In March, the Ukrainian national football team will play decisive matches in the playoffs of qualifying for Euro 2024. If successful in two matches, the Ukrainian national team will join the 23 strongest football teams in Europe.
First, Sergei Rebrov’s team will play a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica on March 21. If the game ends with a positive result for the Ukrainians, they will play in the playoff final against Iceland or Israel. This match is scheduled to take place on March 26th.
In its history “the curse of the playoffs” accompanied the Ukrainian national team six times, which ended with the tears of the players and our fans. The blue-yellows managed to overcome it only once, when they beat Slovenia in the play-offs at Euro 2016.
Now watching
ICTV Facts recalls all the matches in which we failed one step away from qualifying for the European Championship or the World Championship.
All losses of Ukraine in the playoffs of the Euro and World Cup qualifiers
1998 World Cup — Ukraine's defeat from Croatia
For the first time, fortune turned away from the blue-yellows in the play-off qualifying matches for the 1998 World Cup in France. Then the blue-yellows, led by Jozsef Szabo, took second place in the group after Germany and had the opportunity to snatch a ticket to the World Cup in the run-offs.
The Ukrainians' opponents were the Croats, the first match against whom ended in our defeat 0:2 on the road. The return match in Ukraine ended in a draw 1:1
Euro 2000 — Ukraine's defeat from Slovenia
This confrontation is probably one of the most memorable. First of all, because of the mistake of our then goalkeeper Alexander Shovkovsky, who unsuccessfully kicked the ball and went far from his goal. The opponent took advantage of this, hitting the empty goal almost from the center of the field.
As a result, the first game ended in the defeat of Ukraine — 1:2, and in the second the team drew 1:1, which brought the Slovenians a ticket to Euro 2000. After this defeat, the then coach of the national team, Szabo, resigned.
We note that it was in this selection at the group stage that Andrei Shevchenko scored his legendary goal against the Russian national team at Luzhniki in Moscow in the last minutes of the match and did not allow them into the tournament.
2002 World Cup — defeat by Germany
The Ukrainian national team under the leadership of Valery Lobanovsky took second place in its group after Poland in the qualification for the World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
In the playoffs, the blue-yellows got Germany as their opponents, with whom they reduced the first game at home to a draw 1:1.
The return match, which took place in Dortmund, ended in a crushing defeat for Ukraine — 1:4. The only goal was scored by Andrey Shevchenko at the end of the match.
2010 World Cup — defeat by Greece
In the selection for this World Cup, the Ukrainian team was in the same group with England and Croatia, but the blue-and-yellows managed to beat the checkered ones by one point and take second place.
In the playoffs, the lot brought us together with the Greeks, which was then considered the best option.
The first game in Greece ended in a 0:0 draw, but the second match in Donetsk recorded a minimal defeat for the blue-yellows — 0:1. This is the fourth time our team has failed to qualify for a major international tournament through the playoffs.
2014 World Cup — defeat by France
Under the leadership of Mikhail Fomenko, the Ukrainian team took second place in a group that included, in particular, England, Montenegro and Poland. But we got France in the playoffs.
The first game in Kyiv ended in a sensational victory for the blue-yellows with a score of 2:0.
But the second match turned out to be a real nightmare. The Ukrainian team lost crushingly 3:0 and failed to qualify for the tournament in Brazil.
2022 World Cup — defeat by Wales
The Ukrainians started this selection with Andrey Shevchenko, but after his contract with the UAF ended, the team was headed by former youth coach Alexander Petrakov.
The blue-and-yellows managed to reach the playoffs, finishing second in the group after France. Due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the play-offs in the updated format took place not in March, but in early June.
In the first game, our team beat the Scotland team 3:1, but in the final of the qualifying playoffs they lost minimally to Wales.
In total, the Ukrainian national team played at the World Championships once in its history. At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the Ukrainians reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to Italy. Oleg Blokhin's team qualified directly for the tournament.
Our team also played at the Euro three times — in 2012 as a hostess, in 2016 it went through the play-offs and in 2020 — hit directly.
UAF President Andrei Shevchenko believes that sport is another aspect that can return attention to Ukraine. This is why the national team’s play in the qualifying playoffs for Euro 2024 carries such weight. Therefore, we sincerely all hope that this is “the curse of the playoffs” in the upcoming play-offs will remain far behind, and the selection for our team will end in success.
