No team in sports has ever faced the upheaval and challenges of Ukraine champions Shakhtar Donetsk. The four-episode fly-on-the-wall documentary series, “Football Must Go On,” follows the emotional and physical journey of Shakhtar’s players and coaches as they compete in the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League season against the constant backdrop of their homeland being ravaged by war.

 

Granted unique access by the team, Paramount+ and CBS Sports go with Shakhtar as the players and coaches juggle the demands of playing in club football’s biggest tournament, while monitoring the horrors unfolding at home. Forced by war to decamp to Poland, Shakhtar must play at “home” against European giants Real Madrid, and others, in a Warsaw stadium that also houses refugees from their homeland.

 

Wherever they play, Shakhtar must focus on the game in hand with the fate of their loved ones and homeland always on their minds. “Football Must Go On” is a unique juxtaposition of sports glory, the agony of war and the triumph of the human spirit.