FC Shakhtar Donetsk was founded in 1936 and takes its name from the coal miners of the Donbas region, a heritage still reflected in its emblem and in the nickname Hirnyky. Its home is the Donbas Arena in Donetsk, opened in 2009, but the club has been unable to play there since 2014: fighting in eastern Ukraine forced it into exile, and it has since staged home fixtures in Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv, with the wider war from 2022 keeping European ties abroad.

Shakhtar has won 16 Ukrainian Premier League titles and a record number of Ukrainian Cups. Its defining achievement came in 2009, when a side built around Brazilian imports beat Werder Bremen in Istanbul to win the UEFA Cup, the first European trophy for an independent Ukrainian club.

The club won the Ukrainian Premier League again in 2025-26.