The wards of Mykola Kostenko have reached the quarter-finals of the tournament, having won Group C against Azerbaijan (5:4) and conceding to Switzerland (3:7). The blue-and-yellow team secured second place and advanced to the playoffs as the first team from Group A, the tournament's host—Italy. Victory in this match guaranteed their passage to the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Despite being the clear favorite against Italy, who are ranked eighth in the world rankings, the Ukrainians immediately took control of the game. At the fourth minute, Yuri Shcheritsya and at the sixth minute Igor Borsuk made it 2-0 for the blue-and-yellow team. Unfortunately, two minutes later, the scorer of our second goal saw a red card.

In the second period, our team increased their lead even further, with Shcheritsya completing his brace and then Yaroslav Zavorotny scoring the fourth goal against the Italians.

At this point, the Ukrainians relaxed too much and allowed Gianmarco Genovali, Emmanuele Zurlo, Alessandro Remedi, and Marco Giordani to equalize in the third period.

The game went into overtime, where on the first minute Andriy Pashko once again put Ukraine ahead. This goal proved decisive as Ukraine won 5-4.

Thus, the men's national beach soccer team of Ukraine has advanced to the semi-finals of the tournament and following our women’s team, secured a spot at the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Bali, Indonesia.

2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Men's European Qualifiers

Quarter-finals

02.09.2022

Italy — Ukraine — 4:5 OT

Goals: Genovali (30), Zurlo (33), Remedi (34), Giordani (35) — Shcheritsya (4, 20), I. Borsuk (6), Zavorotny (21), Pashko (37).

Ukraine: Nerush, Kovalenko, I. Borsuk, A. Borsuk, Koroinychuk, Glutsyk, Voytok, Shcheritsya, Medvid', Voytenko, Zavorotny, Pashko, Levchenko, Zborovsky.

On the 8th minute sent off I. Borsuk (Ukraine).

Switzerland — France — 3:1 

Spain — Germany — 8:3

Portugal — Turkey — 11:4

Semi-finals

03.09.2022

Ukraine — Spain. 13:15

Portugal — Switzerland. 14:45

2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Will take place in Indonesia, on Bali, from August 6 to 12, 2023. The men's final tournament will feature 16 teams, while the women's tournament will have 12. Five continental qualifying tournaments must be held by July 2, 2023, and the best teams will earn spots at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Allocation of places by continental confederations for men:

UEFA (Europe) — 5 teams;

CONMEBOL (South America) — 3 teams;

CAF (Africa) — 2 teams;

CONCACAF (North and Central America) — 2 teams;

AFC (Asia) and OFC (Oceania) — 2 teams.

Allocation of places by continental confederations for women:

UEFA (Europe) — 4 teams;

CONMEBOL (South America) — 2 teams;

CONCACAF (North and Central America) — 2 teams;

CAF (Africa) — 1 team;

AFC (Asia) and OFC (Oceania) — 1 team.

In addition, the men's and women's national teams of Indonesia will participate in the finals of the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup as hosts, along with one specially invited team that did not qualify through continental tournaments. 

If a National Olympic Committee of any participant refuses or fails to confirm their participation by July 2, 2023, the tournament spot will be passed on to the next highest-ranked team in the region.

If no continental qualifying tournament takes place by July 2, 2023, the teams participating in the tournament will be determined based on the world ranking of beach soccer as of July 1, 2023.

It is worth noting that the current champions of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup are Brazil (men) and Spain (women), who won their titles in Qatar in 2019.