The national team included the players Andriy Ponomarenko, Ivan Privalov, Volodymyr Fomin, H. Syrota, Mykola Fomin, Anatoliy Lisnyi, Oleksandr Shatokha (goalkeeper), Dmytro Kyryllov, Dmytro Starusev, Serhiy Kopeiko, Petro Parovyshnykov (first team); Valentyn Prokofyev, Fedir Tyutchev, H. Yakubovskyi, Ivan Vladymyrskyi, Serafim Moskvin (goalkeeper), Kazymyr Piontkovskyi, Mykhailo Pashuta, Vasiliy Yepishin, Adam Bem, K. Us, Volodymyr Prasolov (second team).

Meanwhile, some of the best Ukrainian players of the beginning of the 1990s (including Andrei Kanchelskis, Viktor Onopko, Sergei Yuran, Yuriy Nikiforov, Ilya Tsymbalar and Oleg Salenko) chose to play for Russia.

[10] In the following years, the Ukrainian team improved, showcasing talents like Andriy Shevchenko, Serhiy Rebrov, and Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.

Soon after being accepted to FIFA and UEFA as a full member in 1992, Ukraine selected its first manager by members of a coaching council which consisted of Anatoliy Puzach (manager of Dynamo Kyiv), Yevhen Kucherevskyi (FC Dnipro), Yevhen Lemeshko (Torpedo Zaporizhzhia), Yukhym Shkolnykov (Bukovyna Chernivtsi) and Viktor Prokopenko (Chornomorets Odesa).

[11] Ukraine played their first match on 29 April 1992 against Hungary in Uzhhorod at the Avanhard Stadium, losing 3–1 with the sole Ukrainian goal scored by Ivan Hetsko.

Following a couple of losses to Hungary and a draw to the United States, Prokopenko resigned and the last season game that year for the national team was led by his assistants Mykola Pavlov and Leonid Tkachenko.

Ukraine appointed another head coach, Oleh Bazylevych, who made his debut with the national team in the spring of 1993 in Odesa during a friendly against Israel, a 1–1 draw.

on 24 September, the Football Federation of Ukraine appointed Yozhef Sabo as an acting manager until the end of the year after Lobanovsky signed a contract with Kuwait.

[16] After that there was a three-game winning streak including a home victory against Croatia and theoretical hopes which were abruptly cut after a loss to Slovenia and the team finished in the fourth place in its first qualification campaign behind Lithuania.

The qualification campaign became notable as the beginning of the international career for Shevchenko as well as more play time for some other players such as Oleksandr Shovkovsky and Serhiy Rebrov.

Following the qualification campaign, the Federation finally signed a contract with Valery Lobanovsky, ending Sabo's tenure as a head coach.

Under public pressure, particularly the Higher League head coaches who argued that the national team head coach cannot competently serve for both club and national, as well as the health issues of Lobanovsky himself, the Federation decided not to renew a contract with Lobanovsky letting him concentrate on Dynamo Kyiv.

In UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying, Ukraine with the new head coach and another former Dynamo Kyiv star Leonid Buryak was assigned into Group 6, with Spain and Greece.

[citation needed] After Euro 2004 qualifying, Ukraine appointed Oleg Blokhin as the national team's head coach.

Drawing goalless, Ukraine took Switzerland to a penalty shoot-out where two saves from Oleksandr Shovkovsky secured a positive outcome for his side despite the first kick miss by Andriy Shevchenko.

In the quarterfinals, Ukraine, facing Italy, was defeated with two second half two goals from Luca Toni, securing a comfortable 3–0 win for the future 2006 World Cup champions.

Due to the bleak performance of the national team Oleg Blokhin resigned and surprisingly signed with the recently established FC Moscow.

However, following a few friendlies Markevych resigned due to the off-pitch politics and having held coaching office of both the national team and Metalist Kharkiv.

[20][21] For the next several games in 2010 and 2011 the national team was led by caretaker Yuriy Kalitvintsev who starred for Ukraine back in its first qualification campaign for the Euro 1996.

On 21 April 2011, Blokhin was again appointed head coach of the Ukraine national team signing a four-year contract.

Drawn into UEFA Group H for 2014 World Cup qualification, Ukraine qualified for yet another playoff after two wins over Poland and two draws over England, where they would play against France.

Blokhin stepped down due to health concerns in the autumn of 2012 soon after the first home game against England and was replaced by Andriy Bal[24] and later Oleksandr Zavarov.

[26] With the ongoing Russian aggression, Ukraine in Euro 2016 qualifying was drawn against Spain, Slovakia, Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg.

In its opening game of the qualifying campaign Ukraine visited Portugal which was led by returning star Cristiano Ronaldo.

[30][31] Ukraine qualified for the knockout stages in the European Championship for the first time in the 2020 tournament, postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19, as one of the best third-placed teams.

They beat Sweden 2–1 in the round of 16, after Artem Dovbyk scored the winning goal in the first minute of the second half in extra time.

[38] Five days later, on March 26, 2024, Ukraine qualified for Euro 2024 in Germany, beating Iceland 2–1 in the play-off final at the Wrocław Stadium in Poland.

[39][40] In this decisive final, as in the semi-final against Bosnia, Ukraine conceded the opening goal on each occasion and managed to turn the match around, winning by a narrow margin at the very end.

Win Draw Loss Fixture Currently approved:[52] The following players were called up for the 2024–25 Nations League matches Georgia and Albania on 16 and 19 November 2024, respectively.