following the mysterious october 1995 bombing assassination of former team president akhat bragin at the team's stadium, akhmetov (who had served as bragin's right-hand man and himself narrowly missed the attempt on his life), subsequently inherited operation of the shakhtar donetsk football club. on 11 october 1996, akhmetov was appointed president of the team and began investing heavily in both players and their training facilities. under his command, fc shakhtar became ukrainian premier league champions in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017; domestic cup champions in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017; super-cup in 2005, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017; and uefa cup in 2009.