Led by the legendary Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine will be aiming to qualify for the knockout stage of a European Championship for the first time in their history.
• Manager: Andriy Shevchenko
• Current FIFA World Ranking: 24th
• Best European Championship finish: Group Stage (2012, 2016)
Ukraine’s squad is made up mostly of players operating in the Ukrainian Premier League, with the exception of a handful of England and Belgium-based stars. Let’s take a closer look at Ukraine’s 26-man roster.
Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kyiv), Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Anatolii Trubin (Shakhtar Donetsk).
Defenders: Eduard Sobol (Club Brugge), Illia Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kyiv), Serhiy Kryvtsov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Denys Popov (Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kyiv), Vitaliy Mykolenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Karavaev (Dynamo Kyiv), Mykola Matviyenko (Shakhtar Donetsk).
Midfielders: Serhiy Sydorchuk (Dynamo Kyiv), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Atalanta), Mykola Shaparenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Marlos (Shakhtar Donetsk), Yevhen Makarenko (Kortrijk), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Manchester City), Viktor Tsygankov (Dynamo Kyiv), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham), Oleksandr Zubkov (Ferencvaros), Heorhii Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Roman Bezus (Gent).
Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk (Gent), Artem Besedin (Dynamo Kyiv), Artem Dovbyk (Dnipro-1).
Ukraine have been drawn in Group C, alongside the Netherlands, Austria and North Macedonia. Shevchenko’s men kick off their campaign against the Dutch on June 13.
North Macedonia are the Ukrainians’ next opponents on June 17, before Austria visit Bucharest – Ukraine's base camp – on June 21.
Oleksandr Zinchenko: Fresh from clinching his third Premier League with Manchester City, the versatile Zinchenko is undoubtedly Ukraine’s key performer.
The 2019 Ukrainian Footballer of the Year featured in over 50% of Man City’s league matches last term and even started the Champions League loss to Chelsea.
Since leaving the Soviet Union, Ukraine have never made it past the group stage of a European Championship. Unfortunately, that isn’t likely to change this year.
Shevchenko’s men will be more than happy to reach the knockout phase, but they are likely to struggle to get out of their group.