The Ukraine around Oleksandr Zinchenko (right) narrowly missed the World Cup in the game against Wales with Joe Allen, now the European Championship is waiting as a big stage.
Photo: imago/David Davies
It is more than a symbolic gesture that a huge blue and yellow flag is hanging at Bremen City Hall these days. Showing solidarity with the Ukraine in front of the city’s most prominent sights, on the market square with Roland and town musicians, is an important statement. Especially when the national football players of Ukraine are in the Hanseatic city, who are not only playing the benefit game against the DFB selection here this Monday evening, but are also preparing for the European Championship qualifiers on June 16 in North Macedonia and three days later prepare against Malta. The Bundesliga team SV Werder is also helping, providing the national team from the war-torn country with a training ground, where Ukrainian compatriots who have fled can sometimes look over the fence.
The goal: to come back to Germany for the EM 2024, a country “that supports us tremendously,” as the new national coach Serhiy Rebrow emphasizes. But the lot didn’t mean it well: With European champions Italy and European runners-up England in a group, the EM ticket for the Ukraine is almost an impossibility. The team missed out on Qatar 2022 in the play-off final against Wales after winning the semi-final against Scotland sparked widespread sympathy around the world.
And now? “We’re fighting for qualification,” Rebrow explained. »We represent Ukraine in Europe. For me it’s very important that we give our all – and then we’ll see what happens.« The 49-year-old, who played for Dynamo Kiev for a long time as a professional, has meanwhile also played in the Premier League for West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur , let his contract as a coach in the United Arab Emirates expire in order to return to his homeland. “I listened to my heart.” Such great patriotism is also practiced by most footballers, who see themselves in the role of providing a bit of distraction. After all, you are just far enough away from home, where the Russian war of aggression is leaving its bloody traces.
Rebrow, who himself has played 75 times for the Ukrainian national team, formulated his own mission to himself and his protégés at the Weser Stadium this weekend: »For me, football means emotions. Emotions are missing in our country, our people. In war everyone looks at the news, at what is happening – so do we.” That’s why he said to his players: “We have to give the people in Ukraine emotions to support them. We have to show our character on the pitch.« Never give up, keep fighting.
When he was introduced last week, the coach first thanked the armed forces at home “for defending our independence and enabling us to talk about football.” Andriy Jarmolenko, the captain, also feels a special obligation in difficult times. “It’s tough for the players, but we have to be strong because we’re Ukrainians,” says the 33-year-old, who was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but turned pro at the Ukrainian flagship club Dynamo Kiev. A return is in the offing as his contract with al-Ain FC in the Emirates expires in a few days. “We have to play football for our fans, for our people, to give them something positive,” says the former Bundesliga player from Borussia Dortmund.
Sometimes that’s just easier said than done. This was reported in Bremen by Anatoli Trubin, the only 21-year-old national goalkeeper from Shakhtar Donetsk. When Vladimir Putin’s troops occupied Crimea in 2014 and Russian separatists fomented unrest in the Donbass basin, the club had to relocate from Donetsk to Kiev. Since then, the goalkeeping talent has been living in the capital with his mother and sister, while the relatives stayed in Donetsk. Games in exile with the club, such as during the European Cup competitions in Warsaw or Lviv, have become part of everyday life for Trubin and many of his teammates, but appearances with the national team are something special: “Now we want to show the whole world: Ukraine is still here.”
The Russian invasion in February 2022 changed everything and caused an incredible amount of suffering. Actually amazing that the league started again last summer. Association head Andriy Pawelko soon initiated the resumption of play at the highest level: “I spoke to President Zelenskyj about how important football is to distract.” Unfortunately, it then became known that Pawelko was involved in a corruption scandal, which also happened on refers to a cardinal problem of the young nation. In any case, the uncovered misappropriation of aid funds also jeopardizes the jointly planned application with Spain and Portugal for the 2030 World Cup.
The Ukrainian league has endured a quirky season of disruptions caused by alarms, heightened security and empty ranks. Shakhtar Donetsk was champion again. The club continues to be the mainstay of the national team because billionaire Rinat Akhmetov didn’t drop it. Previously suspected of being too close to Russian separatists, he has now made a clear commitment to Ukraine. When Mykhailo Mudryk went to Chelsea from Donetsk for 100 million euros in the winter, part of the sum went to the defense of the city of Mariupol.
Shakhtar has long sought support at home in vain, but the team has received great support since the outbreak of war. But the nightmares don’t stop: goalkeeper Trubin said that there had been constant air raids in Kiev almost every night for the past few months. “You keep getting woken up.” It’s difficult to keep in shape. When he’s on the pitch, it’s just the game in his head. But when he leaves the place, the war comes back to his head. He will never forget February 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded his homeland: “My life stopped at that moment.”
