Yet from that moment on, things began to go downhill for Ukraine, culminating in failure to qualify for the last four tournaments, before they finally delivered a better performance in the qualifiers this time around.
Wins against Slovakia (25:20) and Israel (28:27 and 32:28) were hardly convincing on paper, but they did the job for Ukraine, who also drew against Slovakia (25:25) and lost both matches against Germany, 24:31 and 21:43, in the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers.
“The most important thing is that we are here, that we qualified and we will play once again at the EHF EURO. That is the most important thing and I really want to congratulate everybody for a great job in the qualification. Now, we are heading to the final tournament and I think we are hoping to do a great job, because in the past years, we were not here,” says Ukraine’s centre back, Tamara Smbatian.
Smbatian is one of the most experienced Ukraine players, who has been playing abroad since 2017, with stints in Poland, Romania and, since 2021, at Hungarian side Alba Fehérvár KC, where she was named the Player of the Year twice in the last two seasons.
In the EHF EURO 2024 Qualifiers, Smbatian was one of the top players for Ukraine, scoring 23 goals, including a six-goal outing against Germany in the 24:31 loss, which saw Ukraine keep pace with Germany for over 40 minutes.
"We have quite a young squad, with plenty of new players, therefore we are slowly learning everything and trying to improve. This will be a great test for us, but only the fact that we are here, at the EURO, is absolutely fantastic,” adds Smbatian.
In fact, Ukraine have been waiting for a win at the EHF EURO since 2010, after conceding three losses in both 2012 and 2014, finishing 14th and 16th respectively. In fact, since 2004, Ukraine have won only three of their last 17 matches played at the finals and never finished higher than the 10th place.
