The head coach of the Ukrainian women's national team, Luis Cortes, gave a post-match press conference after the away match in the qualification for the 2023 World Cup, which his players lost to Spain with a score of 0:5:

"We expected this scenario against the Spanish team. The opponents controlled the ball and moved very well. Unfortunately, our players made mistakes in defense and allowed the Spaniards to score, but through such matches, the team can progress and become better. Well, there was no upset; Spain deservedly won. It's unfortunate that my team couldn't find a way past their goal and score even one goal."

Partially I am satisfied with the fact that Ukraine finished third in the group. We acknowledge that at this moment Spain and Scotland are stronger than Ukraine. Yes, there were hopes of challenging for second place against Scotland, but we lost the decisive match to them.

But the Ukrainian national team is on the right path. The team continues to grow, making small steps forward. There's still a lot more work to be done, but everything takes time. Our goal now is to qualify for the 2025 European Championship.

Also, I hope that the war in Ukraine will end soon so we can finally focus on implementing the women's football development project. Because it's hard to expect significant changes when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled the country due to Russian military aggression in search of refuge.

It should be noted that the Royal Spanish Football Federation conducted a social campaign supporting Ukraine during the match between Spain and Ukraine.

During the war, the Spanish government through the Ministry of Integration and Social Services initiated a program to help and care for refugees who arrived as a result of hostilities in Ukraine.

Thanks to this campaign, some of these people were able to support our team at the stadium. There were nearly a hundred Ukrainians there, including Ukrainian children accompanying players at the start of the match.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

2023 World Cup Qualification for Women's Teams. Group Stage

European Zone. Group B

16.09.2021. Faroe Islands — Spain — 0:10

17.09.2021. Hungary — Scotland — 0:2

21.09.2021. Scotland — Faroe Islands — 7:1

21.09.2021. Hungary — Spain — 0:7

21.10.2021. Ukraine — Faroe Islands — 4:0

22.10.2021. Scotland — Hungary — 2:1

26.10.2021. Ukraine — Spain — 0:6

26.10.2021. Faroe Islands — Hungary — 1:7

25.11.2021. Spain — Faroe Islands — 12:0

26.11.2021 Scotland — Ukraine — 1:1

30.11.2021. Hungary — Ukraine — 4:2

30.11.2021. Spain — Scotland — 8:0

08.04.2022. Hungary — Faroe Islands — 7:0

12.04.2022. Scotland — Spain — 0:2

24.06.2022. Ukraine — Scotland — 0:4

28.06.2022. Ukraine — Hungary — 2:0

02.09.2022. Faroe Islands — Ukraine — 0:3

02.09.2022. Spain — Hungary — 3:0

06.09.2022. Spain — Ukraine — 5:0

06.09.2022. Faroe Islands — Scotland — 0:6

Final Standings