Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Kyiv, Dec. 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk received EUR 372,513 for the participation of its players in the finals of the Euro 2008 European Football Championship in Austria and Switzerland this year.

UEFA said on Thursday that it would transfer the funds to the Football Federation of Ukraine to be sent on to Shakhtar.

This is the only Ukrainian team to receive funds from the European football organization under such a program.

These payments form part of the agreement of the historic Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed between UEFA and the European Club Association (ECA) on January 21, 2008.

The target total amount set for distribution to the national associations from UEFA EURO 2008 was fixed at EUR 43.5 million. For UEFA EURO 2012 the target total amount to be distributed is set at EUR 55 million, provided final financial results of UEFA EURO 2012 are substantially similar to those of UEFA EURO 2008.

A total of 180 clubs are set to benefit from their contribution to the success of the final round of UEFA EURO 2008, and together they represent 24 of UEFA's 53 national associations.

The club's share was calculated by the "per player per day" amount multiplied by the number of days each player was at UEFA EURO 2008. This started two weeks before the first match of his national team until the day his team was eliminated. From this, the relevant percentage of the share was calculated for passing on to the club(s) with which a player was registered in the preceding two years prior to the start of the final tournament.