World-beaters Germany start against Ukraine

Positive omens abound for Germany as they look ahead to their opening UEFA EURO 2016 Group C game against Ukraine.

Previous meetings
• Germany have yet to lose in five games against Ukraine (W2 L3), including four competitive encounters (W2 D2).

• Germany maintained their record of never having failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup when they overcame Ukraine 5-2 on aggregate in a play-off for the 2002 tournament. The second leg in Dortmund, a 4-1 home win, was Ukraine's last match under Valeriy Lobanovskiy.

• The teams first met in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup. Oliver Bierhoff and Mario Basler scored Germany's goals in a 2-0 home victory before a 0-0 draw in Kyiv.

• The first friendly between the countries took place on 11 November 2011 and produced a thrilling 3-3 draw in the inaugural international staged at the refurbished UEFA EURO 2012 final venue in Kyiv. Germany came from 3-1 down to level with a 77th-minute strike from Thomas Müller. First-half goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka had put the hosts 2-0 up.

EURO facts – Germany
• Germany are competing in their 12th successive EURO since missing out on the final tournament as West Germany, their first attempt, in 1968.

• EURO winners in 1972, 1980 and 1996 – and three-time beaten finalists – Germany have failed to make it through the group stage on three occasions, in 1984, 2000 and 2004.

• The world champions' record in qualifying was W7 D1 L2.

• Lille have played four home games against German sides (W1 D1 L2), with the last two Bundesliga visitors both winning – Müller's penalty earned Bayern a 1-0 UEFA Champions League triumph in October 2012, while Wolfsburg were 3-0 victors at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in the UEFA Europa League in December 2014.

EURO facts – Ukraine
• Ukraine are participating at their second EURO. They appeared as co-hosts of UEFA EURO 2012 but qualified this time round via a play-off success against Slovenia.

• Ukraine's biggest international success to date is making it to the quarter-finals of their only World Cup, in Germany in 2006.

• Ukraine's record in qualifying was W7 D2 L3 – including their play-off results against Slovenia.

• The only Ukrainian side to have played in Lille is Shakhtar Donetsk, who lost 3-2 to Lille in a 2005/06 UEFA Cup round of 32 first leg. Ukraine midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk played in that match.

Coach and player links
• Have played together:
Jérôme Boateng, Mario Gomez, Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller, Manuel Neuer and Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) & Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (Ukraine) – Bayern, 2009–13.

• Boateng, Mario Götze and Müller (2) scored in Bayern's 7-0 2014/15 UEFA Champions League round of 16 second-leg win against a Shakhtar side featuring Andriy Pyatov, Yaroslav Rakitsky, Vyacheslav Shevchuk and Taras Stepanenko. Defender Oleksandr Kucher was sent off three minutes into that game.

• Yarmolenko scored in Dynamo Kyiv's 3-1 victory against a Mönchengladbach team containing Marc-André ter Stegen in 2012/13 UEFA Champions League qualifying. Ukraine's Denys Garmash also played for Dynamo in that play-off first leg.

• Sami Khedira's Juventus defeated a Sevilla FC XI featuring Ukraine's Konoplyanka 2-0 in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Germany's Bernd Leno met Shakhtar in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage (4-0h, 0-0a), the Leverkusen man coming up against Ukraine's Pyatov, Rakitskiy, Shevchuk and Kucher.

• Mats Hummels and Götze scored against Shakhtar in a 2012/13 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie won 5-2 on aggregate by Borussia Dortmund, with Pyatov, Rakitskiy, Stepanenko and Kucher on the losing side.