Newcomers face off in first fixture

Not only are Ukraine and the Netherlands both playing in their first fixture at a women's final tournament, but the nations have never met before in a senior female international.

• Indeed, they only played for the first time in a men's senior international on 24 May 2008 when the Netherlands won a pre-UEFA EURO 2008™ friendly 3-0 in Rotterdam.

• Both teams progressed to these finals via the play-offs. For the Netherlands it was the first time they had come to within one two-legged tie of the finals since the expanded tournament was introduced in 1997. After pipping Switzerland and Belgium to second place in Group 4 behind Germany they were drawn with Spain, winning both games 2-0 despite the absence of key player Manon Melis through injury.

• The Netherlands' Group 4 record was P8 W3 D3 L2 F12 A12 PTS12.

• The Netherlands finished bottom of their qualifying groups in 1997 and 2001 and needed to beat the Czech Republic and Hungary respectively in play-offs to remain in the top tier of the two-divisional system then in operation. In 2005 they only just pipped Belgium to finish fourth in a five-team group but the turning point was a 1-0 win in France at the start of 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying. The Dutch went on to run Les Bleues and England close despite eventually ending third in the pool, boosting their coefficient in the process.

• Ukraine reached the EURO play-offs for the first time in 2001 qualifying, losing 4-1 on aggregate to England. This time round in Group 5 they opened with six straight wins, culminating with a 1-0 defeat of top seeds Denmark in Chernigov. However, in their last two matches Ukraine drew 1-1 at home to Portugal and lost 1-0 in Denmark, meaning a two-legged tie with Slovenia, where a 3-0 away win was followed by a 2-0 home success.

• Ukraine's Group 5 record was P8 W6 D1 L1 F15 A3 PTS19.

• Ukraine may be in their first final tournament but Nadezhda Baranova, Olena Khodyreva, Vira Dyatel, Alla Lyshafay, Nataliya Zinchenko and Daryna Apanaschenko have proved themselves in the later stages of a major continental event. The five helped Russian club Zvezda-2005 to the 2008/09 UEFA Women's Cup final on their debut campaign, beating among others holders 1. FFC Frankfurt, Norway's Røa IL, Danish team Brøndby IF and Umeå IK of Sweden (for that semi-final Khodyreva, had left to be replaced by Apanaschenko, scorer of two second-leg goals in a 2-2 draw that clinched a 4-2 aggregate win).

• In the final they were matched with Germany's FCR 2001 Duisburg, home to the Netherlands' Annemieke Kiesel-Griffioen. Baranova, Dyatel, Lyshafay, Zinchenko, Apanaschenko and Kiesel-Griffioen all played in both legs as Duisburg won 6-0 in Russia before drawing the second leg 1-1 in front of a competition record 28,112 crowd, who saw Apanaschenko give Zvezda the lead on the night after 25 minutes.