Escape to Hong Kong: football coach recalls terrifying evacuation from Ukraine-Russia war
Edgar Cardoso coached at Shakhtar Donetsk before fleeing fighter jets and explosions in Kyiv. He found sanctuary at Hong Kong club Kitchee
Edgar Cardoso, the Kitchee head coach, has revealed how the outbreak of war in Ukraine has turned his life and career upside down.
The Portuguese was working as the academy manager at Shakhtar Donetsk when he was forced to flee Kyiv, fearing for his life, following the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. Cardoso said the ordeal affected him psychologically and led to nightmares.
Following communication from his country’s embassy over the prospect of deadly fighting, Cardoso’s wife and young son left Kyiv four days before the conflict began.
Cardoso, meanwhile, was with the Shakhtar first team and his under-19 players at a training camp in the Turkish city of Antalya. A number of the senior contingent voiced concerns over returning to Kyiv, to which Shakhtar had relocated in 2014 because of war in the Donbas region. Club officials said the situation was under control.
“We all went back on February 22,” Cardoso told the Post. “I gave an interview to Portuguese TV the next day. I told them nothing was happening, everyone was working and out on the streets. I was just home from eight hours at the academy.