In England, we have experienced first-hand some of the best players from Eastern Europe at the moment. Roy Hodgson’s men have had to fight to hang on to draws against Ukraine and Poland, whilst Montenegro are currently challenging England for top spot in World Cup Qualifying Group H.
England now have a battle on their hands to qualify for Brazil 2014 ahead of these countries but where has this sudden surge of quality from Eastern Europe come from? Eastern Europe hasn’t always been a goldmine for footballing talent but after Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine and looking ahead to the World Cup in Russia 2018, the future looks exciting for the whole region in a footballing sense.
The Polish national team have players such as Robert Lewandowski, Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub Blaszczykowski who have all won back to back Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund and are part of one of the most exciting teams in Europe while Russia currently lead a group containing Portugal. Players such as Nemanja Vidic, Andrey Arshavin and Aleksandr Hleb have all become prominent figures in the game, but players such as these used to be rare exports. Not only is the International future fairly promising, but the region is starting to be more competitive at club level as well.
This week we saw a high quality Shakhtar Donetsk beat Premier League leaders and Champions League holders Chelsea with a mixture of some quality young Brazilian players like Willian and Europeans such as Darijo Srna and Razvan Rat inside the glorious Donbass Arena and to keep their improvement, since winning the UEFA Cup in 2009, going. Shakhtar are one of the most improved clubs in Europe and now possibly the biggest in Ukraine as shown by their brilliant 50,000 seater stadium. These modern stadiums are common in Eastern Europe after the recent European championship and looking ahead to the World Cup. This is all part of the improvement of football in the region.
As well as Shakhtar, Belarusian club BATE Borisov have had a brilliant start to the Champions League season, surprising last year’s finalists Bayern Munich and giving themselves a chance to progress out of a very difficult group. In Russia, Anzhi and Zenit St. Petersburg have spent massively with the aim of getting into the Champions League and challenging for the greatest prize in Europe.
This influx of money into the area, the vastly improving stadia, ability to attract some of the world’s biggest stars, progression in European competitions and the prospect of a World Cup in Russia mean that the majority of Eastern Europe can be excited for the future of their football.
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