KV Mechelen lost a special charity friendly against FC Karpaty Lviv on Saturday. The exhibition match, which finished 2-3, was the highlight of the annual Fanweekend and was organised by Foundation Mechelen in cooperation with the city.
Proceeds from ticket sales are directed to a centre in Lviv supporting survivors of captivity and torture. Lviv is the sister city of Mechelen and the home of Karpaty. The Ukrainian club's trainer, Fran Fernández, stated beforehand that his team in Mechelen "could play ninety minutes without such an interruption for the first time in a long time". In Lviv itself, matches are frequently interrupted by air raid alerts.
KV Mechelen fought back twice in the match. Bouke Boersma netted the 1-1 equaliser and Myron van Brederode scored shortly after Karpaty's 1-2 to make it 2-2. The visitors, however, decided the contest soon after. Mechelen played a large portion of the game with ten men following a red card.
Attention now turns to the league, where KV Mechelen sit 18th in the Jupiler Pro League with three points from seven games. The team hosts STVV at the Achter de Kazerne on Sunday 10 October. The last meeting, in December last year, ended in a 1 - 0 defeat. The full standings and upcoming fixtures can be found on our site.
The proceeds from the charity match will go to a centre in Lviv that is part of the UNBROKEN network, the organisers confirmed. The Foundation Mechelen, which organised the match together with the city, said other initiatives around the gala match were also linked to the good cause. KV Mechelen, who are 18th in the league, now turn their focus to the home game against STVV.
