The prospective Ukraine World Cup 2026 squad battled to second place in their qualification group behind France, but have landed in a tricky section of the play-off draw.
A place at World Cup 2026 is up for grabs: Sweden may be recovering from their lowest ebb in recent times, but with players across Europe's top five leagues, they still pose a threat, while either Albania or Poland will be a stern test in the winner-takes-all final.
The Ukrainians' only previous World Cup appearance came in 2006, spearheaded by the talismanic Andriy Shevchenko. This time around, they will have to rely on teamwork over individual talent.
Four-time Premier League winner Oleksandr Zinchenko suffered an ACL injury with Ajax in February, which could rule him out of the World Cup altogether, and Roma striker Artem Dovbyk's hamstring injury rules him out for a similar timeframe.
But national team stalwarts Ruslan Malinovskiy and Roman Yaremchuk are still firing, and there is a healthy sprinkle of young talent amongst the squad.
Brentford's 22-year-old midfielder Yehor Yarmolyuk has been a regular starter in the Premier League this season, and 23-year-old Ilia Zabarnyi has been competing for minutes at Paris Saint-Germain following last season's move from Bournemouth.
First-choice goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin notched the crucial goal against Real Madrid to ensure Benfica's progression to the Champions League knockout stage, only for the Portuguese side to be eliminated by the same opposition.
Ukraine World Cup 2026 squad: The March selection
Ukraine World Cup 2026 squad: The squad for the March play-offs
- GK: Ruslan Nescheret (Dynamo Kyiv)
- GK: Anatoliy Trubin (Benfica)
- GK: Dmytro Riznyk (Shakhtar Donetsk)
- DF: Yukhym Konoplya (Shakhtar Donetsk)
- DF: Bohdan Mykhaylichenko (Polissya Zhytomyr)
- DF: Oleksandr Svatok (Austin FC)
- DF: Valeriy Bondar (Shakhtar Donetsk)
- DF: Ilia Zabarnyi (PSG)
- DF: Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton)
- DF: Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kyiv)
- DF: Eduard Sarapiy (Polissya Zhytomyr)
- DF: Borys Krushynskyi (Polissya Zhytomyr)
- MF: Ivan Kalyuzhnyi (Metalist Kharkiv)
- MF: Ruslan Mainovskyi (Genoa)
- MF: Mykola Shaparenko (Dynamo Kyiv)
- MF: Oleksiy Hutsulyak (Polissya Zhytomyr)
- MF: Oleh Ocheretko (Shakhtar Donetsk)
- MF: Viktor Tsyhankov (Girona)
- MF: Heorhiy Sudakov (Benfica)
- MF: Yehor Yarmolyuk (Brentford)
- MF: Nazar Voloshyn (Dynamo Kyiv)
- MF: Oleksandr Zubkov (Trabzonspor)
- MF: Oleksandr Pikhalyonok (Dynamo Kyiv)
- FW: Vladyslav Vanat (Girona)
- FW: Roman Yaremchuk (Lyon)
- FW: Matviy Ponomarenko (Dynamo Kyiv)
Ukraine fixtures and results
Fixtures
- March 26, 2026: Ukraine vs Sweden, Valencia, Spain
- March 31, 2026: Ukraine vs Poland/Albania, Valencia, Spain
Recent results
- November 16, 2025: Ukraine 2-0 Iceland, Warsaw, Poland
- November 13, 2025: France 4-0 Ukraine, Paris, France
- October 13, 2025: Ukraine 2-1 Azerbaijan, Krakow, Poland
- October 10, 2025: Iceland 3-5 Ukraine, Reykjavik, Iceland
- September 9, 2025: Azerbaijan 1-1 Ukraine, Baku, Azerbaijan
- September 5, 2025: Ukraine 0-2 France, Wroclaw, Poland
Ukraine manager: Serhiy Rebrov
Who is Ukraine's manager?
Put simply, Serhiy Rebrov is a Ukrainian legend.
The 51-year-old partnered Andriy Shevchenko at Dynamo Kyiv during the duo's formative years in the 1990s, and he remains the league's record goalscorer.
Like Shevchenko, he moved to the Premier League, for Tottenham and West Ham, and galvanised Ukraine to qualify for Euro 2024 despite the ongoing Russian invasion.
Wales' star player
Who is Ukraine's star player?
There are some very exciting young players in this team, chiefly Benfica's Herohiy Sudakov and Brentford's Yarmolyuk.
But such is the individual brilliance of so many European teams, Ukraine must become greater than the sum of their parts to qualify for the World Cup.
Captain Mykola Matviyenko's absence will be keenly felt in defence, which is why his primary centre-back partner, Ilia Zabarnyi, will be amplified in importance.
He may not have started every game for PSG this season, but he has already earned 55 caps for Ukraine at 23 years old.
