Ukraine’s national football team returned to Kyiv on July 4 after being knocked out in the Euro 2020 quarter-final by England on July 3.
Hundreds of fans greeted the team off the plane at the capital’s Boryspil International Airport.
The side are considered to have beaten low pre-tournament expectations by reaching the quarter-final, advancing out of the group stage for the first time in a European Championship before beating Sweden in the round of 16.
“We are grateful to everybody who came to support our team, and also those who supported us in Ukraine. We saw and felt your support,” manager Andriy Shevchenko told the assembled fans outside Boryspil on July 4.
“I am grateful to the boys for their dedication, their desire, and for the (type of) football which they demonstrated. Glory to Ukraine!”
The last slogan is a nod to the furore around Ukraine’s Euro 2020 uniform, which carried the words “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Heroes!”
The uniform upset the Russian government due to the slogan, as well as its incorporation of a map of Ukraine that includes Crimea, the peninsula which has been illegally occupied by Russia since 2014.
