Ukrainian Football Travel Diaries
World Cup France '98 - European Championship 2000 - World Cup Japan & Korea 2002
Prologue
Welcome! These pages chronicle my trips over the past two years to see three of Ukraine's World Cup qualifiers in the European zone Group Nine in pursuit of a place at the Finals in France. Ukraine's group was amongst the most difficult having been drawn alongside Germany, Portugal, Northern Ireland, Armenia and Albania. Group Nine was quickly dubbed the "Group of Death" though most experts still expected it to be a simple procession for Germany and Portugal to the Finals. It was the selection of Northern Ireland to the group, however, that was to prove ultimately of most importance. Not long after the fixture list was announced, it was decided in some quarters of the Ukrainian community in Great Britain that we should attend the opening match in Belfast. Not only was the trip a short and affordable one, but it was also of some historical significance, it being Ukraine's first ever World Cup match.
As the date for the match approached and more and more of the Diaspora in Britain caught wind of the plans, the whole thing mushroomed into a grand enterprise that saw upwards of 300 British Ukrainians make the journey to Belfast. These Diaries are the unedited texts that I wrote shortly after attending each match. The story begins on the morning of the first matchday...
Travel Diary: Saturday, August 31st, 1996 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland v Ukraine
Travel Diary: November 9th, 1996 - Porto, Portugal - Portugal v Ukraine
Travel Diary: Wednesday, April 2nd, 1997 - Kyiv, Ukraine - Ukraine v Northern Ireland
European Championships - The Low Countries 2000
Prologue
After the long wait from that awful defeat at the hands of Croatia in the playoffs, finally the qualifying campaign for the European Championships 2000 has begun. Ukraine's international reputation in football has gained substantial ground since that warm August night in Belfast just over 2 years ago! Ukraine went into her first qualifying match against Russia with expectations of victory in the air. There is still a long way to go until we trod the shljakh do peremohy to Moscow in October of 1999, but the beginning looked to be possibly the most exciting thing to happen in Ukraine since Independence...
Travel Diary: Saturday, September 5th, 1998 - Kyiv, Ukraine - Ukraine v Russia
Travel Diary: Saturday, March 27th, 1999 - Paris, France - France v Ukraine
Travel Diary: Saturday, September 4th, 1999 - Kyiv, Ukraine - Ukraine v France
Travel Diary: Saturday, November 13th, 1999 - Ljubljana, Slovenia - Slovenia v Ukraine
World Cup - Japan & Korea - 2002
Prologue
It was more difficult than you can imagine to watch the Slovenians in Belgium. All I could think of was how much we could have enjoyed ourselves, camping at the Ukrainian oselia in Francorchamps and going to football games and celebrating every night for the two weeks of the group stages. But it was not to be and new challenges are on the horizon. September 2000 saw the dawning of a new crusade, to reach the Finals of the World Cup 2002 to be hosted by Japan and Korea. The major change over the summer was the introduction of Valery Lobanovsky as head coach of the Ukrainian National Team, taking over the sacked Josef Szabo. Another big change was the departure of Serhiy Rebrov to English side Tottenham Hotspur. Key questions were raised about the impact of neither of Ukraine's chief strikers playing domestically any longer. New youth are coming to the fore in the shape of Andriy Vorobei and Alex Belyk from Shakhtar Donetsk's youth programme. Otherwise, things remained much as they had before. Continuity and change all at the same time. Could this be the one?
Travel Diary: Saturday, September 2nd, 2000 - Kyiv, Ukraine - Ukraine v Poland
Travel Diary: Wednesday, October 11th, 2000 - Oslo, Norway - Norway v Ukraine
Coming in March...
Travel Diary: Wednesday, March 28th, 2000 - Cardiff, Wales - Wales v Ukraine
Comments? Please write to me here
