The Address of FC Shakhtar President Rinat Akhmetov to FFU President Grygoriy Surkis
Dear Grygoriy Mykhailovych!
The main for Ukrainian football game of the year takes place on 18 November at the Donbass Arena. On this day it will be decided if our representative team will go to World Cup in the South Africa or not.
Everybody understands that our national team requires powerful support of fans. But FFU has fixed incredibly high prices for tickets. I have been telling several times and I repeat once again that the supporters were treated, to put it mildly, badly. Moreover, we are facing the risk to see an empty stadium during this principally important match.
Having set excessively high prices for the tickets, you want to earn at the Donbass Arena UAH 36 m (USD 4.5 m according to the National Bank exchange rate). Consider that FFU earned on the matches of the Ukrainian national team in Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv around USD 300 thousand in each case.
Grygoriy Mykhailovych, I offer you a real way out of this situation. FC Shakhtar is ready to buy from FFU all 50 thousand attendance places for the match between Greece and Ukraine at the price of USD 1.5 m. It is more than you earned from all home matches of World Cup-2010 qualifying round at all stadiums altogether.
| Category | Number of seats | FFU price | FFU amount | FC Shakhtar price | FC Shakhtar amount |
| Cat. 5 | 19,106 | 200 | 3,821,200 | 20 | 382,120 |
| Cat. 4 | 15,646 | 400 | 6,258,400 | 25 | 391,150 |
| Cat. 3 | 9,133 | 600 | 5,479,800 | 40 | 365,320 |
| Cat. 2 | 2,094 | 800 | 1,675,200 | 50 | 104,700 |
| Cat. 1 | 969 | 2,000 | 1,938,000 | 75 | 72,675 |
| SILVER Club (Classic) | 1,114 | 4,500 | 5,013,000 | 210 | 233,940 |
| SILVER Club (Premium) | 1,069 | 4,500 | 4,810,500 | 370 | 395,530 |
| GOLDEN Club | 317 | 7,000 | 2,219,000 | 700 | 221,900 |
| PLATINUM Club | 375 | 8,000 | 3,000,000 | 850 | 318,750 |
| DIAMOND Club | 258 | 8,000 | 2,064,000 | 1,200 | 309,600 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 50,081 | UAH 36,279,100 | UAH 2,795,685 | ||
| USD 4,592,291 | USD 353,884 |
We will offer Ukrainian supporters the tickets at the price they are sold for Shakhtar matches within the UEFA Europa League. Starting from UAH 20. Pay attention to the difference between the prices of the FFU and those set by FC Shakhtar.
You can see that by having paid to the FFU USD 1.5 m, FC Shakhtar still will be able to earn in case of the sell-out at the Donbass Arena, altogether something around USD 353 thousand. The missing amount, namely USD 1 million 147 thousand will be covered by our club.
Those supporters who have already bought tickets at the FFU's prices will get the price difference reimbursed.
Grygoriy Mykhailovych, I am looking forward to your reply in the nearest hours. There is practically no time left to correct the situation.
Rinat Akhmetov, FC Shakhtar President
