Ukraine appoint former Premier League striker as their new manager

The Blue and Yellow had been without a permanent head coach since Oleksandr Petrakov left the post in January.

Ukraine have appointed former Tottenham and West Ham striker Serhiy Rebrov as their manager.

The 49-year-old’s appointment ends Ukraine’s search for a new coach. He replaces Oleksandr Petrakov, who vacated the role in January to take charge of the Armenian national team.

“This is a long-awaited event. A new stage in the history of Ukrainian football,” said Andriy Pavelko, the Ukrainian Football Association chief.

“A special moment, since the new page will be written during martial law, in a special period for our country.”

Rebrov has had an extensive career as a manager, having led Dinamo Kyiv, Al-Ahli, Ferencvaros, and most recently Al-Ain.

The former striker is the fourth-highest scorer in the national team’s history, having scored 15 goals in 75 appearances between 1992 and 2006. He now takes on the challenge of being in the dugout, with a contract until 2026.

Ukraine’s Euro 2024 qualification hopes rest on Rebrov’s shoulders as they try to rebound from a 2-0 loss to England in their opening game under interim coach Ruslan Rotan. Their next match is against North Macedonia on Friday, followed by a match against Malta hosted in Trnava, Slovakia due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Vicente Gomez (physical and tactical trainer), Alberto Bosch (data analyst), Gleb Platov (trainer-analyst), and Rustam Khudzhamov (goalkeeper coach) will also join Ukraine as part of Rebrov’s backroom staff.

The team begins training on Thursday in Bremen, Germany.

Serhiy Rebrov is new head coach of the National Team of Ukraine pic.twitter.com/iWQhvK4B9k

— Ukrainian Association of Football (@uafukraine) June 7, 2023