 | |||
| Nickname | Kozaky (The Cossacks) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Emblem | Trident | ||
| Union | National Rugby Federation of Ukraine | ||
| Head coach | Valerii Kochanov | ||
| Captain | TBC | ||
| Home stadium | Various | ||
| |||
| World Rugby ranking | |||
| Current | 36 (as of 16 January 2023) | ||
| Highest | 24 (2004) | ||
| Lowest | 42 (2018) | ||
| First international | |||
 Georgia 19–15Ukraine (Tbilisi, Georgia; 21 November 1991) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 Ukraine 135–13Slovakia  (Piešťany, Slovakia; 9 November 2024) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Romania 97–0Ukraine (Bucharest, Romania; 19 March 2005) | |||
| Website | www.rugby.org.ua | ||
TheUkraine national rugby union team (Ukrainian:Збірна України з регбі) representsUkraine in men's internationalrugby union competitions. NicknamedTheCossacks (Козаки,Kozaky), it is one of the tier 3 teams inEurope that currently compete in the second division of theRugby Europe International Championships in theRugby Europe Trophy, a competition which is just below the Rugby Europe Championship where the top 6 countries in Europe (apart from the teams in theSix Nations) compete. They are yet to participate in anyRugby World Cup.
Ukraine made their international debut in 1991 againstGeorgia after the dissolution of theSoviet Union, losing the close game 15-19. The two nations played again three days later, where Georgia won again with the score of 6-0. The following year Ukraine met Georgia once more for a two match series, losing both matches. In their first match of 1993, they defeatedHungary 41-3 for their first ever win since their independence. This was followed by another three wins in succession, againstCroatia,Slovenia andAustria. This streak would however end in 1994 with a loss toDenmark.
In 1996 Ukraine defeatedLatvia 19-3; the match would be the start of a nine match winning streak) which would be the longest thus far. The wins carried on until 1998, where they lost to theNetherlands 13-35. The late 1990s, Ukraine saw mixed results and defeated teams likePoland and theCzech Republic, but they lost games to the likes of their neighboursRussia,Georgia andRomania.
Ukraine played in the first division of2005-06 European Nations Cup, the tournament where the best teams inEurope outside of theSix Nations and the tournament that also served as a qualifier for the2007 Rugby World Cup in France. Ukraine lost all ten of their fixtures and were relegated to Division 2A while within the qualifiers, the bottom three teams went on to Round 4 of the European World Cup qualifiers, so Ukraine would find their selves playing against Russia twice to determine who goes through to the next round of the qualifiers. Ukraine lost both games by the scores 11-25 and 37-17.
| World Cup record | World Cup Qualification record | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | |
  1987 | Part of USSR: Not an independent country | Part of USSR: Not an independent country | ||||||||||||
   1991 | Part of USSR: Not an independent country | Part of USSR: Not an independent country | ||||||||||||
 1995 | did not enter | did not enter | ||||||||||||
 1999 | did not qualify | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 274 | 108 | |||||||
| 2003 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 100 | 54 | ||||||||
| 2007 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 105 | 618 | ||||||||
| 2011 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 177 | 219 | ||||||||
 2015 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 227 | 227 | ||||||||
 2019 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 52 | 215 | ||||||||
| 2023 | Automatically eliminated | |||||||||||||
| Total | 0/8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 20 | 0 | 30 | 935 | 1441 | |
| Season | Division | G | W | D | L | PF | PA | +/− | Pts | Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | European Nations Cup Second Division | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 54 | 135 | -81 | 6 | 3rd |
| 2000-01 | European Nations Cup Second Division | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 61 | +4 | 13 | 2nd |
| 2002-04 | European Nations Cup Second Division Pool A | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 200 | 74 | +126 | 23 | 1st |
| 2004-06 | European Nations Cup First Division | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 77 | 556 | -479 | 10 | 6th |
| 2006-08 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 117 | 128 | -11 | 14 | 4th |
| 2008-10 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 140 | 109 | +31 | 18 | 1st |
| 2010-12 | European Nations Cup First Division 1A | 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 124 | 442 | -318 | 5 | 6th |
| 2012-14 | European Nations Cup First Division 1B | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 227 | 227 | 0 | 24 | 3rd |
| 2014-16 | European Nations Cup First Division 1B | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 244 | 165 | +79 | 36 | 2nd |
| 2016-17 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 52 | 215 | -163 | 0 | 6th |
| 2017-18 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 North | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 92 | 63 | +29 | 12 | 2nd |
| 2018-19 | Rugby Europe Conference 1 North | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 113 | 29 | +84 | 14 | 1st |
| 2019-20 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 60 | 74 | -19 | 14 | 3rd |
| 2021-22* | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 108 | 177 | -69 | 5 | 5th |
| 2022-23 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 117 | 135 | -18 | 9 | 2nd |
| 2023-24 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 61 | 225 | -164 | 0 | 6th |
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Ukraine national XV at test level up until27 September 2025, updated after match with
Turkey.
| Opponent | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | % Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Austria | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
 Belgium | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 44.44% |
 Croatia | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 66.67% |
 Czech Republic | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 40% |
 Denmark | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% |
 Georgia | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0% |
 Germany | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 33.33% |
 Hungary | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 75% |
 Israel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
 Latvia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% |
 Lithuania | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 57.14% |
 Luxembourg | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
 Moldova | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.36% |
 Netherlands | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 66.67% |
 Poland | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 78.57% |
 Portugal | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 20% |
| Romania | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0% |
 Russia | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0% |
 Spain | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0% |
 Serbia and Montenegro | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Slovakia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
 Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
 Sweden | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 90% |
 Switzerland | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 33.33% |
| Turkey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Total | 141 | 67 | 72 | 2 | 47.52% |
| Matches |
|---|
The following players were selected for the2021–22 Rugby Europe Trophy match againstLithuania.[1]
Valerii KochanovCaps updated:
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serhii Sukhikh | Prop | (1978-10-28)28 October 1978 (age 47) | RC Olymp | |
| Mykola Kirsanov | Hooker | (1980-04-24)24 April 1980 (age 45) | RC Olymp | |
| Oleksii Novikov | Prop | (1995-01-01)1 January 1995 (age 30) | RC Olymp | |
| Matvii Bocharov | Lock | (2000-01-01)1 January 2000 (age 25) | RC Olymp | |
| Oleksandr Lomakin | Lock | (1980-05-02)2 May 1980 (age 45) | RC Olymp | |
| Serhii Nikitin | Back row | (1990-03-18)18 March 1990 (age 35) | RC Polytechnic | |
| Vitaly Orlov | Back row | (1987-10-05)5 October 1987 (age 38) | RC Olymp | |
| Serhii Cherniachenko | Back row | (1990-01-17)17 January 1990 (age 35) | RC Olymp | |
| Vadym Sivak | Scrum-half | (1992-08-26)26 August 1992 (age 33) | RC Podillya | |
| Volodymyr Voitov | Fly-half | (1988-08-10)10 August 1988 (age 37) | RC Olymp | |
| Dmytro Prodeus | Wing | (1998-10-19)19 October 1998 (age 27) | RC Polytechnic | |
| Viacheslav Ponomarenko | Centre | (1982-09-27)27 September 1982 (age 43) | RC Olymp | |
| Oleh Kosariev | Centre | (1988-10-06)6 October 1988 (age 37) | RC Olymp | |
| Denys Primushenetskiy | Wing | (1998-10-22)22 October 1998 (age 27) | RC Polytechnic | |
| Myroslav Shuliak | Fullback | (1993-10-10)10 October 1993 (age 32) | RC Podillya | |
| Serhii Liutyi | ?? | (1998-11-28)28 November 1998 (age 27) | RC Epokha-Polytechnic | |
| Valentyn Porokhonchuk | Hooker | (1992-01-29)29 January 1992 (age 33) | RC Kredo-63 | |
| Oleg Valius | ?? | (2000-11-28)28 November 2000 (age 25) | RC Podillya | |
| Daniil Korovin | ?? | (1990-08-06)6 August 1990 (age 35) | RC Epokha-Polytechnic | |
| Andrii Tsarevskyi | ?? | (1987-01-17)17 January 1987 (age 38) | RC Olymp | |
| Oleksandr Marshuba | Scrum-half | (1993-02-27)27 February 1993 (age 32) | RC Olymp | |
| Narek Manukyan | Wing | (1992-06-04)4 June 1992 (age 33) | RC Rebels | |
| Denys Zakhlivnyi | ?? | (1992-05-29)29 May 1992 (age 33) | RC Epokha-Polytechnic |
The following players have also been called up to the squad within the last 12 months.
| Player | Pos | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club | Latest call-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitalii Kramarenko | Prop | Budowlani Łódź | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | ||
| Ruslan Radchuk | Lock | 29 November 1986 (age 34) | RC Kredo-63 | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | |
| Daniil Hapon | Scrum-half | 18 November 2001 (age 19) | SC Sokil | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | |
| Oleh Zarovnyi | Fullback | 19 September 2002 (age 19) | Odesa National Team | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | |
| Dmytro Mokretsov | 24 March 1988 (33) | Ogniwo Sopot | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | ||
| Oleksandr Khomenko | 28 November 1990 (age 30) | RC Podillya | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | ||
| Eduard Vertyletskyi | Pogoń Siedlce | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | |||
| Roman Kulakivskyi | Lock | 5 November 1986 (age 34) | RC Kredo-63 | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 | |
| Yaroslav Davydov | 1 January 2001 (age 20) | RC Olymp | v.Poland, 9 October 2021 |
| Name | Nationality | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Maksym Kravchenko | UKR | Manager |
| Valerii Kochanov | UKR | Head coach |
| Oleh Kvasnytsia | UKR | Coach |
| Olena Zadorozhna | UKR | Physio |
| Name | Years | Tests | Won | Drew | Lost | Win percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valerii Kochanov |
| |
