Sports play an important role in the lives of Ukrainians. The most popular sports in the country are football, basketball, and volleyball. Football is the most popular sport in Ukraine. The national team has qualified for the FIFA World Cup five times and reached the quarter-finals in 2006. The Ukrainian Premier League is the top level of football in the country. Some of the most famous Ukrainian footballers include Andriy Shevchenko, Yevhen Konoplyanka, and Serhiy Rebrov.
Basketball is also a popular sport in Ukraine. The national team has participated in EuroBasket, the continental championship for men’s national basketball teams, 15 times. The Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague is the top level of basketball in the country.
Volleyball is another popular sport in Ukraine. The national team has won the European Volleyball Championship four times and the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup once. The Ukrainian men’s national volleyball team is currently ranked fifth in the world by the FIVB.
Ukrainians also enjoy sports such as hockey, tennis, and figure skating. The country has produced many world-class athletes in these sports, including Sergei Bubka, who is considered one of the greatest pole vaulters of all time.
About Ukraine
Ukraine is a country located in Eastern Europe. Russia borders it to the east and north, Belarus to the north, Poland to the west, Slovakia and Hungary to the southwest, and Romania and Moldova to the south. The Black Sea lies to the south of Ukraine.
The country achieved independence in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Ukraine is currently in a territorial dispute with Russia over Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi), making it slightly larger than France and smaller than Spain. Its land border is 7,600 km (4,722 mi) long and its coastline is 2,782 km (1,729 mi) long.
Ukraine is divided into several regions: the North, South, East, and West. The capital and largest city is Kiev. Other major cities include Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Lviv.
It has a diverse economy with a large agricultural sector, significant industrial production, and a growing service sector. It is ranked 61st on the Doing Business Index as of 2018 and 73rd in the Human Development Index as of 2017. Poverty remains widespread in Ukraine, however, with an estimated 14.3% of the population living below the national poverty line as of 2016.
As of 2019, the population of Ukraine is about 42 million. Ukrainian is the country’s official language, and Russian is also widely spoken. The predominant religion in Ukraine is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which is currently split into three churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (under the jurisdiction of the Kiev Patriarchate), and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.