Ukraine – Squad, fixtures, odds and predictions

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Ukraine – Euro 2024 Overview

Ukraine’s national football team has a history of pride and success, despite the country being relatively young on the international scene after gaining independence in 1991. Despite sometimes struggling through qualification, they have regularly participated in major tournaments such as the European Championships and the World Cup.

Over the years, the national team has seen stars such as Andriy Shevchenko, an iconic striker and former team captain, and Andriy Yarmolenko, a skilled and versatile forward who have played for big clubs around Europe. Ukraine’s greatest successes in major championships came at the World Cup in 2006 and at Euro 2012 when they made it to the quarter-finals.

In the 2006 World Cup, they came second in the group stage behind Spain and ahead of Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. In the round of 16, Switzerland were defeated on penalties. In the quarter-finals, however, eventual winners, Italy, proved too strong. Six years later at Euro 2012, they advanced as the fourth best third placed team, from a group consisting of Austria, the Netherlands and North Macedonia. In the round of 16, there was a 2-1 victory against Sweden after extra time, and in the subsequent quarter-final, Ukraine were beaten 4-0 by England.

Ukraine are second favourite after Belgium in Group E , which also includes Slovakia and Romania .

How Ukraine qualified for Euro 2024

Ukraine’s path to the European Championship in Germany was via a Nations League playoff as they only finished third in the European Championship group stage behind England and Italy. In the semi-final they defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 after turning around a 0-1 deficit and in the final against Iceland they repeated the trick, turning 0-1 into 2-1. The winning goal came on 84 minutes through Chelsea star Mykhailo Mudryk.

Ukraine Euro 2024 squad

In the Ukrainian squad for Euro 2024, we find a lot of exciting players from high profile clubs in Europe. Between the posts, Anatoliy Trubin of Benfica and Andriy Lunin are expected to compete for the gloves. In the playoff matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland, it was Lunin who kept goal, and much suggests that it will be the Real Madrid custodian who starts opening match against Romania.

In defence, Matviyenko and Zabarnyi will probably form the central pairing, even if Svatok has started in the occasional match in recent years. In central midfield, 21-year-old Heorhiy Sudakov from Shakthar Donetsk started in the playoff matches and most things point to him also getting a lot of playing time in the Euros this summer. Next to Sudakov, Premier League stars Zinchenko and Mudryk are available and upfront it is above all Girona’s Artem Dovbyk who is likely to lead the line.

Dovbyk was responsible for the decisive goal against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the playoff and if you look at his last three seasons in Dnipro-1 and at Girona, it is clear that he has an instrinct for goals.

Valencia’s Roman Yaremchuk is another important attacking player. A strong technically adept striker, he may not have hit the ground running in La Liga, however, he has produced good performances and goals for his national team.

Key players

Here we have listed three of the key players in the Ukrainian Euro 2024 squad:

• Oleksandr Zinchenko – A versatile player who can play both as a left-back and a midfielder. He is known for his passing ability and his ability to create goalscoring chances. Since 2022, Zinchenko has played for Arsenal in the Premier League after joining from Manchester City, a club he won the Premier League with four times with, between 2017 and 2022.
• Artem Dovbyk – A powerful striker known for his ability to win aerial duels and for his instincts in and around the box.He stands out with his physical presence and his coolness in front of goal, making him a reliable scorer for the Ukraine national team. The 26-year-old has had an impressive campaign for Girona in La Liga.
• Andriy Lunin – World-class goalkeeper with a fine season under his belt from La Liga where he played a big part in Real Madrid’s success. Has really good reflexes and an impressive ability to read the game and make important saves. Debuted in the national team back in 2017 but has only been able to jump in sporadically until the back end of 2023. Euro 2024 could be a major breakthrough at international level for Lunin.

Ukraine Odds at Euro 2024

Despite the fact that Ukraine needed to negotiate the playoffs to qualify for Euro 2024, the betting sites give them a good chance of progressing. We think that this is a fair assesment. It was always going to be tough for Ukraine to finish in the top two of a group containing England and Italy. They have a squad who have experience of the Champions League, some of Europe’s top leagues and of tournament football.

Ukraine are second favourites to win Group E, priced at 11/2 with bet365. Their odds to qualify are much shorter than they are not to qualify with the same bookmaker. BetUK have them as 6/5 to make the top two in the group and qualify without having to be one of the best third placed sides. However, while they are expected to make the knockout stages, Ukraine are considered outsiders to win the tournament, with bet365 pricing them at 100/1 at the time of writing.

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Ukraine Euro 2024 Fixtures

Ukraine’s Euro 2024 fixtures are as follows:

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