The national team of Ukraine starts in the sixth qualifying round of the European Championship in its history

22.03.2019 11:00

Today, the national team of Ukraine in Lisbon will start in the sixth qualification for the Euro - an away match with the reigning champion, by the way.

This is not the first time the lottery has given us such "gifts". We have already played in the same group with the second team of the 1994 World Cup (Italy), the current European champion in 1996 (Germany), the world champion in 1998 (France), the European champion in 2004 (Greece), the champion and vice world champion in 2006 at the same time. (Italy and France), European Champion 2012 (Spain). Portugal will only continue this list.

It is interesting that the selection for the Euros in the national team of Ukraine somehow failed. But at the same time we played twice in the final tournaments of the European Championship and only once - at the World Cup. This paradox is explained by the home Euro-2012, where we got without selection, and the very loyal qualification regulations of Euro-2016. It will be recalled that Ukraine advanced to the playoffs from third place in the group.

Maybe something went wrong from the beginning. In the first official match in September 1994, the national team of Ukraine in Kyiv lost to Lithuania (0: 2), after which the leader Oleg Bazylevych was fired. The selection for Euro 1996 was the first of two cycles in our history in general, when the team was led by three coaches. And the only one in which we lost more matches than we won (and the goal difference was negative).

Thus, in the entire history of performances in the qualifying rounds of the Euro, the best was the one that took place in 1998-1999 under the leadership of Jozef Szabo: principled meetings with Russia (3: 2 in Kiev, 1: 1 in Moscow), two zero draws with the champions world from France, five wins and a draw in 10 matches of the group tournament. Ukraine suffered its first defeat in that cycle in the playoffs away to Slovenia (1: 2) and failed to win back at home (1: 1). Euro-2000 had to be watched on TV.

Ukraine's national team in the European Championship qualifiers

And compare the European selections with the selections for the world championships. Of the six cycles - one direct appearance at the 2006 World Cup (and there was a quarterfinal of the brilliant team of Oleg Blokhin) and four participations in the playoffs. In four cycles (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) in the group tournament, Ukraine lost only one match, and in three of them the second defeat - in the playoffs - became decisive.

Only Ukraine's last attempt to get to the World Cup was not very convincing in terms of results. Although behind the game it was a very nice and unlike its predecessors team, which showed its strength a little later - winning the UEFA League of Nations and getting an extra chance to reach Euro 2020. 

Ukraine's national team in World Cup qualifiers