You're reading: FC Arsenal Kyiv should not have disappeared, says club’s owner

The new owner of FC Arsenal Kyiv, MP Oleksandr Onyschenko, has said he is confident that such a club should not have disappeared from Ukrainian football.

“First and foremost, this is a club from Kyiv. They have already
addressed me in this regard. The team is in a good place in the Premier
League. So it was interesting to me. It would be a pity if the team that
gained such a momentum and on which so much money was spent
disappeared. Therefore it was necessary to support it,” he said in an
interview with Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

“Many Ukrainian clubs are now in a difficult situation, including
Premier League clubs. And if they start disappearing, we won’t have
football in our country,” Onyschenko said.

As reported, Regions Party MP Onyschenko became the owner of FC Arsenal Kyiv on February 15.

On January 8, 2013, Arsenal Kyiv President Vadym Rabynovych said that
the club could cease to exist on January 20. On January 1, a contract
was terminated by mutual agreement with Arsenal Kyiv coach Leonid
Kuchuk, who took charge of Kuban Krasnodar on January 9.

Ukrainian media reported that the players had not received their salaries for three months.

On January 10, the club’s press service reported that the club’s
management and players were united in their desire to save the club.
After that, several leading players left the team.

On January 20, Rabynovych said that three well-known financial groups offered assistance to his club, which may cease to exist.

On February 4, it became known that Rabynovych could hand over
control over his football club to Regions Party MP Onyschenko by
February 15, 2013.

Arsenal Kyiv is in eighth place in the current season of the Ukrainian Premier League.