The German information resource Web.de has devoted one of its materials to the Ukrainian national football team. The publication emphasises the special significance of such a success in the conditions of war, and it was published with the headline "Ukraine at the European Championship 2024: defending freedom".
However, the text also talks a lot about the purely football component - in the context of the strengths of the current Ukrainian national team and its bright personalities.
"Now the composition of the participants of the European Championship 2024 in Germany has been finalised. In addition to Poland and Georgia, the debutant of the European Championship, the country that has been under attack from Russia for more than two years - Ukraine - has also qualified. The Eastern Europeans beat Iceland 2-1 in a qualifying play-off.
The mere circumstances of that game show the special situation the country is in right now. The Ukrainians' "home game" took place in Wroclaw, Poland, as UEFA does not allow games to be played in Ukraine. No pictures like the ones from Georgia, where the whole country was in jubilant mood, were seen....
But with the qualification of the European Championship, the sad and fateful routine of military life somewhat receded, if only for a small moment.
But the Ukrainian national team's appearance at Euro 2024 does not look like a surprise from a sporting point of view: this team is still talented to such an extent that its participation in the European Championship is not something surprising.
The times when exceptional talents like Andriy Shevchenko or Andriy Yarmolenko often had to pull the team together alone are long gone. The Ukraine national team has long shone as an ensemble of the highest calibre, especially in attack.
In the European Championship group with Belgium, Romania and Slovakia, second place for the Ukraine national team seems far from utopian. Moreover, buoyed by the rabid fans in Germany, and the thoughts of millions of compatriots in the crisis zone, the Ukraine national team can find a new level of courage and self-belief.
For the Ukrainian national team, this European Championship is more than just a sporting competition, because it is also about drawing the world's attention to the fate of the country. Sport and politics can no longer be separated, which is why Ukraine's participation in the European Championship is a special event on all levels," the publication said in particular.
