Around the pitch of the latest stadium Ukraine will call home, a set of banners reels off the venues that have accommodated them in the past four years. The list goes on: Lodz, Prague, Leverkusen, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Krakow, Murcia, Poznan and Trnava, some of those in multiple. If that is an exhausting read then imagine the effect on Serhiy Rebrov’s players, who have been unable to add Kyiv to the roll call since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Now Ukraine will have to navigate a week in Valencia if they are to book a summer at football’s showpiece. They face Sweden at Levante’s neat, modest ground, rather than the fabled Mestalla, and will remain there for the playoff final on Tuesday if they win. Twenty years have passed since their last appearance at a World Cup, when Rebrov was among the stars of a side that rather slogged its way to the quarter-finals. Now he is the manager and stands on the verge of an achievement that would, given the context, surely surpass those heroics.
“We have to do something for our people,” Rebrov says. “They deserve this. I’m sure our players will fight on the pitch, show character, show everything just to be there. It’s really important to our country just to be represented at the World Cup.”
Back home millions will, through varying degrees of adversity, find a way to watch. A strong support is also likely inside Estadi Ciutat de Valencia, where approximately 20,000 are expected to be present on Thursday. “If we played this kind of game in Kyiv it would be much better and of course everyone misses it,” the defender Illia Zabarnyi says. “But we still want to play with our fans and we just invite everyone, because we need your support.”
They have coped admirably with this endless stint on the road and atmospheres that, although spirited and well populated by their compatriots, cannot replicate the buzz generated on their own soil. It did not stop them reaching Euro 2024 and, narrowly beaten despite outplaying Wales in Cardiff, coming within a whisker of appearing in Qatar four years ago. Ukraine have developed a habit of finding something extra from within.
Even more may be required this time because Rebrov is deprived of key players. Artem Dovbyk, the talismanic Roma striker, is out for the season after thigh surgery. Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has so often summoned prodigious form for his country, sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament two weeks after joining Ajax in February. The experienced pair Ruslan Malinovskyi and Yukhym Konoplya are both suspended for the Sweden match and would only return for a playoff final against Poland or Albania.
Sweden hope there is no such eventuality, although for non-natives their story tugs much less tightly on the emotions. On a sporting level they would gladly take revenge for the dramatic last-16 defeat at Hampden Park in Euro 2020, where Dovbyk put Ukraine through at the end of extra time. “One of the worst ones for me,” was how Victor Lindelöf, reminded of the pain, describes that night. Whether defeat here would feel similarly consequential may depend on the circumstances; Sweden, abysmal in the regular qualifying campaign, were granted this playoff lifeline only through their performances in the Nations League.
Graham Potter, enlisted last October to revive hopes in his adopted homeland, now faces what he described as a “unique situation”. Few experiences can prepare a manager for this kind of short, sharp shootout for a place among the elite. Sweden and Potter both elected to look beyond immediate priorities this month, eyebrows raised when he extended what had been a short‑term deal until 2030. It is a coup for the Swedes and, for Potter, a show of confidence in the resources available.
“It was really organic and I think that’s the best way,” he says of that decision to stay on.
“The longer I worked here, the more I got to know people and learned about the team and the possibilities. I’ve committed four years of my life to this team so that tells you I believe in them and what we can achieve.”
Alexander Isak and Dejan Kulusevski continue to headline Sweden’s own injury woes, while Lucas Bergvall remains short of match fitness. Potter is likely to keep things simple against Ukraine given his stretched resources and limited time with the team. He expressed confidence in their defensive balance; that, as well as effectiveness at set pieces, may be crucial in a match-up that could go the distance to penalties. Rebrov suggested he expects a scrap full of fights, duels and tests of character.
It may not be pretty and, at the end, one of these storied nations will have its own tale of regret. But both will also be able to look beyond the pitch, recalling the reasons for the hoardings that list all those European cities. When it became clear the countries would meet, Sweden and Ukraine commenced a dialogue that will lead to a long-term cooperation agreement between the pair. It is due to be signed in Valencia; in addition, football equipment will be donated to Ukrainian schools.
Rebrov hopes his side can bring relief . “All of the players understand who we are playing for.” They are 180 minutes from telling their story to the world.
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