EHF Champions League, War, and Keeping a Club Alive

HC Motor Zaporizhzhia is one of European handball's modern dynasties. Ukrainian champions 10 years in a row. Eight national cups. A permanent fixture in the EHF Champions League since 2013. When Gintaras Savukynas joined the club in February 2020, he was stepping into one of the continent's most successful programs.

What happened over the next three years was something no coaching manual could have prepared him for.

The EHF Champions League Years

Savukynas's first task was clear: maintain Motor's domestic dominance while pushing deeper in European competition. The club had been drawn into the stronger Group A/B pool in the EHF Champions League for the first time — a sign of respect for their consistent results, but also a significant step up in difficulty.

The 2020/21 season brought matches against some of the biggest names in world handball — Barcelona, Veszprém, PSG, Flensburg. The squad blended experienced international players — including Lithuanian internationals Aidenas Malašinskas and Jonas Truchanovičius (the latter a 2018 EHF Champions League winner with Montpellier) — with a core of talented young Ukrainians.

The 2021/22 season continued in the same direction. Motor qualified for the EHF Champions League for the ninth consecutive year. The future looked stable, ambitious, predictable.

Then, on the evening of February 23, 2022, Motor's players boarded a flight back from Poland after an EHF Champions League match against Kielce. They had lost 27–33 in Kielce. It was a disappointing result, but just another away day in European handball.

Within hours, everything changed.

February 24, 2022

The team's plane was diverted to Kiev. Zaporizhzhia's airspace had been closed. Russia had invaded Ukraine.

From hotel windows in Kiev, players watched military vehicles streaming through the streets. Their families were in Zaporizhzhia — a city that would soon become internationally known for its nuclear power plant, which sat on the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian players faced the possibility of military conscription. The foreign players — Icelandic, Spanish, Lithuanian — were given a choice: leave for the Polish border, or stay with the team.

The club's season in the EHF Champions League was over. The Ukrainian league was over. In a single night, everything Motor had built was in question.

The Decision to Stay

In the weeks that followed, most of Motor's international players left — understandably. Malašinskas went to MT Melsungen in Germany. Viachaslau Bokhan to Dinamo Bucharest. Denis Vasilev to Eurofarm Pelister. Others scattered across European clubs. The squad that had competed in the Champions League was effectively gone.

Gintaras Savukynas is Lithuanian. He had no obligation to remain with a Ukrainian club in a war zone. He could have gone home to Kaunas, waited for another coaching opportunity, and no one would have blamed him.

He stayed.

So did Jonas Truchanovičius.

"We are all worried, obviously. We are in constant contact with the club president, who has assured us that the athletes and their families will receive all possible security guarantees."

Düsseldorf

Over the following months, Motor's leadership worked to find a way to keep the club alive. Conversations with multiple European federations led to Germany, where the conditions were best. The Handball Bundesliga (HBL) — under the principle "handball players help handball players" — granted Motor a guest spot in the 2. Bundesliga.

The club, the remaining players, and their families relocated to Düsseldorf. The city administration supported the project. Sponsors D.SPORTS and D.LIVE helped with logistics and facilities.

The squad that arrived in Düsseldorf looked nothing like the one that had played in the EHF Champions League months earlier. It was young, thin, and traumatized. Many of the players were barely out of their teens. They were essentially the Ukrainian national team in club form.

"The team has changed a lot — we have many young players and only three foreigners. The main aim for us this season is that our club and our players survive and to show to all Europe that Ukrainian handball is alive and fighting for Ukraine."

38 Matches in Germany

Motor played 38 matches as a guest team in the 2. Bundesliga during the 2022/23 season. Their results didn't count for the league table — the arrangement was purely about giving the players competitive match practice and keeping the club functioning.

The early results were rough. Defeats came frequently. But gradually, the young players adapted. The level of the German second division — which Savukynas himself called "one of the strongest leagues in European handball" — forced rapid development. What would have taken years in a weaker league happened in months.

"This experience will help the young players in particular, because it's a strong league in which we can learn a lot and improve."

Every evening after training or matches, the players called home. Their families were still in Zaporizhzhia, still under the constant threat of shelling, still living near Europe's largest nuclear power plant in an active war zone.

"Of course, the guys are always in contact with their families and they know what's going on around in the country, and they are worried about it. For me, sports help at this moment because you focus on your practice."

Leadership Under Extreme Conditions

The European League

Despite everything, Motor competed in the EHF European League 2022/23. The EHF had excluded them from the EHF Champions League due to organizational uncertainties, but the club took on the challenge at the second-highest European level.

"That is a decision we cannot change. Instead, we play in the second-highest European competition and meet high-ranking clubs. In this situation, that is good for us. Of course we have sporting ambitions, but right now it is more about keeping the club and the team alive."

Their opening European League match was against Füchse Berlin — one of the strongest teams in world handball.

"Füchse Berlin are one of the strongest teams in the world. In this special season, we want to do as well as possible and show the international handball community that Ukrainian handball continues to exist and that we are not defeated despite the difficult circumstances in our home country."