The head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Serhiy Rebrov, commented on the results of the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. By the will of the draw, Ukraine has landed in group D, where they will face the winner of the 2024/2025 Nations League quarter-final France - Croatia, as well as the teams of Iceland and Azerbaijan.
Serhiy Rebrov (photo: uaf.ua)“Any opponents are tough. We have what we have. I think we can play against anyone. Yes, from the first pot we got France or Croatia... In my opinion, the French are favorites, but we’ll see. We will prepare and fight. The French have a higher ranking, but I watched the matches of the Croatians and understand that this is also a very serious team. We need to make use of the time allocated before the start of the qualifiers and prepare well for each opponent.
It will be very difficult to play in Iceland, as this team performs strongly at home. Recently, the Icelanders have improved a lot. Many of their players play in top leagues.
We plan to play two friendly matches in June. But negotiations are ongoing, so we cannot say anything specific about these matches. I will only note that we will choose opponents who will help us prepare for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Right now, we do not know exactly where we will be hosting the group opponents. We do not even know where we will play the home match against Belgium in the Nations League. Negotiations are ongoing,” remarked Serhiy Rebrov.
