Sports (October)
Ukraine Fails to Qualify for 2018 World Cup
FIFA has Croatia to thank for preventing the awkward – and likely dangerous – prospect of Ukraine participating in next summer’s World Cup in Russia. Needing a victory at home over the second place Croats to make the European playoffs, Ukraine faltered with two second half strikes by Croatian striker Andrej Kramaric (62’, 70’). The loss ensured that Ukraine finished third in Group I with a 5-3-2 record. Iceland won the group and became the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup in the process, while Croatia will play in a home-and-away series in a last-ditch effort to qualify. Next up for Ukraine’s national team is the inaugural UEFA Nations Cup, which will see Europe’s national teams split into divisions based on rankings and will offer four qualification spots to EURO 2020. That tournament will begin in September 2018, just months after the World Cup in Russia.
Super September Sees Dynamo go Undefeated
Ukraine’s premiere football club continued a superb start to the 2017-18 season by walking through September undefeated in all competitions. The team opened up their Europa League Group B schedule with back-to-back wins over Albania’s Skenderbeu Korce (3-1) and Serbia’s Partizan (3-2). Next up is a home-and-away set with the club that knocked them out of the Champions League, Switzerland’s Young Boys. On the home front, Dynamo took care of business with a victory over Olympic Donetsk (2-1) and draws with Veres Rivne (0-0) and Zorya Luhansk (4-4). The league’s last undefeated team sits in second place with 7-0-3 record after 10 games. Must see games this month include the Champions League home tilt vs. Young Boys on 19 October, the Premier League game against arch-rivals Shakhtar on 22 October, and the Ukrainian Cup Round of 16 match away at FC Oleksandriya.
Budivelnyk Kyiv – Ukrainian SuperLeague Basketball
27 October away at Bipa Basket Odesa
28 October away at BC Khimik
4 November away at Cherkasy Mavpy
9 November home to MBC Mykolaiv
11 November home to BC Zaporizhiya
Kyiv Palace of Sports
(Sportivna Ploshcha 1)
Dynamo Kyiv – Ukraine Premiere League
15 October away at Chornomorets Odesa
22 October home to Shakhtar Donetsk
28 October away at Karpaty Lviv
3 November home to Vorskla Poltava
Olympiyskiy Stadium
(V Vasylkivska 55)
Dynamo Kyiv – Europa League
19 October Group stage – home to Young Boys
2 November Group stage – away at Young Boys
Olympiyskiy Stadium
(V Vasylkivska 55)
Dynamo Kyiv – Ukrainian Cup football (Round of 16)
25 October away at FC Oleksandriya
Arsenal Kyiv – Ukrainian Cup football (Round of 16)
25 October home to Veres Rivne
Kyiv Ukrainochka – Women’s Hockey League
13-15 October home to Dnepr Queens, Kharkiv Panthers, and Dnipro Squirrels
10-12 November Dnipro vs. Dnepr Queens, Dnipro Squirrels, and Kremenchuk Avalanche
FB WCFHU
