With qualification to the Euro 2016, Fomenko was honored to lead the national team in the finals. With the ongoing Russian aggression, Ukraine in Euro 2016 qualifying were drawn against Spain, Slovakia, Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg. Despite having won all matches besides Spain, they finished third due to results against Spain and Slovakia. They defeated Slovenia in the playoff. Ukraine lost all three games at Euro 2016 without scoring a goal; a 2–0 loss to Germany, a 2–0 loss to Northern Ireland, and Poland 1–0. Following the Euro 2016, Fomenko was replaced with Andriy Shevchenko as a head coach who served as his assistant during the Euro finals. Seeded in the UEFA Group I, Ukraine started off with a home draw to Iceland in 2018 World Cup qualifying and an away draw to Turkey. This was followed by two home wins, 3–0 against Kosovo and 1–0 against Finland. After a 1–0 away loss to Croatia, they beat Finland 2–1 away and Turkey 2–0 at home, they lost 2–0 away to Iceland and won 2–0 away win against Kosovo. Losing to Croatia at home, they failed to qualify for the playoffs for their first time since UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying and in all its previous FIFA World Cup qualification. In the inaugural UEFA Nations League, Ukraine were drawn with Czech Republic and Slovakia in League B. They beat the Czech Republic 2–1 away and Slovakia 1–0 at home, before earning a promotion to League A with a 1–0 home win to the Czech Republic, before ending with a 4–1 away loss to Slovakia. Ukraine were placed in a group with Euro 2016 title holders Portugal as well as Serbia among other teams. Its opening game of the qualifying campaign Ukraine visited Portugal which was led by returning Cristiano Ronaldo. The match ended 0–0. The second game, against Luxembourg, ended up as a 2–1 win, preceding Ukraine's 5–0 win against Serbia, along with a narrow 1–0 win against Luxembourg. Two matches—away and home against Lithuania (winning 3–0 and 2–0 respectively) saw Ukraine with 16 points and in need of only a point against Portugal. Ukraine won 2–1 and the group before drawing Serbia 2–2. Ukraine were drawn with Switzerland, Spain, and Germany in the next Nations League. The Ukrainians started their campaign by overcoming Switzerland at home 2–1 to temporarily take first place. However, their next opponent Spain won 4–0. Germany then