Slava Ukrayini! A Celebration of Ukraine’s Greatest Sporting Moments: Part II
Yesterday I wrote about Ukraine's only World Cup appearance to date snd I'm here again to celebrate Ukraine. Nothing brings up together better than sports and I want to reflect on some positive things during their dark days.
There's no greater or relevant way to begin by chanting Slava Ukrayini! It translates to "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!". The chant first appeared in the Ukrainian War for Independence in 1917 and is also used at major sporting events. You can take a listen to the chant here.
Today I want to celebrate Euro 2012. Ukraine and Poland suprinsgly won the right to host the tournament ahead of Croatia-Hungary and Italy bids. It was a moment that would be met with unbelievable joy for both delegations.
It meant Ukraine qualified automatically and it was their first ever appearance at the tournament which followed their 2006 World Cup appearances. It would be the last European championship that would have a 16-team format before expansion to a 24-team tournament. Interestingly Dynamo Kyiv was the third most represented club at Euro 2012 with 10 players, behind only Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Shakhtar Donetsk was close behind with 8 players.
All but two Ukrainian players played their football outside the Ukrainian Premier League - forward Andriy Voronin who played for Dynamo Moscow, and Bayern Munich's deep-lying midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk who was voted Ukraine's best footballer in history only a year prior to the tournament.
The Ukrainian attack would be spearheaded by legend Andriy Shevchenko who was their captain. They also had youth on their side, Andriy Yarmolenko who now plays for West Ham and Yevhen Konoplyanka who played for Sevilla and Schalke.
In their opening game against Sweden, it was a battle of two greats! Andriy Shevchenko vs. Zlatan Ibrahimović. Ibrahimović opened the scoring for the Swedes but Shevchenko would later cement himself as a national hero. Despite being 35, he scored two goals to win the game for Ukraine infront of their home fans. This has to be the greatest moment in football history for Ukraine winning 2-1.
Despite their opening win they would drop both their next games - a 0–2 loss to France and a 0–1 loss to England which would eliminate them from the tournament. Ukraine will always have a Euro 2012 group stage win infront of their home fans at their national stadium.
The tournament was a success too and gave great respectability to both Ukraine and Poland. It set attendance records for the 16-team tournament format with the highest aggregate attendance (1,440,896) and average attendance per game (46,481).
Ukraine are indeed in troubled times, and it's a deep contrast to the celebration of what Euro 2012 was. There wasn't the expected football boom that there may have been expected as the Ukrainian Premier League hasn't improved. They also haven't had a golden generation that could have spawned following such an event.
It did help with the countries infrastructure, such as with airports, roads and trains. It's unfortunate however that it all means nothing now with what is currently unfolding in the country. I hope the best for Ukraine and wish that they qualify for the World Cup.
For now, let's reminisce national hero Shevchenko playing for my favourite team Chelsea. @talesfrmthecrypt remember this one 😇?
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
Hosting a major tournament such as Euro brings many advantages to the host country. I guess it was a big moment for Ukraine as it boosted many of their sectors.
Speaking of Shevchenko, he's such a great player. Growing up, it was always hard pronouncing his name😂😂