• Event date: 22.10.2008
• Time: 21:45

The 2009 UEFA Champions League Final will be the 54th final of the UEFA Champions League football tournament and the 17th final under the current format. The final will be played at the 82,000 capacity Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the home of A.S. Roma and S.S. Lazio, on 27 May 2009.

Participants:

• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Sporting Portugal

Event place:

• Shakhtar Stadium

• Shakhtar Donetsk

October 11, 1996, Rinat Akhmetov was appointed the President of FC Shakhtar Donetsk, who secured the further prosperity and development of the club. The club has been keeping the leading position in Ukarine since then keeping first or second standing (second position in the league is considered as a mishap). FC Shakhtar have twice won Ukrainian Champions titles, Domestic Cup 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004 and Super-Cup 2005. The President has been doing whatever possible to promote the club to the European level.

European Cups have long been the Achilles' heel of Shakhtar. After a success in 1997 against Vicenze Italy in the Round of 16 of CWC FC Shakhtar found challenging to confront quite regular clubs like Zurich, Roda; in 2001, 2002, 2003 - CSKA Sofia, Austria and Dinamo Bucuresti.

Though FC Shakhtar under Viktor Prokopenko tried the taste of the Champions League in 2000 after a victory over Slavia Praha. FC Shakhtar met Europe and Europe met Shakhtar.

The club has been developing their infrastructure in the meanwhile. In 1999 FC Shakhtar opened their Football Academy for youth. In the same year they finished reconstruction of the training facilities Kirsha. CS Shakhtar was modernized according to the UEFA requirements.

In 2000 FC Shakhtar signed the first foreign player from - a Romanian Marian Aliuta. Each year they contracted international players from Nigeria, Croatia, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia.

A foreign coach, an Italian Nevio Scala, secured first Ukrainian gold for Shakhtar. After that a German Bernd Shuster coached Donetsk and now - a Romanian Mircea Lucescu.

Today's Shakhtar do not conceal their ambitions. Their president Rinat Akhmetov has been aiming to win a European Cup. It's been the third year, when Donetsk appear in the finals of the UEFA Cup. FC Shakhtar still wait for the Champions League in the up-coming season.

The club intends to construct a five-star stadium with a budget of USD 250mln. till 2008.

Besides they want to have a Football Academy with players trained for the main squad and a modern Rehabilitation Centre for players.

• Sporting Portugal

Sporting Clube de Portugal (pron. IPA: ['spɔɾtĩg 'klub(ɨ) dɨ puɾtu'gaɫ]; (referred to coloquially as "Sporting" or "Sporting CP", and often in English (though incorrectly) as "Sporting Lisbon" to prevent ambiguity) is a sports club based in Lisbon, Portugal. The club is particularly renowned for its football branch. With more than 100,000 registered club members[1], Sporting is one of the most successful and popular sports clubs in Portugal. Its teams, athletes and supporters are often nicknamed "Os Leões", which stands for "The Lions".

Along with Benfica and FC Porto, Sporting is one of "The Big Three" sports clubs in Portugal. It is the club with the greatest number of medals won by its athletes in Olympic competitions, and one of the most remarkable at the European level regarding the number of trophies won in every sport (placed in second position, right after Barcelona).