Sudakov joins Benfica!

Sudakov, a 22-year-old midfielder, is the new signing of Sport Lisboa e Benfica. The Ukrainian international, who will wear the number 10 shirt, joins the club on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk until the end of the 2025/26 season. The agreement includes a mandatory purchase clause.

The terms of the deal were detailed to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM): "Sport Lisboa e Benfica – Futebol, SAD informs that has reached an agreement with Shakhtar Donetsk for the loan of player Heorhii Sudakov during the 2025/26 season, for an amount of €6,750,000 (six million seven hundred and fifty thousand euros). The agreement includes a mandatory clause for the permanent transfer of the player's sports rights, starting in the 2026/27 season, for €20,250,000 (twenty million two hundred and fifty thousand euros), and stipulates variable remuneration linked to individual and collective objectives, up to a maximum of €5,000,000 (five million euros). Thus, the total value of the transfer could reach €25,250,000 (twenty-five million two hundred and fifty thousand euros). Benfica SAD will have the right to retain the 5% solidarity mechanism for subsequent distribution to the clubs that participated in the player's training. Shakhtar Donetsk will also be entitled to receive 25% of the value of any future transfer of the player. It should be noted that Benfica SAD has the option to reduce this percentage from 25% to 15% by paying a fixed amount of €6,000,000 (six million euros)."

"It's an incredible club with an incredible history. For me, it's a step forward. I can grow with this team. In addition, my close friend Anatoliy Trubin plays here. Above all, I want to win everything with this club, first and foremost the Championship, of course, and I believe I can achieve that with this incredible team", he said in an exclusive interview with BTV

CAREER

Born in Brianka on September 1, 2002, Sudakov took his first steps in football at the Sokil Brianka football schools. In 2014, a year marked by the Russian occupation of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, the then 12-year-old moved to Kharkiv, where he joined the local Metalist academy.

In 2017, after shining in several youth tournaments, Heorhii Sudakov was signed by Shakhtar Donetsk and alternated between the miners' U19 and reserve teams in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons.

His official debut for Shakhtar's first team came on October 21, 2020, in a 3-2 victory over Real Madrid in the first match of Group B of the Champions League. The midfielder, then 18, came on in the 86th minute of the match played at the Merengues' training center (due to the works at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium). That same season (2020/21), he played 13 more games and scored one goal.

In 2021/22, he was called up to play on 14 occasions, and in 2022/23 he enjoyed a season of full affirmation. Playing in 39 games, Sudakov scored 5 goals and provided 10 assists, helping Donetsk win back the Ukrainian league and, at the age of 20, being voted the competition's Best Young Player. He was also voted by Shakhtar fans as Player of the Year ahead of... Trubin.

Already an established player, he contributed to the double in 2023/24 with 10 goals. Last season (2024/25), during which he wore the Shakhtar captain's armband in two games, Sudakov added another Ukrainian Cup to his trophy cabinet and broke his record for goals in a single season: 15.

Before moving to Benfica, the attacking midfielder helped Shakhtar reach the group stage of the 2025/26 Conference League and ended his six-season spell with the Donetsk giants with a record of 35 goals in 148 games.

Top scorer at the 2023 European Under-21 Championship with 3 goals, Heorhii Sudakov made his debut for Ukraine's first team on May 23, 2021, in a friendly against Bahrain. Since then, he has been part of the squads that competed in Euro 2020 (played in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and Euro 2024.