"Ukraina" is also an alternative stadium for the Ukraine national football team where it played several of its qualification games for various tournaments.

During Soviet times, the stadium was called Druzhba (Ukrainian: Дружба), which means "friendship".

The official debut game took place on 18 August 1963, when the local Karpaty Lviv were playing against the visiting Zalgiris Vilnius.

On the 86th minute, Ivan Dykovets failed to convert a penalty kick and the game ended in the loss by the home team, 0-1.

In its initial years the Druzhba Stadium had capacity to hold 41,700 seated spectators.