The Ukrainian football team will play a long-awaited play-off in Scotland on June 1st. The winner of this match, postponed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will then challenge Wales four days later to win the last ticket for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
In this very special context, the Ukrainian Federation has chosen to mark the occasion. As revealed by a local journalist, a jersey with very strong political symbols will be worn during friendly matches in preparation for these deadlines. On the front of the tunic, we can see an anything but trivial outline of Ukrainian territory. Crimea, annexed by Russia since 2014, is included as well as the east of the country, currently under the bombs. She had already done so during Euro 2021, which irritated UEFA, which had obtained the withdrawal of political slogans.
What will it be this time? On this new jersey, the message “United For Ukraine” is indeed written in the middle while the outline is made with an assembly of flags of Western States having affirmed their support for the Ukrainian cause. A “U24” logo, referring to Zelenksy’s appeal for donations to help the army and rebuild the country, is also visible on the chest. Finally, in the back, names of Ukrainian cities bombarded by Russian forces such as Boutcha or kyiv have also been listed.
The Ukrainian team, a good part of which has not played any official matches since the start of the war at the end of February, will face the Borussia Mönchengladbach club on Wednesday. After a fitness stay in Slovenia, part of the selection arrived on Tuesday in the German city. Proceeds from this match will be donated to the Ukrainian cause. Admission will also be free for nationals of this country.
The rest of the selection program for the next three weeks is not yet known. Regardless of the result of the play-offs, three other games await Zbirna in the League of Nations (against Ireland on June 9 and 15 and against Armenia on June 9).
