Ukraine starts gearing up for 2026 World Cup — Find out who arrived first
Photo: Artem Dovbyk already with the team (UAF)
The Ukrainian national team has begun preparations for the October matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. On October 6, players started arriving in Poland, both in groups and individually. The press service of the Blue-and-Yellows shared details about how the team's first day went.
Route of UPL players
In October, Ukraine's national team will play two qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup: against Iceland in Reykjavík on October 10 and against Azerbaijan in Kraków on October 13.
Before that, the team is gathering in Poland. Players competing in the Ukrainian Premier League traveled by train to Warsaw and then continued by bus.
One of the first to arrive was the Shakhtar players, since the Donetsk club is currently based in Lviv.
How the foreign players arrived
The first to join the national team was Everton defender Vitalii Mykolenko. Genoa midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi was the next. The Italian-based player, who missed most of last season due to injuries, joined the national team for the first time since September 2024.
Next to arrive were the Portuguese players Anatolii Trubin and Heorhii Sudakov. Alongside them came the American Oleksandr Svatok.
Almost at night, Artem Dovbyk arrived from Italy and Yehor Yarmoliuk from England.
Three more foreign-based players—Viktor Tsyhankov and Vladyslav Vanat from Girona (Spain) and Illia Zabarnyi from PSG (France)—are expected to arrive on October 7.
Team's schedule
In Poland, the Blue-and-Yellows will train until October 8. On October 9, the team will head to Iceland. That same day, the traditional pre-match press conference with Serhii Rebrov and one of the players will take place at 8:30 PM Kyiv time, followed by training at 9:00 PM.
The match against the hosts will be held at the Laugardalsvöllur Stadium on October 10 at 9:45 PM. The team is scheduled to return to Poland on October 11.
On October 12, media events will take place in Kraków ahead of Ukraine's next match against Azerbaijan. Rebrov's press conference will start at 6:30 PM Kyiv time, and Ukraine's training session will follow at 7:00 PM.
The match against Azerbaijan will kick off at 9:45 PM at the Cracovia Stadium in Kraków.
