Geography for the national team of Ukraine: after Ireland, there will be three potential rivals in Europe
Today in Dublin at Aviva Stadium the national team of Ukraine meets the team of Ireland in its first match of the Nations League 2022/2023 season (the kick-off at 21.45 Kyiv time).
Ireland should become Ukraine's 72nd rival in history, taking into account the representatives of the five confederations, and the 52nd opponent from Europe. However, one rival is no longer on the political map: Yugoslavia first changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro, and then split into two.
After Ireland, there will be three more potential rivals for Ukraine in Europe - Belgium, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein.
Debut meetings of the national team of Ukraine with rivals
Year |
Debuts |
National teams |
1992 |
3 |
Hungary, USA, Belarus |
1993 |
4 |
Israel, Lithuania, Croatia, Mexico |
1994 |
5 |
Bulgaria, UAE, South Korea, Slovenia, Estonia |
1995 |
1 |
Italy |
1996 |
4 |
Moldova, Turkey, Northern Ireland, Portugal |
1997 |
3 |
Albania, Germany, Armenia |
1998 |
4 |
Poland, Georgia, Russia, Andorra |
1999 |
2 |
France, Iceland |
2000 |
2 |
England, Norway |
2001 |
4 |
Romania, Cyprus, Wales, Latvia |
2002 |
5 |
Japan, Yugoslavia, Iran, Greece, Slovakia |
2003 |
3 |
Spain, Denmark, Macedonia |
2004 |
2 |
Libya, Kazakhstan |
2005 |
— |
— |
2006 |
7 |
Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Switzerland, Scotland |
2007 |
2 |
Faroe Islands, Uzbekistan |
2008 |
3 |
Serbia, the Netherlands, Sweden |
2009 |
— |
— |
2010 |
3 |
Chile, Canada, Brazil |
2011 |
3 |
Uruguay, Czech Republic, Austria |
2012 |
1 |
Montenegro |
2013 |
2 |
Cameroon, San Marino |
2014 |
1 |
Niger |
2015 |
— |
— |
2016 |
2 |
Kosovo, Finland |
2017 |
1 |
Malta |
2018 |
1 |
Morocco |
2019 |
1 |
Nіgerіya |
2020 |
— |
— |
2021 |
2 |
Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
In total, Ukraine's rivals include 51 from Europe, seven from Asia, six from Africa, four from CONCACAF and three from South America. We have not met so far only with the teams of Oceania.
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