Ukraine’s national team failed to defeat Azerbaijan in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers
9 September 22:08
In the second match of the European qualification for the 2026 World Cup, the Ukrainian national team failed to win in Baku, drawing 1-1 with Azerbaijan. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the UAF.
How the game unfolded
Compared to the match against France(0: 2), the head coach of the blue and yellows Serhiy Rebrov made three substitutions in the starting lineup. Instead of Yegor Yarmolyuk, Oleksiy Hutsulyak and Artem Dovbyk, Oleg Ocheretko, Artem Bondarenko and Vladyslav Vanat came on the field from the first minutes.
In the third minute of the match, the referee awarded a penalty kick in favor of Ukraine after Vladyslav Vanat fell. However, after reviewing the VAR, the decision was overturned.
The first half of the match ended without a goal: the Ukrainians had the ball and controlled the game, but created few scoring chances.
Goals and key moments
In the 51st minute, Heorhiy Sudakov opened the scoring – after a shot from the flank by Oleksandr Zubkov, he hit the far corner. However, in the 70th minute, the referee awarded a penalty kick to Ukraine for a handball by Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Azerbaijani captain Emin Makhmudov converted the 11-meter penalty and set the final score at 1-1.
Context and upcoming matches
Ukraine began qualifying with a 0-2 defeat to France, while Azerbaijan lost to Iceland (0-5). Ukraine’s group rivals France and Iceland will play each other today at 21:45 Kyiv time.
It is worth noting that the Azerbaijani national team changed its coach the day before – Fernando Santos left his post after a series of 11 matches without a win.
The history of face-to-face confrontations between the teams includes two matches: in 2006, a zero-zero draw was recorded, and in the summer of the same year, Ukraine won with a score of 6-0.
When is the next game
Ukraine’s next match in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers will take place on October 10 against Iceland.
