How LNZ Cherkasy become a wartime success story with few modern parallels

Ukrainian club were in fourth tier in 2021 but, despite war with Russia, will contest European qualifiers for first time It is time for set-piece training at LNZ Cherkasy’s smart, shiny training facility. “Arsenal!” one player says with a laugh as the grappling at a corner begins, the joke spreading among others clustered in the six-yard box. That is a level everyone here must aspire to but they are edging nearer. This week a club from what used to be one of Ukraine’s football backwaters will…