Ukraine has reached an agreement with Europe’s governing soccer body UEFA which had banned the slogan “glory to the heroes” on the Ukrainian team’s jerseys.
Ukrainian football president Andriy Pavelko said the agreement involved another slogan, “glory to Ukraine”, being printed on the relevant area, although he did not make clear whether the original slogan would also still be visible.
“Negotiations with UEFA on a new design for the national team of Ukraine have ended. They were extremely difficult, several times literally they went into a dead end,” Pavelko wrote on Facebook, ahead of the team’s opener against Netherlands tomorrow evening. “But we still managed to reach a victorious compromise with UEFA!”
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Kevin De Bruyne will miss Belgium’s first European Championship match against Russia today, the Belgian team confirmed.
De Bruyne fractured his eye socket and nose in the Champions League final and had minor surgery last week, only joining up with his Belgian team-mates on Monday. Midfielder Axel Witsel is also recovering from an Achilles tendon injury.
“Axel Witsel and Kevin De Bruyne did not travel to Russia. They stayed in (the Belgian training camp) Tubize to continue their recovery,” the Belgian Red Devils Twitter account said.
TEEMU PUKKI: The Norwich man has been targeted by Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand, who said they will prepare for Pukki’s threat as if they were coming up against Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo in their opener in Copenhagen this afternoon. And no wonder, Pukki scored 10 goals in qualifying, 26 in the Championship this year and has three goals in four appearances for the Finns in 2021.
North Macedonia’s FIFA world ranking, the lowest in this year’s tournament (Ireland are 47th)
Today: Wales v Switzerland, RTÉ2/BBC1, 2.0; Denmark v Finland, RTÉ2/BBC1, 5.0; Belgium v Russia, RTÉ2/ITV, 8.0
Tomorrow: England v Croatia, RTÉ2/BBC1, 2.0; Austria v North Macedonia, RTÉ2/ITV, 5.0; Netherlands v Ukraine, RTÉ2/ITV, 8.0.