A terrible figure: for almost two years, Ukrainian fans have not seen the main team of the country live
On September 9 and 12, the Ukrainian national team will play two regular matches of the Euro 2024 qualifying tournament. The fights against the two favorites of the group – England and Italy – will be nominally home and away matches for the blue-yellows, respectively. As well as the 17th and 18th matches of the national team in a row, which it plays outside of Ukraine. On September 12, on the day of the Italy-Ukraine match, 670 days will pass since the last truly home match of the country’s main team. We talk about terrible and sad figures.
So far, Odessa has seen the last team
On November 11, 2021, in South Palmyra, the Ukrainian national team, then under the leadership of Oleksandr Petrakov, and in the status of “acting”, met with the Bulgarian national team. The match was considered as a test match before the decisive match for the blue-and-yellow qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup against Bosnia and Herzegovina (on November 16, Ukraine won 2-0 away, finishing second in the group).
The game at Chernomorets ended in a draw – 1:1: the Ukrainians answered the goal of the Bulgarian Kirilov in the 35th minute with an accurate shot by Stepanenko in the 79th.
16 away matches
Since then, the Ukrainian national team has played 16 matches, including charity matches, outside their native country. For almost two years, our national team has visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany and Italy, Croatia and Scotland, Wales and Ireland, Poland and Armenia, Macedonia and England, as well as Slovakia. In some of these countries – for example, Germany, Scotland and Poland several times.
Blue-yellow for almost 19 months visited Zenica, Mönchengladbach, Empoli, Rijeka, Glasgow, Cardiff, Dublin, Lodz, Yerevan, Krakow, London, Berlin, Skopje, Trnava. Wroclaw will be added to the list of these cities on September 9, and Milan on September 12.
9 national teams and four clubs
For 670 days away from home, the rivals of the national team of Ukraine were nine teams and four clubs. Four official matches in this segment were “home”: against Armenia, Ireland and Scotland – in Poland as part of the League of Nations, against Malta – in Trnava, as part of the selection for Euro 2024.
If we talk only about the matches of the national teams, then Ukraine won six victories, lost three matches, ended three matches in a draw. In the confrontation with the clubs – charity matches in support of Ukraine and test sparring with Brentford B – three wins and a draw.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
