With patriotic songs broadcast and thousands of exiled Ukrainians in the stadium, the men's national team was made to feel at home at its first training in Germany for the European Championship. (More Football News)
After the national anthem played, and before the warmups began, there was a vivid reminder of the war at home that is a constant and uniting force for this Ukraine squad.
Each player had a ball to give to a fan and Oleksandr Zinchenko presented his to a military veteran who had prosthetic legs below each knee.
Near the downtown stadium of Wehen Wiesbaden is the United States military headquarters in Germany which is coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid from Ukraine's allies to fight against the Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Wiesbaden six months ago.
It is a subject the Ukraine team wants to address, and hopes Euro 2024 watched worldwide will help put on center stage.
“We need to talk about this,” coach Serhiy Rebrov said. “I know that some people are tired about the news of the war but we are continuing to fight and we need your support.”
“It's very important that Ukraine is represented in the Euro because we, all Ukrainians, we want to be in (the) European family,” said the former national team star who also played in England and Russia, and coached in Hungary. “On the war we are fighting for all Europe.”
Later Thursday, the Ukrainian soccer federation published a video on social media of 13 players talking about their hometowns with images of their destruction and occupation by the Russian military.
Zinchenko was in the Ukraine team that reached the Euro quarterfinals three years ago. That was the last European summer before the Russians attacked.
This tournament is “100%” different and special, Zinchenko said.
“There is still people dying for no reason and we have to stick together,” said the Arsenal player, stressing that what the players have lived through does not compare to fighters on the front lines and their families.
“For them it is super difficult, for us it's obviously extra motivation. We all know who is behind us. We need to show our best performance,” Zinchenko said.
Ukraine first plays on Monday against Romania in Munich. Four days later, Ukraine plays Slovakia in Duesseldorf then finishes in Group F against favored Belgium on June 26 in Stuttgart.
Preparation for those games started in earnest on Thursday morning after a formal welcome on the field by politicians from the region where Wiesbaden is the state capital.
The 4,000 fans in the stadium gave standing ovations to greet different groups of players as they passed by doing light warmup runs in laps of the field.
“In Germany, the Ukrainian community is everywhere. We were very happy with everything here,” said Rebrov, one day after the squad arrived.
At home, the country is under constant threat of Russian bombs targeting the people and essential infrastructure for daily life like the power grid.
“I hope when we play the games,” midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi said, “people in Ukraine have lights to watch the games on TV.”
For the past 10 years, Ukrainian champion Shakhtar Donetsk has been unable to play games in its home city because of the conflict in the country's east involving Russian-backed separatists.
Ukraine midfielder Taras Stepanenko has stayed with Shakhtar through the whole decade, including playing Champions League home' games this season in Germany. He said on Thursday, “We deserve to be here for our people.
“Every day people die, cities destroyed. Every day when we wake up, we read the news about what the situation is in Ukraine," said the 34-year-old player appearing at his third straight Euros.
"Every day, I see on my phone screen, messages about air (raids). So every morning I phone my parents to ask if everything is OK," Stepanenko added. "We live in this condition almost three years. It's so difficult.”
