on 6 October, the first time a player had scored four in a Ukrainian Premier League match since 2017.

Shakhtar reached the Ukrainian Cup quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over a ten-man Zorya Luhansk on 30 October thanks to Lassina Traoré's second goal of the season.

Young Boys

YB drew 0-0 at Zürich on Saturday.

A 3-2 home win against Basel on 30 October is one of only three in Young Boys' last ten games in all competitions – a run that includes six defeats.

The 2-0 loss at Lugano on 27 October was YB's sixth league reverse of the season – just one less than in the whole of 2023/24.

YB parted company with Patrick Rahmen on 8 October; Under-21 coach Joël Magnin has replaced him on an interim basis.

Saidy Janko has not played this season due to a muscle injury.

Patric Pfeiffer has been out since suffering a hamstring injury on his Young Boys debut on 17 August; he damaged the medial ligament in his right knee in training on 9 October.

Miguel Chaiwa has not played since 11 October due to an ankle injury while Banhie Zoukrou has been out since suffering a hip injury in training on 16 October.

Mohamed Ali Camara has missed the last three matches with a muscle injury.