Ukraine will miss the World Cup in Qatar this winter. Ukraine lost the decisive playoff game in qualifying on Sunday (05 June 2022) against Wales 0-1. The people in Ukraine took the news “coldly to soberly,” said Eastern Europe correspondent Peter Sawicki on Deutschlandfunk.
But even in Kyiv, people would have gathered in pubs to watch the game, reports Sawicki. “Ukraine is basically a sport-loving country, although of course sport doesn’t play the predominant role in television coverage at the moment.” After the game, there were discussions on social media about national coach Oleksandr Petrakov. “This shows that interest in sport is already there in times of war, although of course it is secondary.”
Nevertheless, Sawicki would have liked to have taken the World Cup along as a stage for overriding messages. “But from a Ukrainian point of view it’s certainly not a must.”
Football leagues are set to start again in August
In August, however, the Ukrainian professional soccer leagues for men and women are to start again, even if war should still prevail. This was announced by the President of the Association, Andrei Pavelko. “Whereas then, of course, the decisive question is under what conditions this could really happen. Ukrainian and Polish media speculate that this could happen partly or completely in western Ukraine, maybe also partly in Kyiv,” said Sawicki.
Another option is to play abroad. “Poland or Turkey are named as buyer countries.” Many questions are still unanswered, says Sawicki.