World Football Day: victories and defeats of the Ukrainian national team in a year
Kyiv • UNN
On April 29, Ukraine celebrates Football Day. The national team played at Euro 2024, in the League of Nations, and is preparing for the selection for the 2026 World Cup.
Today, April 29, Ukraine unofficially celebrates the All-Ukrainian Football Day. On this day in 1992, the national football team of Ukraine played its debut match. The match against Hungary took place in Uzhhorod and ended in a 3-1 defeat for Ukraine. Chornomorets striker Ivan Hetsko became the first goalscorer of the national team, who "diluted" the score in the 90th minute, UNN writes.
First match
After the declaration of independence of our state, one of the important issues was the creation of an independent Ukrainian national team. The Football Federation of Ukraine was established on December 13, 1991. Viktor Bannikov was elected its first head. In the following year, 1992, the FFU became a member of UEFA and FIFA. It was then that preparations for the first national team match began. Initially, Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who was the coach of the UAE national team at the time, was planned to be appointed as the head coach of the team, but his current contract with the Arabs prevented this. Viktor Prokopenko was appointed the first coach of the newly created national team of Ukraine. Anatoliy Puzach, Valeriy Yaremchenko and Volodymyr Muntyan also joined the coaching staff.
After the documents on granting the FFU the status of a temporary member of the organizations were received from FIFA and UEFA, it was possible to organize the first historical match. The first game was agreed to be held between the national teams of Ukraine and Hungary on April 22, 1992 in Kyiv at the Republican Stadium. However, due to the financial difficulties of the federation, the game was moved closer to the border - to Uzhhorod. So, on April 29, 1992, at the Avangard Stadium in Uzhhorod, the national team of Ukraine played its first match in history.
When it came to forming the squads, a problem arose, because due to the lack of funds, it was not possible to call up legionnaires. Interestingly, there were also problems with the uniform: they had to play in an adapted uniform of Milan's Inter, on which the logo of the Ukrainian national team was sewn. However, the inscriptions there were still in Russian. And goalkeeper Igor Kutepov came on the field in the Dynamo uniform.
The match ended with Ukraine losing 3:1. Chornomorets striker Ivan Hetsko became the first goalscorer of the national team, who "diluted" the score in the 90th minute.
Year for the national team
In 2024, the European Championship 2024 was held in Germany. In the qualifying round, Ukraine played in the same group with England, Italy, North Macedonia and Malta. Then Ukraine took third place in the group, but still managed to play in the play-off round for the Euros. First, the Ukrainians beat Bosnia and Herzegovina (2:1) and Iceland - 2:1, which allowed Ukraine to qualify for the Euros, where they were placed in a group with Romania, Belgium and Slovakia.
Already at the Euros themselves, in the match against Romania, Ukraine failed miserably, losing 3:0.
Ukraine loses to Romania in the first match of Euro 202417.06.24, 18:19 • 18473 views
In the second match against Slovakia, Ukraine won a strong-willed victory - 2:1.
In the next match, Ukraine drew with Belgium, which did not allow the Ukrainian team to reach the 1/8 of the tournament.
Euro 2024: Ukraine defeated Slovakia 2-121.06.24, 18:13 • 15998 views
League of Nations
Last September, the League of Nations tournament started, in which Ukraine showed an inexpressive game in places. In particular, they lost to Albania (2:1), the Czech Republic (3:2) and drew several times against Georgia and the Czech Republic.
Despite the inexpressive game, Ukraine took second place in the group, which allowed them to play in the League of Nations play-offs. The national team of Ukraine sensationally won the first match against Belgium - 3:1.
However, they lost 3:0 in the second match, which prevented them from moving up in class.
The result of the confrontation with Belgium did not directly affect whether the national team of Ukraine will qualify for the next major football tournaments - the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 European Championship.
In addition to the possible participation in the elite division in the 2025-26 season, the victory in the match against Belgium could be important for the national team ranking. A better ranking in the League of Nations would allow them to have better positions when drawing the qualifying round for Euro 2028.
That is, playing in the elite division, Ukrainians could probably be no lower than the second pot in the draw. But now they will be.
Also, previously, when qualifying for the European Championship, the presence of national teams in the elite division of the League of Nations was taken into account, which allowed them to directly enter the play-off round, regardless of the place they took in their group.
At least this scheme worked before, but it is not known how it will be when qualifying for Euro 2028.
Future matches
In the summer, the national football team of Ukraine will take part in the Canadian Shield four-nation friendly tournament in Canada. In addition to Canada, the tournament will also be attended by the national teams of New Zealand and Côte d'Ivoire.
Also, from March 2025 to March 2026, the qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup will be held in the European zone, where 16 tickets will be played. Ukraine will start this path in September, where they will play in a group with France, Iceland and Azerbaijan.
1st round: 12 groups of five or four national teams will play in the period from March to November 2025 according to the traditional group system. The 12 group winners will receive direct tickets to the final stage.
12 teams that take second places, and the four best group winners of the UEFA Nations League 2024/2025, who finish below second place in the group stage of the European qualification, will take part in the play-off mini-tournaments.
2nd round: play-off mini-tournaments in March 2026 will consist of one-match semi-finals and finals. 16 participants will be divided into four play-off paths. Four winners will receive tickets to the 2026 World Cup.
Summary and prospects
The national team of Ukraine has long proven that it is not a team to be beaten. The team continues to consistently confirm its status as a strong European team. The successful qualification for Euro 2024 through play-off matches showed the character and cohesion of the team, especially in the context of a full-scale invasion, when the Ukrainian team cannot play matches at home due to the security situation.
The generation that has formed around Zinchenko, Dovbyk, Sudakov and Trubin successfully takes the baton from veterans - Yarmolenko, Stepanenko and Pyatov. Young people add dynamics and technicality, which changes the national team's style of play to a more attacking one. It is also pleasing that in the context of the war, Ukrainian football continues to develop, not only at the level of top teams, but also of strong mid-tier teams. In particular, it can be recalled that not only players from conditional "Dynamo" and "Shakhtar", but also from "Alexandria", "Rukh", "Karpaty", "Polissia" began to get into the national team.
In particular, it was Polissia winger Oleksiy Hutsuliak who equalized in the first match against the Belgians. Also, we should not forget about other players who are already being watched by top teams. For example, Turin's Juventus wants to buy midfielder Georgiy Sudakov, English Wolverhampton wanted to buy Dynamo player Volodymyr Brazhko in the winter, and top teams have already lined up for defender Ilya Zabarny.
