In every tournament, there is always one team that everyone wants to do well. At Euro 2020 it was Denmark after Christian Eriksen’s heart attack in their first tournament. In Qatar, it was Morocco as the Atlas Lions helped to make Islamic and African football history. For this tournament, it is undeniably Ukraine.

The war is still going on. It’s crazy to me that some people seem to have forgotten about it. But when you hear journalists saying that the tournament is a great chance to remind people of the situation in Kharkiv, or the video of Ukrainian players talking about how their hometowns have come under direct occupation and shelling, it is worth stating it aloud: there is a war in Europe. An unprovoked war of aggression against a sovereign state. The largest conflict in Europe since 1945.

No one gave Ukraine a chance. On paper, Russia had the largest standing army in the world. It had the largest tank fleet, the largest ballistic missile arsenal, the largest nuclear stockpile. On paper, this was an army that was created to go against the entirety of NATO. On paper. You hear that phrase a lot in football, “on paper” – you usually hear it as a pundit tries to explain the gravitas of a major upset.

Because we are now over two years into Vladimir Putin’s three-day special operation. Better writers and analysts can explain how Ukraine has been able to hold out, the push and pull of politics in the West, and the situation that Russia finds itself trapped in. Airstrikes are constant and more damaging as the West cobbles together air defences in an attempt to help protect Ukrainian skies. Russian offensives continue in the regions around Kharkiv in the country’s northwest. But Ukraine is still holding. A domestic defence industry has seen its first factories and outside investments established. Europe continues to donate weapons systems, tanks, shells, everything that the defenders will need to protect themselves, their homes, and the continent.

Ukraine lost 3-0 to Romania, another former Communist country that is haunted by the spectre of Russian imperialism. But in all honesty, the scoreline is a blip. The fact that Ukraine has made it to the Euros is a victory in and of itself. The Ukrainian domestic league was suspended in 2022. After the initial invasion was repulsed, the restart of the league was announced; some matches take place roughly 600 miles from the frontline. In a chilling reflection of wars gone by many involved in football, from the backroom staff to star strikers and stalwart centre-backs, have volunteered, trading in their shinpads and boots for camo and rifles.

The Ukrainian national team have not played a match in Ukraine since the war began – it would be too tempting a target. Instead, they’ve been hosted by neighbour and staunch ally (and NATO member) Poland. Many players in foreign leagues have had to deal with the unimaginable stress of at first trying to get their families evacuated and then trying to keep track of anyone who is still in the country. It’s a similar story for the whole Ukrainian diaspora. 

I was there, the first time Ukraine played after the initial invasion. It was a 2022 World Cup qualifier against Scotland at Hampden Park. My flatmates and I had managed to get tickets. The Tartan Army had shared across the internet a phonetic version of the Ukrainian national anthem so that all 55,000 in Hampden could sing it. There are roughly 37,000 people of Ukrainian descent in the UK, and over 150,000 refugees were accepted as a part of the government’s Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. They created a small corner of blue and gold, although it very well could have spread around the stadium. Outside the stadium, mixed in with the usual chants about Scotland and John McGinn were others: “Slava, Slava! (Glory, Glory!)” “Slava Ukrayini! Heroyam Slava! (Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!)”

Many in Ukraine agree that they were a divided and troubled nation before, but now there is a sense of unity and nationhood that they had never really developed since the end of the Soviet Empire. And with every bilateral defence treaty, every slow step on the way towards EU membership, and, yes, with every kick of a football, Ukraine is tying itself closer to Europe. Gone are the days of Ukraine being a battleground for Great Powers. Now Ukraine fights to be free of those archaic politics, and many on the frontlines will tap into Starlink steams to watch the Euros. Because they can see the joy on the faces of their compatriots inside the stadium. They can see the respect given to the symbols of their identity by the rest of Europe. And they can hear the pride with which their national anthem is bellowed:

The Glory of Ukraine has not yet perished, nor the will.
Still upon us, young brothers, fate shall smile.
Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the sun.
We too shall rule, brothers, our country.



Sources:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/how-many-ukrainians-live-in-the-uk/ - accessed 18.06.2024
https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/ukrainian-migration-to-the-uk/ - accessed 18.06.2024
https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/06/16/ukraine-gears-for-euro-with-greatest-ever-squad-soldiers-watch-via-starlinks-from-front/ - accessed 18.06.2024