LNZ Cherkasy, a Ukrainian club that was playing fourth-tier football as recently as 2021, will make its European debut this week when it faces Belgian side Gent in the second qualifying round of the Conference League. The achievement is remarkable given the wider disruption to Ukrainian football since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, making LNZ's rapid rise an unusual and morale-boosting story for the country's game.

LNZ, based in the city of Cherkasy and named after the local agribusiness that owns the club, turned professional only in 2020 and earned their European qualification by finishing runners-up in Ukraine's top flight last season, having been 12th the year before. The team, led by 26-year-old chief executive Vasyl Kayuk and manager Vitaliy Ponomaryov, briefly topped the league at the halfway point of the 2025-26 season and beat champions Shakhtar Donetsk 4-1 away last October, before eventually finishing behind Shakhtar. Club figures describe a long-term, deliberately paced project rather than a one-off success, with the aim of establishing LNZ as a stable force in Ukrainian and European football.