It's the EURO 2024 playoff round, where teams that failed to finish first or second in their qualifying groups (but made it to this stage through a very complicated formula involving the UEFA Nations League) must win two more matches to earn a ticket to Germany this summer.

One of those teams is Ukraine. More than two years on from Russia's full-scale invasion, qualifying for the EUROs—and lining up next to the Germans, the French, the Czechs, and the rest of Europe—could be deeply symbolic and bring the Ukrainian struggle back to the fore at a time when other conflicts have come to dominate the news.

First up for the Жовто-Сині is Bosnia and Herzegovina. If the Ukrainians are victorious in Sarajevo, they will play one of Iceland and Israel in the playoff final for a place in the EURO 2024 group stage. The Ukrainians have an impressive array of footballers to call on, their best team in history, many of whom play across Europe's top five leagues at a time when the Ukrainian Premier League has been decimated by the war.

Our guest this week is Andrew Todos, a British-Ukrainian journalist and founder of Zorya Londonsk, the home of English-language Ukrainian football coverage. He joins the show to discuss all of the above—and how the sports-diplomatic blockade of Russia may be just beginning to crack.

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