Former Tottenham and West Ham striker Serhiy Rebrov was on Wednesday named coach of Ukraine.
“This is a long-awaited event, a new stage in the history of Ukrainian football,” said Ukraine federation head Andriy Pavelko.
“A special moment, since the new page will be written during martial law, in a special period for our country. We will expect from our national team a game that will please Ukrainian fans.”
Rebrov, 49, replaces Ruslan Rotan, on a contract through until July 30, 2026, after the World Cup of that year in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The former international, capped 75 times by Ukraine, faces a baptism of fire, kicking off with a friendly against Germany on June 12, followed by two Euro 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia on June 16 and Malta three days later.
The last game is at home but because of Russia’s invasion of their country Ukraine will ‘host’ Malta in Trnava, Slovakia.
As a player, Rebrov turned out for Dynamo Kyiv (1992-2000) before joining Tottenham (2000-04) and going on to play for Fenerbahce on loan before joining West Ham. He brought his career to a close in Russia with Rubin Kazan in 2009.
He coached Dynamo Kyiv between 2014-17 before moving on to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, Ferencvaros in Hungary and Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates.
For the European qualifiers against North Macedonia and Malta, Rebrov picked the best possible squad which includes Mykhailo Mudryk, who was the subject of a 70 million euro-transfer move to Chelsea, Everton’s Vitaliy Mikolenko, Bournemouth’s Illia Zabarnyi, Ruslan Malinovsky of Olympique Marseille and Serhiy Kryvtsov of Inter Miami – Leo Messi’s new club in the USA’s Major League Soccer.
Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko is not called up as he is still recovering from a calf issue.
SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS
Georgiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kiev), Anatoliy Trubin (Shaktar Donetsk), Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid, Spain).
DEFENDERS
Mykola Matvienko, Valeriy Bonday, Yukhym Konoplya (Shaktar Donetsk), Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kiev), Oleksandr Svatok (Dnipro), Vitaliy Mikolenko (Everton, England), Illlia Zabarnyi (Bournemouth, England), Eduard Sobol (Strasbourg, France), Serhiy Kryvtsov (Inter Miami, USA).
MIDFIELDERS
Taras Stepanenko, Oleksandr Zubkov, Georgy Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Serhiy Sydorchuk, Vitaly Buyalskyi (Dynamo Kiev), Oleksandr Pikhalyonok (Dnipro), Andriy Yarmolenko (Al-Ain, UAE), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Olympique Marseille, France), Viktor Tsygankov (Girona, Spain), Mykhailo Mudryk (Chelsea, England), Danylo Ignatenko (Bordeaux, France), Vladyslav Kochergin (Rakow, Poland).
FORWARDS
Artem Dovbyk (Dnipro), Vladyslav Vanat (Dynamo Kiev), Nazarly Rusyn (Zorya Luhansk).
