Ukraine EURO 2020 Preview - History and Expectations

Published on 29 Feb 2020 | Last updated on 01 Jul 2026 | Reading time: 5 minutes

The Ukrainian national team will go with great ambitions to the European Championship in 2021. After a strong performance in the qualifiers, finishing ahead of Portugal, they are looking forward to their participation in the third consecutive European Championship. Andriy Shevchenko's boys are ready to prove themselves on the big stage, after 5 years ago and at the championship, in 2012 they failed in the group stage. Definitely, Ukraine has a lot of great players to make its best performance in the Euro finals as an independent country.

Check out our preview of Ukraine at the 2020 European Championships and what we can expect from "Yellow and Blue".

Ukraine European Championships - History and successes

In the previous two appearances in the European finals, Ukraine failed to go through their group, finishing third (2012) and fourth (2016) respectively. That makes reaching the direct elimination phase to be the main goal of the coach Andrey Shevchenko. In the last finals in France in 2016, the Ukrainian team failed to win a single point, being in a group with Germany, Poland, and Northern Ireland. This was a very disappointing performance for the country, and at the upcoming championship, the team will pursue at least one victory in the group.

The Road to Euro 2020

Ukraine made a great performance in the Euro 2020 qualifiers to win its place in the tournament. Shevchenko's team finished first in their group, with teams such as Portugal and Serbia competing. The Ukrainian team did not concede a single loss, recording six wins and two draws. The team had the best defense in the group with only 4 goals conceded. Against the big favorite Portugal, the team of Ukraine won 2:1 at home and drew 0:0 during their visit to Lisbon.

Euro 2020 fixtures

Ukraine is in Group C of Euro 2020 with the teams of Netherlands, Austria, and North Macedonia.

• June 13, 9:00 pm: Netherlands - Ukraine / Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam /
• June 17, 3:00 pm: Ukraine - North Macedonia / Arena Nationala, Bucharest /
• June 21, 6:00 pm: Ukraine - Austria / Arena Nationala, Bucharest /

Ukraine squad for the European Football Championship 2020

Ukraine is one of the countries in Eastern Europe that relies on players mainly from the local championship. The team consists of over 15 players who compete in the Ukrainian league, most of them defending the colors of the greats Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev. The captain of the team - the goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov, is a football player of Shakhtar, as well as Yevhen Konoplyanka, Sergey Krivtsov, Junior Moraes, Taras Stepanenko, and others. From the team of Dynamo Kiev we can distinguish Alexander Karavaev, Vitaly Mikhailichenko, Sergiy Sidorchuk, and Mykola Shaparenko. In the ranks of Dynamo Kiev there are players from leading European championships such as Ruslan Malinovskyi (Atalanta), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Man City), and Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham).

Goalkeepers: Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Heorhiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kiev), Anatoliy Trubin (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Defenders: Mykola Matviyenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Oleksandr Karavayev (Dynamo Kiev), Serhiy Kryvtsov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Eduard Sobol (Club Brugge), Vitaliy Mykolenko (Dynamo Kiev), Illya Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kiev), Denys Popov (Dynamo Kiev), Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kiev)
Midfielders: Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham United), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Manchester City), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Atalanta), Serhiy Sydorchuk (Dynamo Kiev), Marlos (Shakhtar Donetsk), Yevhen Makarenko (Kortrijk), Mykola Shaparenko (Dynamo Kiev), Viktor Tsygankov (Dynamo Kiev), Roman Bezus (Gent), Oleksandr Zubkov (Ferencvaros), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Heorhii Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk (Gent), Artem Dovbyk (SC Dnipro-1), Artem Besedin (Dynamo Kiev)

Source: www.football365.com

The Big Star: Andriy Pyatov

In comparison to other teams, which have stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Mbappe, and others, Ukraine does not have such a big and famous player as Andriy Shevchenko in the past. The first goalkeeper - Andriy Pyatov is the captain of the team and has the most caps from the current squad, that's why we define the goalkeeper as the biggest star in the composition of Ukraine. Maybe the goalkeeper position will be key for the performance of the team at Euro 2020. The goalkeeper of Shakhtar Donetsk turns 37 in the summer and this may be his last big forum. Pyatov, who has so far kept 45 dry nets in 96 games for the team, would be the first choice of any of Ukraine's participation in the European finals, as he has already played every minute in 2012 and 2016.

Expectations for Ukraine at Euro 2020

Ukraine is far from an incredible performance in the Euro qualifiers, having won just two victories (1-0 against Spain and 2-1 against Switzerland) in their last eight international matches, which include friendly matches and matches of the League of Nations. Between that game against Spain, the Shevchenko's boys were a series of losses in three games, in which they conceded eight goals, scoring once by the end of 2020. They started 2021 and their campaign in the qualifications for the World Cup in 2022 with a positive draw 1:1 against France, after that they made two remis at home with the teams of Finland and Kazakhstan. Ukraine in their previous two European appearances failed to jump over their group, but this time maybe they will have a better chance to move to the next phase of the tournament. 

Odds for Ukraine

Group C has one big favorite - the Netherlands, but the two other teams will fight with Ukraine for second place. The bookmakers are giving better chances for the Shevchenko team in comparison to Austria and North Macedonia, so we do. They are giving a very low probability to win the group and go through the 1/8 finals. Ukraine is far away from the top 5 favorites for winning the European title in 2021. Here are the current odds for the "Yellow and Blue":

To win Euro 2020	51.00
To win Group C	5.50