“The celebration we all needed” – that’s what some of the headlines in Ukraine sounded like on Wednesday morning. This aptly describes the significance of the Ukrainian national team’s entry into the European Championship. On Tuesday they won the decisive play-off game against Iceland 2-1. Ukraine will be there at the European Championships in Germany. Finally a reason to celebrate in the country that has been subjected to the brutal Russian war of aggression for 763 days. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians could only celebrate from home.
A nighttime curfew that begins at midnight continues to apply in all regions of the country except Zakarpattia, deep in the west. The game against Iceland only ended shortly before – and so Ukrainian football fans couldn’t watch it in a pub, just like the play-off semi-final on Thursday against Bosnia and Herzegovina (2:1).
Ukraine is currently going through another difficult phase. There is fighting every day and night on the approximately 1,000 kilometer long front. Since the middle of last week, Russia has again been massively attacking the Ukrainian energy infrastructure in hinterland regions. The capital Kiev has experienced three air raids in recent days. The eastern city of Kharkiv, a venue for the 2012 European Championships, is struggling with the consequences of massive Russian shelling on Friday. Around 200,000 people are completely without electricity. The rest of the city’s population is supplied with electricity for four to a maximum of six hours per day.
Ukrainians are happy about every opportunity to switch off from the consuming everyday life of war. This is also why President Volodymyr Zelenskyj decided in mid-2022 to do everything possible to hold the Ukrainian football league at home and not in neighboring Poland – albeit initially without spectators and with interruptions due to air alarms. Since this spring, a limited number of fans have been allowed into the stadiums.
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Ukraine played against Iceland in Wroclaw, Poland; UEFA currently does not allow international games on Ukrainian soil. Dynamo Kiev legend Serhiy Rebrow’s team dominated the game – but were behind after 30 minutes after Albert Gudmundsson outplayed several Ukrainian defenders. But Ukraine turned the game around, as it did on Thursday against Bosnia and Herzegovina, when they did not live up to their role as favorites for a long time. Turning games is a new strength of the Ukrainian national team. Before Rebrow became national coach last summer, she had only managed this five times. Under Rebrow, Ukraine came from behind to beat Iceland for the fourth time.
The 49-year-old Rebrow, who previously successfully coached Dynamo Kiev and Ferencváros Budapest, believes that this also has to do with the special responsibility his players have for their own fans. “The boys play for all of you – and especially for the people who continue to defend our country from the enemy every day,” said Rebrow, who himself comes from the currently occupied territory in Donbass. “It’s only thanks to them that we have the opportunity to play and represent our country.”
More than sport
The qualification for the European Championship has many dimensions for the Ukrainians. On the one hand, there is the memory of the last tournament in Germany. The 2006 World Cup was the first major tournament ever in which independent Ukraine took part. Back then, she reached the quarter-finals, but didn’t necessarily shine with high-quality football. This time it’s different. There are good reasons to firmly believe that Ukraine can play a notable role not only in a group with Belgium, Romania and Slovakia, but perhaps beyond.
Because the current Ukrainian team is not only one of the youngest in their history, but certainly the most talented. With internationally known stars such as goalkeeper Andrij Lunin (Real Madrid), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal) and Mykhailo Mudryk (Chelsea), who scored the decisive goal against Iceland in the 84th minute. They play at the highest level every week. There are also numerous talents who still play in the Ukrainian league or at smaller clubs outside of it. In their qualifying group, Ukraine finished just behind the European champions Italy, who had the same number of points. With a win on the last day of the group match over Italy, which was certainly possible, they could have qualified directly.
This team can do something. It would have been a shame in terms of sport if she had missed the tournament in Germany. But of course qualifying for Ukraine is more than just a sporting issue.
Because of the war, the Corona crisis and the mismanagement of President Andriy Pavelko, the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) has a financial hole of around 2.5 million euros in its budget. There are few sources of income for the association. Now just taking part in the European Championship brings in more than ten million euros.
And above all, the European Championship is an opportunity to remind the world of Ukraine once again – in a slightly different way than is currently the case. “People are used to the fact that it’s about war and suffering when people talk about Ukraine,” writes sports journalist Oleksandr Saschko for the Ukrainian medium Tribune. “In fact, we have to constantly remind the outside world of this. But the European Championship is also an opportunity to show that Ukrainians are also about life, joy and victories on the football field. That this war is not being waged for the sake of war, but for the sake of it Right to live.” Football is also part of this normal, peaceful life.
“The celebration we all needed” – that’s what some of the headlines in Ukraine sounded like on Wednesday morning. This aptly describes the significance of the Ukrainian national team’s entry into the European Championship. On Tuesday they won the decisive play-off game against Iceland 2-1. Ukraine will be there at the European Championships in Germany. Finally a reason to celebrate in the country that has been subjected to the brutal Russian war of aggression for 763 days. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians could only celebrate from home.
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