Soccer appeared on Ukrainian territory in the city of Odessa in 1878. It was brought by the Englishmen who used to work there. The first soccer association of the Russian Empire (which included most of the modern Ukraine) appeared in 1912. This association was called the “All-Russian Soccer Union”. However, the first officially registered game of the team that consisted of Ukrainian players took place on July 14th, 1894. The game was between the teams from Lviv and Krakov – and was won by the players from Lviv.

Time went by and seven championships of Soviet Ukraine were won by the team from Kharkov – the former capital city of Ukraine. In 1932 the team from Kiev won the championship for the first time. In two years, Kiev became the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the team of this city became the leader of the republic soccer.

World War II struck the Ukrainian people in the economy of the country and, of course, its soccer. People will always remember the games between the Kiev team, “Start”, and the teams of fascists that took place in the occupied city in 1942. After the arduous victory of “Start” over the team of German Luftwaffe pilots, most of Ukrainian players were executed or sent to concentration camps.

In the late 1950’s, the Ukrainian players rapidly gained leadership in Soviet soccer. The team won the Cup and three consequent USSR Championships of 1966-1968. Players from Kiev were a part of the USSR team that won the prize of World Championship in 1966. Y. Vojnov became the champion of Europe in 1960.

In 19 years (1971-1990), the Ukrainian teams won 12 USSR Championships, 2 Cups of European Cup-holders, and the European Supercup. 18 Ukrainian players became vice-champions of Europe, 4 champions of the Olympic Games, and 2 players got the Best European Player title. The coach, V. Lobanovskiy, played a major role in achieving such results. In 1986, “Dinamo” was named the second team of world soccer. Lobanovskiy was the second world’s soccer coach and I. Belanov was the second world’s star soccer player.

In 1991 the USSR crumbled, and therefore the skills of Ukrainian soccer players worsened. In an attempt to move to the West as quick as possible, the players were frequently transferred into outsider teams. Both the players and the national team were suffering. Moreover, Russian clubs took away many excellent Ukrainian players during the split. Only with the appearance of young ambitious coaches, the situation changed for the better. The first step towards it was made with the return of V. Lobanovskiy.

The major achievement of modern Ukrainian soccer was made in the 2006 World Championship when the Ukrainian team reached the 1/8 finals under the direction of O. Blochin. It was the first time the national team made it since 1986! It was also the first game played by the team of the newly independent, Ukraine, in the World Cup finals.

However the Ukrainian team wasn’t playing with confidence all the time. The players simply weren’t skillful enough, but the captain, Andrey Shevchenko, who scored in the game against Tunisia, let the team reach the 1/8, and thinks that it was a historic achievement of Ukrainian soccer. The President of the 2006 World Cup Committee, Franz Bekkenbauer, thought the same: “… your team has successfully made it through one of the hardest elimination group and became the first European country reaching the finals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany”. The team made it despite numerous injuries and disqualifications that had plagued them and it showed that the Ukrainian team doesn’t consist of Andrey Shevchenko only – it was truly a team effort that enabled them to win!