Analysis of the effectiveness of ball selection by the Ukrainian national team in the games of the group round of the European Football Championship 2024

Technical and tactical actions (TTA) in football are performance indicators of players’ actions on the field. These include passes, ball recoveries, tackles, interceptions, shots, and more. Most technical and tactical actions consist of passing and ball tackling. In football, the winning team is often the one whose players achieve a higher percentage of successful ball recovery attempts against opponents. Both attacking and defending players must not only understand how to properly engage in physical challenges for the ball but also effectively apply this knowledge during official matches. Purpose of the study: To determine the error rate in ball recoveries by the Ukrainian national team during the group stage matches of the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. Methods of research: Theoretical analysis and synthesis of data from scientific and methodological literature, pedagogical observation methods, and methods of mathematical statistics. Ball recovery attempts by the players of the Ukrainian men’s national team were recorded during group stage matches at the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. Both successful and unsuccessful recovery attempts were recorded in three zones of the field: the middle zone, defensive zone, and attacking zone. The error rate for each team was calculated as the percentage of unsuccessful attempts relative to the total number of ball recovery attempts. Results of the study: It was found that in the defensive zone, the highest error rate in ball recovery was recorded during the match against the Slovak national team. In the match against the Belgian national team, Ukrainian players achieved the lowest error rate in ball recovery. The error rate in the middle zone of the field during the matches against Slovakia was 63±0.66%, while against Belgium it was 62.5±0.69%. Conclusions: The analysis of the Ukrainian national team’s group stage matches at the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship revealed an error rate in ball recovery ranging from 25.25±0.67% to 56.25±0.72% in the defensive zone, from 34.00±0.71% to 63.00±0.66% in the middle zone, and from 33.25±0.73% to 75.00±0.62% in the attacking zone. The lowest error rate was observed in the defensive zone during the match against the Belgian national team.