As the host nation, Ukraine automatically qualified for UEFA Euro 2012.[4] Four years later, Ukraine finished third in their qualifying group for Euro 2016 and advanced via the play-off route to reach a UEFA European Championship tournament through the qualifiers for the first time. This marked the first time in Ukraine's six play-off appearances that it managed to win such a tie, having lost previous play-off ties for the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000, 2002 World Cup, 2010 World Cup and 2014 World Cup.
Ukraine's best performance in the UEFA European Championship was in 2020, where they reached the quarter-finals for the first time.
The earliest record of games played by Ukraine can be traced back to August 1928. A championship among the national teams of the Soviet republics as well as the Moscow city team was planned to take place in Moscow; at the All-Soviet tournament, Ukraine reached the final where it lost to Moscow 1–0, after defeating Belarus and Transcaucasus.
In 1929, Ukraine beat Lower Austria in an exhibition match in Kharkiv 4–1, and played in another Soviet tournament. Ukraine lost to Transcaucasus 3–0.
Valeriy Lobanovskyi, was Head Coach of the National Team in 1979 and between 2001 and 2002
The Soviet Union's five-year UEFA coefficient, despite being earned in part by Ukrainian players (for example, in the final of the last successful event, Euro 1988, under the direction of Valery Lobanovsky, 7 out of starting 11 players were Ukrainians[9]), were transferred to the direct descendant of the Soviet national team – the Russia national team. As a result, a crisis was created for both the national team and the domestic league.
Another reason for the occurred harsh crisis in the Ukrainian football was lack of adequate funding of teams,[8] due to the general economic crisis that has affected all of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries.[8] There also was a reverse influx of players;[8]Viktor Leonenko agreed on transfer from Dynamo Moscow to Dynamo Kyiv. The Russian club did not want to release him, but Leonenko did not want to continue to play in Moscow.[8]
Ukraine played their first match on 29 April 1992 against Hungary in Uzhhorod at the Avanhard Stadium, losing 3–1 with the sole Ukrainian goal scored by Ivan Hetsko. Shortly after, the Ukrainian team lost some notable players to the CIS team that was playing its own friendly against the England in Moscow.[11]
Ukraine appointed another head coach, Oleh Bazylevych, who made his debut with the national team in the spring of 1993 in Odessa during a friendly against Israel, a 1–1 draw. Less than a month later Ukraine finally won, in Vilnius in an away friendly against Lithuania. During the summer they lost 3–1 to Croatia; Ukraine was later seeded in Group 4 of the UEFA Euro 1996 qualification.
Ukraine was defeated by Israel in March 1994, and drew Bulgaria and the United Arab Emirates. On 7 September 1994, the national team lost 2–0 to Lithuania.[12] After a series of poor results, on 24 September, the Football Federation of Ukraine appointed Yozhef Sabo as an acting manager until the end of the year.
With the new manager, their next home game against Slovenia ended goalless.[13] They then beat Estonia 3–0,[14] before confirming Anatoliy Konkov as the new head coach on 5 January 1995.
In UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying, Ukraine, assigned in Group 4, finished above Russia, thanks to an important draw in Moscow, but still only qualified for the playoff despite being undefeated. Ukraine then fell to Slovenia 3–2 on aggregate.
The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification saw Ukraine in Group 5. Yet, Ukraine suffered a home loss to Poland in their opening match, and a number of draws had resulted in Ukraine qualifying for the playoff again, losing to Germany, 5–2 on aggregate.
After Euro 2004 qualifying, Ukraine appointed Oleg Blokhin as the national team's head coach. Ukraine went on to qualify for their first-ever FIFA World Cup on 3 September 2005 after drawing 1–1 against Georgia in Tbilisi. In the 2006 World Cup, they were in the Group H with Spain, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. After losing 4–0 in the first match against Spain, the Ukrainians won the next two matches to face Switzerland in the round of 16. Switzerland became the first team in World Cup history to be eliminated without conceding a goal throughout the tournament.[citation needed]
Ukraine before a match against Bulgaria, 14 December 2012
As co-hosts, Ukraine qualified automatically for Euro 2012,[4] marking their debut in the UEFA European Championship. In their opening game against Sweden, Ukraine won 2–1 in Kyiv. In Donetsk, Ukraine was eliminated after a 2–0 loss to France and a 1–0 defeat to England.
2014–present
Ukraine quaified for yet another playoff, after two wins over Poland and two draws over England, where they would play against France. Ukraine beat France at home 2–0, but suffered a 3–0 loss away, thus being eliminated from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Ukraine in 2015
In Euro 2016 qualifying, Ukraine were drawn against Spain, Slovakia, Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg. Despite having won all matches besides Spain, they finished third due to results against Spain and Slovakia. They defeated Slovenia in the playoff.
Ukraine lost all three games at Euro 2016 without scoring a goal; a 2–0 loss to Germany, a 2–0 loss to Northern Ireland, and Poland 1–0.
Ukraine started off with a home draw to Iceland in 2018 World Cup qualifying and an away draw to Turkey. This was followed by two home wins, 3–0 against Kosovo and 1–0 against Finland. After a 1–0 away loss to Croatia, they beat Finland 2–1 away and Turkey 2–0 at home, they lost 2–0 away to Iceland and won 2–0 away win against Kosovo. Losing to Croatia at home, they failed to qualify for the playoffs for their first time since UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying.
In the inaugural UEFA Nations League, Ukraine were drawn with Czech Republic and Slovakia in League B. They beat the Czech Republic 2–1 away and Slovakia 1–0 at home, before earning a promotion to League A with a 1–0 home win to the Czech Republic, before ending with a 4–1 away loss to Slovakia.
Ukraine were placed in a tough group with Euro 2016 title holders Portugal, and Serbia. Against Portugal, centre-back Yaroslav Rakytskiy was absent due to his move to Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg and Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the Portuguese lineup. The match ended 0–0. The second game, against Luxembourg, ended up as a 2–1 win, preceding Ukraine's 5–0 win against Serbia, along with a narrow 1–0 win against Luxembourg. Two matches—away and home against Lithuania (winning 3–0 and 2–0 respectively) saw Ukraine with 16 points and in need of only a point against Portugal. Ukraine won 2–1 and the group before drawing Serbia 2–2.
Ukraine were drawn with Switzerland, Spain, and Germany in the next Nations League. The Ukrainians started their campaign by overcoming Switzerland at home 2–1 to temporarily take first place. However, their next opponent Spain won 4–0. Germany then won 2–1 in Kyiv. Ukraine then defeated Spain for the first time with a 1–0 win. Germany swept Ukraine after a 1–0 deficit was cancelled for a 3–1 victory.
As the COVID-19 crisis in Ukraine worsened, eight players from the starting squad tested positive (including one positive SARS-CoV-2 test upon arrival to Lucerne), and as a result, the entire delegation was put into quarantine by the Department of Health of the Canton of Lucerne.[16] Their game against Switzerland away was sequently cancelled. Ukraine faced relegation if the game was to be awarded 3–0 to Switzerland, or if the result is decided by a drawing of lots and Switzerland were to be handed a 1–0 victory. Eventually, UEFA decided that the match result would be 3–0 in favour of Switzerland, meaning that Ukraine had been officially relegated after just one season in League A.
Ukraine managed to qualify to the knockout stages in the European Championship for the first time in 2020, as one of the best third-placed teams. They beat Sweden 2–1 in the round of 16, after Artem Dovbyk scored the winning goal in the first minute of the second half in extra time. They were then defeated by England in the quarter-final, recording their best finish at a major tournament since 2006.
Ukraine drew 1–1 against France in 2022 World Cup qualifying.[17] Ukraine would then qualify for the playoff after breaking the record set by Australia for the most consecutive draws in World Cup qualification, with five straight draws.[citation needed] They then picked up a much-needed victory over Finland, ending their run of draws and giving them a two-point lead over Bosnia and a three-point lead over Finland. However, both Bosnia and Finland had a game in hand over Ukraine, who managed to qualify for the playoffs after a 2–0 win over Bosnia and a Finnish loss to France. Ukraine will face Scotland in the Group A playoff semifinals, postponed in March 2022 to June after Russia invaded the country in February.[18]
During the Soviet era (before 1991), only three stadiums in Ukraine were used in official games, the Olimpiysky NSC in Kyiv (known then as Republican Stadium), the predecessor of Chornomorets, BSS Central Stadium in Odesa, and the Lokomotiv Stadium in Simferopol.
On 29 March 2010, Ukraine debuted a new Adidas kit.[19] This replaced the Adidas kit with a yellow base and the traditional Adidas three stripe with a snake sash which was used in 2009.[20]
Prior to 5 February 2009 Ukraine wore a Lotto kit. In 2009 the official team kit was produced by German company Adidas which has a contract with the Ukrainian team until 31 December 2016. Joma manufactured the kits starting from the year 2017 for the match against Croatia on 24 March 2017.[21]
Former crest.
Sponsors
Marketing for the Football Federation of Ukraine is conducted by the Ukraine Football International (UFI).
Official sponsors: Henkel (Ukraine), Adidas, Airline "MAU" (Ukraine International Airlines), NIKO (official Mitsubishi distributor in Ukraine), Boris clinic, Tour agency "Love Cyprus", Resort center "Grand Admiral Club"
^The Ukraine v Northern Ireland match, originally scheduled for 2 June 2020, at the NSK Olimpiyskiy, Kyiv was postponed due to the coronavirus. The match was later rescheduled to 3 June 2021.
^The Ukraine v Cyprus match, originally scheduled for 26 May 2020, at the Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv was postponed due to the coronavirus. The match was later rescheduled to 7 June 2021.
^Oleksandr Petrakov took over as caretaker for seven games, until he was formally appointed full-time on 17 November 2021.
^ abFIFA adopted a decision not to allow to participate in the 1994 FIFA World Cup the national teams of those former Soviet republics that did not participate in the qualification draw on 8 December 1991.[8] A proposition of Ukraine to arrange a separate tournament for all successors of the Soviet Union and supported by Georgia and Armenia was blocked by Russia.[45]
(31 March 2022)[2]
Ukraine 1–3 Hungary 
France 7–1 Ukraine 
