The Ukrainian national team would have played the playoffs for the World Cup at the end of March away against Scotland, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, the qualifying game was postponed until the beginning of June.

The outbreak of war also meant that the Ukrainian league was canceled and now it was a long time since many in the national team played a match.

The national team, together with the two largest Ukrainian club teams Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk, has embarked on a "world tour for peace".

The purpose is partly to improve the national team players' match form before the playoffs, partly to raise money for the victims of the war and to draw attention to the war's impact on the country.

The German club team Borussia Mönchengladbach has taken a break from the league game to receive the Ukrainian national team at home at Borussia-Park on Wednesday night.

The big team has a season of failure behind it and is only found in tenth place in the Bundesliga.

Ticket proceeds will be donated

The club hopes to sell around 20,000 tickets and says that so far they have collected the equivalent of SEK 1.9 million for Ukraine.

All ticket revenue must be donated.

"We were asked if we could organize a charity match and for us it is obvious to do everything we can to support Ukraine," said Borrusia Mönchengladbach's CEO Stephan Schippers at a press conference according to the club's website.

For the Ukrainian national team, the match will be the first international match since the 2-0 victory away against Bosnia in November.

Only players from the domestic league have been selected for this collection as the major European leagues have not yet ended.

"Signs of solidarity"

Thus, big stars like Andrij Jarmolenko (West Ham), Oleksandr Zintjenko (Manchester City), Ruslan Malinovsky (Atalanta) and Roman Jaremtjuk (Benfica) are missing.

- We see it as a very important sign of solidarity and support for Ukraine in this difficult time, says Iryn Shum, Consul General at the Consulate General of Ukraine in Düsseldorf.

The Ukrainian Football Association writes on its website that more friendly matches are planned but that opponents will be announced at a later time.

On June 1, Ukraine will face Scotland in Glasgow in the playoff semifinals of the World Cup.

The winner of that meeting will face Wales in the final on 5 June, where the winner will secure a ticket to the World Cup in Qatar later this year.

Regardless of the outcome, three matches await in the Nations League for Ukraine, where they will face, in turn, Ireland (June 8), Scotland (June 11) and Armenia (June 14).