Ukraine squad info

Ukraine’s record as an independent nation at the Euros isn’t one to be envied. Since it broke away from the Soviet Union – with which it won the Euros in 1960 – Ukraine has reached the group stage of this competition on just two occasions. Their first entry was as hosts back in 2012, when they exited having won just one of their three group games. Four years later they failed to record a single win in a group involving Germany, Poland and Northern Ireland.

Expectations are therefore rather low for Ukraine heading into this summer’s delayed tournament. Qualifying was a breeze: they beat off the likes of Portugal and Serbia to top Euro qualifying Group A and avoided defeat across their 10 games. But maintaining that form has proved tricky in recent months and Ukraine have struggled for wins this season.

Perhaps more alarming than the 7-1 friendly loss inflicted on them by France last autumn were the recent 1-1 draws with both Finland and Kazakhstan. If escape from the Ukraine Euro group is to be achieved, they need to do much better than that. Head coach Andriy Shevchenko knows this and has been experimenting with his set-ups in recent outings. The boss tends to default to a 4-3-3 system against greater opposition but is trying to install an attack-minded 4-1-4-1 formation too.

Roman Yaremchuk leads the line for Ukraine and bagged four goals in their qualifying campaign. The likes of Ruslan Malinovskyi and Junior Moraes are also there to back up the striker but in reality this is a team light on international goals. The experience of Andriy Yarmolenko, Taras Stepanenko and Serhiy Sydorchuk will be important here.

Shevchenko is blessed with attacking talent in the form of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Roman Yaremchuk, but the squad quickly wares thin after that. And this could be a real concern for Ukraine when they come up against the likes of Netherlands and Austria in Group C.

Ukraine’s Euro fixtures begin with a clash in Amsterdam against Netherlands on 13 June. Four days later they travel to Bucharest for a tie with North Macedonia – the minnows of the group – and then play Austria in the Arena Nationala too. The team will be based in Bucharest for the tournament and finishing second in Group C could put them on a course to face Italy in the last-16.

GOALKEEPERS

DEFENDERS

MIDFIELDERS

FORWARDS