Fulham‘s Craven Cottage and Brentford‘s Gtech Community Stadium were also considered as Shakhtar explored options for bringing elite-level European football to west London.
However, both have smaller capacities than Stamford Bridge and the proposition of playing Europe’s biggest clubs or even English rivals in London has officials believing they can sell out a larger arena.
The move is intended to connect with some of the 32,000 Ukraine-born residents in the capital, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures, with about 100,000 people of Ukrainian heritage living in the UK.
The availability of Chelsea‘s stadium follows the club’s 10th-place Premier League finish last season, which left them without European football.
That means there should be no significant scheduling clashes, though Hammersmith and Fulham Council, and Uefa, would need to approve additional fixtures.
