Thought to be caused by an accident during testing of the plant’s steam turbine capabilities, the blast saw radioactive contamination drift across the Soviet Union and beyond. The players of Stroitel Pripyat were preparing themselves for a cup semi-final against Borodyanka when the blast occurred. Vincent Duitsch describes the events that unfolded:

“The Soviet authorities kept everything quiet, and even on the day of the accident at the Chernobyl station, the team had a match. The players gathered at the stadium, when a helicopter landed at the ground. They realised something was wrong. They were told to go home because there had been a disaster. In fact the decline of the Budivelnyk Football Club began on that day.”

To give further context to the events of the day, Artur adds:

“When the station exploded, All-Union youth wrestlers, who were taken on an overnight camping trip, saw helicopters fly by and chemical troops move in from their tents.”

Obviously, there were infinitely more pressing issues than football, but as Serhiy had mentioned, that would be the beginning of the end for FC Stroitel Pripyat, who instantly withdrew from the 1986 KFK Championship. Following the blast, the highly dangerous radiation spread quickly through the air. The entire city was immediately evacuated. As fires from the blast raged on for over a week, an exclusion zone that would eventually reach a radius of around 19 miles was set up, and well over 100,000 people moved from the area on safety grounds. Serhiy comments:

”Over time, they were relocated to safer regions. Some of the (FC Stroitel Pripyat) players went to other teams. I know the players who were involved in the elimination of the accident. They worked with radiation. It was very dangerous for health.”

One of the places many residents of Pripyat relocated to was a city called Slavutych, built to the northeast of the exclusion zone to provide a home for those that had been impacted by the blast and subsequent fall-out. Following the relocation, there were attempts to keep the team going, under a new name, to no avail, and as Artur and Serhiy explain, by 1988, what was a promising football club with real potential was no more.

Artur: “After the disaster, for some time, Budivelnyk played in Vyshgorod, where they represented (the region of) Kyiv Oblast, rather than Pripyat. Then in the new town of Slavutych - as Football Club Stroitel Slavutych.”

But this would, understandably, prove to be short-lived.

Serhiy: “The club was dying. It was only a matter of time. The desire to play was less. There was not enough money. The level of the team had significantly decreased. The club did not have a strong fanbase and history. It was a young project, and did not survive the destruction of it’s hometown. Probably, for many, it became a reminder of a terrible period in life - of pain, illness, and death.”

So Budivelnyk, the club formed for a city with a purpose, slipped away. It’s particularly cruel that it was an accident involving that very purpose which brought an end to the city, and all the ventures within it, and more agonisingly, cost many lives and caused untold suffering.

In 2016, 30 years on from the catastrophe at Chernobyl, Serhiy explains how a football match was played in memory of the tragic events.

“After 30 years, Budivelnyk played against Borodyanka. It was the postponed match that was not played on the day of the Chernobyl accident. The players, who were now around 60-years-old, on the football field, almost cried from emotions and nostalgia. One of the players, Serhiy Velichko, gave an assist with his head in that match. Doctors had forbidden him to play, let alone head the ball. He'd had a brain tumour, but survived, went on the field, and played the most important match of his life. The match finished 2-2, with Borodyanka winning on penalties. This is how the history of the Budivelnyk Football Club ended.”

The tragedy of Chernobyl, of Pripyat and the surrounding areas is still tangible today, nearly 38 years later. The exclusion zone remains under the tight control of the Ukrainian government. Authorised tour operators are allowed to organise tours for visitors, but must adhere to stringent safety protocols. Rightly or wrongly, the region has become something of a hotspot for ‘adventure tourists’ - looking for something unique. What will never be forgotten, however, is the events that took place nearly four decades ago. A catastrophe that claimed thousands upon thousands of lives and has caused immeasurable physical and mental hardships. Something which wiped out people's hopes, dreams, aspirations and prospects; their home. Forever altered their and their families’ future; and, though an incredibly minor consequence, took away their local football club, too.