At Euro 2024, the Ukrainian national team played the worst match in its history
Having lost devastatingly to Romania in the opening match of Euro 2024, The Ukrainian national team lost the fourth of its five debut matches at major football forums. But despite the general similarity of results, The match with Romania stands apart and is definitely the worst for the blue-and-yellows. Let’s explain with numbers.
We have analyzed five starting matches of Ukraine at major tournaments using five indicators: the place of opponents in the FIFA rankings, the cost of starting lineups, the most expensive player in the starting lineup, hits and fouls. It turned out depressingly.
Read also: Kosyrin: In the match with Romania, all the players of the Ukrainian national team played below their capabilities, and the guys had no emotions
World Cup 2006: started with 0:4, ended in the quarterfinals
For 18 years, the Ukrainian national team played its debut match at major tournaments. The start turned out to be unpleasant, but on the whole expected: the Spanish national team was seriously superior to the blue-and-yellows in terms of quality and depth of the squad. If you remove the already retired, but still near-prime Shevchenko from the Ukrainian roster, the situation became even worse.
At the same time, Ukraine had two yellow cards and Vashchuk was sent off.
World Cup 2006 | Spain | Ukraine |
Place in the FIFA rankings | 5 | 45 |
Cost of starting lineup | 189.2 million | 76.4 |
Most expensive starting player | Xavi 28 million | Shevchenko 51 million |
Beats | 19 | 5 |
Fouls | 14 | eleven |
Euro 2012: started with 2:1, ended with elimination after the group round
At the home and debut European Championship, Ukraine started with a match against Sweden. But even the Scandinavians at that time were higher than the blue-yellows in the FIFA rankings and had a more expensive starting lineup. But, like in 2006, Ukraine – thanks to Ibrahimovic.
And the best illustration of how both teams fought is the total number of fouls.
Euro 2012 | Sweden | Ukraine |
Place in the FIFA rankings | 17 | 52 |
Cost of starting lineup | 88.4 million | 55.8 |
Most expensive starting player | Ibrahimovic 37 million | Yarmolenko 9 million |
Beats | eleven | eleven |
Fouls | 20 | 12 |
Euro 2016: started with 0:2, ended with elimination in the group stage
In France, the blue-yellows lost to Germany, which was seriously superior to the blue-yellows in the quality and cost of the squad. However, in this game, it is unlikely that anyone will throw a stone at the Ukrainian team: it played almost on an equal footing against the star Bundesteam, which, although it was already leaving the proscenium, still remained one of the strongest teams in Europe.
Euro 2016 | Germany | Ukraine |
Place in the FIFA rankings | 4 | 19 |
Cost of starting lineup | 386 million | 92.7 |
Most expensive starting player | Muller 75 million | Konoplyanka 25 million |
Beats | 9 | 3 |
Fouls | 9 | 9 |
Euro 2020: started with 2:3, ended in the quarterfinals
Three years ago, Ukraine started the Euro with a match against the strongest team in the group and showed the best game in the tournament. Ukraine was not inferior to the Orange in desire and fight, but the higher class of players of the Dutch national team, whose starters included De Jong, Depay, Wijnaldum, and De Vrij, had an impact.
Euro 2020 | Netherlands | Ukraine |
Place in the FIFA rankings | 16 | 24 |
Cost of starting lineup | 317.5 million | 124 |
Most expensive starting player | De Jong 50 million | Malinovsky 30 million |
Beats | 15 | 7 |
Fouls | 8 | 8 |
Euro 2024: started with 0:3,…
The start of the current tournament is out of line. Ukraine played with an opponent who is 20 positions ahead in the FIFA rankings and five times ahead in terms of the cost of the starting lineup. In the end, they lost outright, and the best demonstration of the team’s attitude and desire was one yellow card in the liability, earned by Konoplya already with the score 0:3.
Euro 2020 | Romania | Ukraine |
Place in the FIFA rankings | 46 | 22 |
Cost of starting lineup | 59.9 million | 265.5 |
Most expensive starting player | Dragushin 25 million | Zinchenko 38 million |
Beats | 9 | 13 |
Fouls | 9 | 8 |
Source: Sportarena

I am Ben Stock and I work in Athletistic as an author. My specialty is covering football news and other related topics. I have been writing for this website since the past 2 years, crafting compelling stories with the latest updates in the sports world. My articles have gained widespread appreciation amongst readers due to their accuracy and depth of research.