Life changed in an airport waiting lounge. This day three months ago Ostap Markevych was the manager of FC Mariupol. His team were bottom of the Ukrainian Premier League after the first half of the season. They won just two matches out of the first 18 and were conceding goals at a clip of more than three a game. No side had been in greater need of the winter break.
A few weeks of warm-weather training in Turkey had gone well, though. FC Mariupol had the youngest playing staff in the league, populated mostly by academy graduates, the occasional veteran keeping the last light flickering and a batch of loanees from league giants Shakhtar Donetsk. Sitting in the airport, boarding passes in hand, they were refreshed and ready to go home. It was Thursday, February 24th. They had Chornomorets Odesa away on Sunday.
“We wer …
- May 23, 2022
