Shakhtar Donetsk’s unlikely hero

Shakhtar Donetsk won their sixth league title in eight years last week, a 3-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Oleksandriya ensuring that they would again finish above Dynamo Kiev.

Their period of domination is based on the wealth of their oligarch owner Rinat Akhmetov, of course, which leads many to dismiss their success — as though Dynamo Kiev’s power were derived from any more reputable source.

But whatever you may think of how Akhmetov made his money amid the collapse of the USSR, or even about super-rich owners in general, it can hardly be denied that he has been a model owner of his type.