{"id":65836,"date":"2026-03-26T21:55:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versii.net\/%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%b7-%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%b3%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%b8\/2026\/65836\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T21:55:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:55:26","slug":"lucky-or-not-the-euro-2028-draw-has-prepared-an-unexpected-surprise-for-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/65836\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ukraine has a chance to take revenge for past defeats. Will they have the strength to overcome the leaders of the rankings? <\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">The European Handball Federation has determined the composition of the qualifying groups for the Euro 2028. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.<\/p>\n<p>RBC-Ukraine reports this, citing the official website of the federation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also read: The worst match in history: Ukraine started the Euro-2026 in handball with an anti-record<\/strong><br \/>\nThe path of the &#8220;blue and yellow&#8221; to the continental championship<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">According to the results of the official draw ceremony, 32 national teams have been divided into eight groups. The Ukrainian team has been placed in Group 3.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">To advance to the main draw of the competition, the team must finish in first or second place in the group.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">Additionally, the four best teams that finish in third place will also have a chance to advance.<\/p>\n<p>The complete composition of the qualifying groups:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,0,0\">Group 1: Croatia, Netherlands, Lithuania, Finland<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,1,0\">Group 2: Norway, Austria, Georgia, Turkey<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,2,0\">Group 3: Iceland, Serbia, Ukraine, Estonia<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,3,0\">Group 4: Hungary, Faroe Islands, Montenegro, Kosovo<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,4,0\">Group 5: Slovenia, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,5,0\">Group 6: France, Poland, Romania, Latvia<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,6,0\">Group 7: Germany, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia<\/li>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"8,7,0\">Group 8: Sweden, North Macedonia, Greece, Luxembourg<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Who will stand against the Ukrainians: an analysis of the opponents<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">The most serious challenge for our team will be the Icelandic national team.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">The islanders are regular participants in top tournaments: they have made 14 appearances at the Euro, including a bronze medal in 2010 and a fourth place finish at the recent 2026 championship.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\">Serbia also belongs to the elite of European handball, having participated in all of the last nine championships.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\">The highest achievement for the Serbs is the silver medals from the home Euro-2012. In the previous tournament, the team finished in 19th place.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\">Estonia is considered the underdog of the group.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\">This team has never reached the final stages of major international tournaments, so participating in the qualifiers will be another attempt for them to debut at a high level.<\/p>\n<p>Historical context and regulations<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"16\">Ukraine has solid experience in the Euro, having participated in eight editions.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"16\">The record remains 2002, when the national team finished in 11th place.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"16\">In the current Euro, the &#8220;blue and yellow&#8221; finished their participation in 24th place.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"17\">The first matches of the qualifying cycle are scheduled for November 4-5, 2026. The final list of tournament participants will be known in May 2027.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"17\">Recall that the hosts of Euro-2028 will be Switzerland (Zurich), Portugal (Lisbon), and Spain (Madrid and Valencia).<\/p>\n<p>Also read about how the Ukrainian men&#8217;s biathlon team showed the worst result of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ukraine has a chance to avenge past defeats. Will they have enough strength to overcome the top-ranked teams? The European Handball Federation has announced the composition of the qualifying groups for the 2028 European Championship. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ukraine has a chance to avenge past defeats. Will they have enough strength to overcome the top-ranked teams? The European Handball Federation has announced the composition of the qualifying groups for the Euro 2028. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/65516\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ukraine has a chance to avenge past defeats. Will they have enough strength to overcome the top-ranked teams? The European Handball Federation has announced the composition of the qualifying groups for the Euro 2028. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Versii.Net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-26T21:55:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7a1253f1f669.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Redactor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Redactor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Redactor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c\"},\"headline\":\"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-26T21:55:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/7a1253f1f669.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/7a1253f1f669.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-26T21:55:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ukraine has a chance to avenge past defeats. Will they have enough strength to overcome the top-ranked teams? The European Handball Federation has announced the composition of the qualifying groups for the Euro 2028. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/7a1253f1f669.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/7a1253f1f669.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":820},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/65516\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/\",\"name\":\"Versii.Net\",\"description\":\"\u0412\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u0438 - \u043d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0438 \u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Versii.Net\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png\",\"width\":399,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Versii.Net\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c\",\"name\":\"Redactor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Redactor\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/slavno.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/en\\\/author\\\/username\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.","description":"Ukraine has a chance to avenge past defeats. Will they have enough strength to overcome the top-ranked teams? The European Handball Federation has announced the composition of the qualifying groups for the Euro 2028. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/65516\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.","og_description":"Ukraine has a chance to avenge past defeats. Will they have enough strength to overcome the top-ranked teams? The European Handball Federation has announced the composition of the qualifying groups for the Euro 2028. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.","og_url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/","og_site_name":"Versii.Net","article_published_time":"2026-03-26T21:55:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1300,"height":820,"url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7a1253f1f669.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Redactor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Redactor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/"},"author":{"name":"Redactor","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/person\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c"},"headline":"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.","datePublished":"2026-03-26T21:55:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/"},"wordCount":452,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7a1253f1f669.jpg","articleSection":["Sports News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/","name":"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7a1253f1f669.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-26T21:55:26+00:00","description":"Ukraine has a chance to avenge past defeats. Will they have enough strength to overcome the top-ranked teams? The European Handball Federation has announced the composition of the qualifying groups for the Euro 2028. The Ukrainian national team will compete for a spot in the final tournament against representatives from Iceland, Serbia, and Estonia.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7a1253f1f669.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7a1253f1f669.jpg","width":1300,"height":820},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/65516\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lucky or not? The Euro 2028 draw has prepared an unexpected surprise for Ukraine."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/","name":"Versii.Net","description":"\u0412\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u0438 - \u043d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0438 \u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/versii.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#organization","name":"Versii.Net","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png","width":399,"height":90,"caption":"Versii.Net"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/person\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c","name":"Redactor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Redactor"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/slavno.net"],"url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/author\/username\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}