{blackbabes} Shakhtar fetes birthday with Rihanna

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DONETSK, Ukraine (AFP) – Ukraine's leading football side Shakhtar Donetsk celebrated their 75th birthday in a spectacular party at their new stadium with pop star Rihanna and Ukrainian-born actress Milla Jovovich.

The team, who reached the Champions League quarter-finals this year, had their 51,000-capacity stadium filled to capacity in a major showpiece late on Saturday for the city that will host matches in the Euro 2012 championship.

The orange and black colours of Shakhtar (Miner) are the pride of Donetsk, the main city of eastern Ukraine, a gritty industrial region that rejoiced when Shakhtar won the UEFA Cup in 2009.

"I am proud to be here with you to celebrate the birthday of such a great team," Jovovich, who was born in Kiev under the Soviet Union before moving to the West with her parents, told the crowd in Russian.

Barbadian R and B star Rihanna, meanwhile, delighted the crowd at the brand new Donbass Arena with her latest hits in a show that also included spectacular 3-D projections, fireworks and dance.

Some of the spectators were less impressed with the appearance of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a native of the region and a Shakhtar fan whose government is implementing unpopular social reforms.

"The example of Shakhtar's victories is important for Ukraine," he said to whistles from some in the crowd.

The team played their first match on May 12, 1936 when the Soviet Union was ruled by Stalin.

Then, the club was called Stakhanovets after local miner Alexei Stakhanov who, it is claimed, smashed production records with superhuman efforts that gave birth to the word "stakhanovite".

After World War II the team was devastated, with only three players from the pre-war squad surviving fighting and Nazi occupation. But the club rebuilt and was renamed Shakhtar Stalino (then the name for Donetsk) in 1946.

Under independent Ukraine, their fortunes were transformed in 1996 when local steel and mining magnate Rinat Akhmetov became their president and they embarked on a spree to bring players from all corners of the globe to Donetsk.

Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine to be $16 billion, was given a massive ovation at the celebrations, with almost his every word applauded by the crowds.

"All of Europe knows how difficult it is to play against Donetsk," he said.

Shakhtar are currently riding high in the Ukrainian league, nine points ahead of their eternal rivals Dynamo Kiev.