Gatherings in Europe for the Ukrainian national team — this is always a special and complex logistics challenge that the country's main team managers have to solve.

This time, the largest group of members of the Ukrainian delegation, consisting of 22 people, including five Dynamo Kyiv players, administrative and medical staff, traveled along the traditional route: by train from Kyiv to Przemyśl and then — by bus to the airport in Jaszowiec, from where one can reach practically any point in Old Europe with an airport. It was the same this time as well: according to Georgiy Bushchan's meticulous calculations, the journey from Kyiv railway station to NH Prague City Hotel took 18 hours and 45 minutes — a standard indicator for today's travels of the national team.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

At the airport, the players met with assistant coach Vincente Gomez as well as fitness trainers Mykola Matviyenko and Oleksandr Zubkov. At the hotel, they were greeted by team manager Serhiy Rebrov, one of his assistants Hlib Platov, and Georgiy Sudakov who had traveled to Prague right after Shakhtar's winning match against Antwerp in the UEFA Champions League. Anatoliy Trubin and Rustam Khudjamov arrived for lunch from Lisbon, while Taras Stepanenko, Serhiy Sydorchuk, and coach Alberto Bosch joined them an hour later.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

In the evening training session at FC Sparta's base, 12 players participated: Georgiy Bushchan, Anatoliy Trubin, Vitaliy Buyalskyi, Oleksandr Karavaev, Vladyslav Vanat, Mykola Matviyenko, Georgiy Sudakov, Yegor Nazarina, Yuriym Konoplya, Taras Stepanenko, Oleksandr Zubkov, and Serhiy Sydorchuk.

Denys Popov is currently working out in the gym, continuing his recovery from a thigh muscle injury. There's hope that the defender will recover at least for one of the October matches of the national team.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

Meanwhile, those who trained today on one of FC Sparta's fields went for a run and were then split into two groups. Kyiv Dynamo players and Serhiy Sydorchuk, who played in Friday and Saturday respectively, had stretching exercises, while the fitness trainers, whose match was on Wednesday, performed football technique drills, game exercises, and tasks focused on quick attack finishing.

The place where FC Sparta's training fields are located deserves a separate mention. It will be the home base for the blue-and-yellow team throughout this week. The Strahov Stadium was built almost 100 years ago — in 1926, on an enormous area of 63 thousand square meters, and at that time it could accommodate up to 220 thousand (!!!) spectators. Initially, large-scale youth sports events were held here by the Sokol organization. Later, during socialism times, Spartakiads involving tens of thousands of young boys and girls took place on this vast area, performing choreographic performances. In recent years, huge concerts have been held here featuring world-famous rock bands such as Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, U2, Guns N' Roses, etc.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

At the beginning of the 21st century, with financial support from the city administration, FC Sparta carried out a reconstruction that divided the field into seven standard-sized football fields, including artificial turf, as well as a mini-football field.

Tomorrow evening, Roman Yaremchuk, Ruslan Malinovskiy, Vitaliy Mykolenko, and Nazariy Rusyn will join the team. After dinner, Artem Dovbik, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Illia Zabarnyi are expected to arrive.

Tomorrow, players whose clubs played today — Oleksandr Zinchenko and Bohdan Mikhaylichenko, as well as Oleksandr Svatos, Oleksandr Pihalonyk, our "American" Serhiy Krivtsov, who usually needs some time to travel from North America, will fly to Prague. The last one to join the group is goalkeeper Dmytro Rytsnik, called up today as a replacement for injured Andriy Lunin: Dmytro will arrive at the blue-and-yellow camp on Tuesday.

Squad of the National Team of Ukraine

Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan («Dynamo» Kyiv), Anatoliy Trubin («Benfica» Lisbon, Portugal), Dmytro Rytsnik («Shakhtar» Donetsk).

Defenders: Mykola Matviyenko, Yuriym Konoplya (both — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Denys Popov, Oleksandr Karavaev (both — «Dynamo» Kyiv), Oleksandr Svatos («Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk), Vitaliy Mykolenko («Everton» Liverpool, England), Illia Zabarnyi («Bournemouth», England), Serhiy Krivtsov («Inter Miami», USA), Bohdan Mikhaylichenko («Dinamo» Zagreb, Croatia).

Midfielders: Vitaliy Buyalskyi («Dynamo» Kyiv), Taras Stepanenko, Oleksandr Zubkov, Georgiy Sudakov, Yegor Nazarina (all — «Shakhtar» Donetsk), Oleksandr Pihalonyk («Dnipro-1» Dnipropetrovsk), Oleksandr Zinchenko («Arsenal» London, England), Mykhailo Mudryk («Chelsea» London, England), Serhiy Sydorchuk («Waasland-Beveren», Belgium), Ruslan Malinovskiy («Genoa» Genoa, Italy).

Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk («Valencia», Spain), Artem Dovbik («Girona», Spain), Vladyslav Vanat («Dynamo» Kyiv), Nazariy Rusyn («Sunderland», England).

In reserve: Oleksandr Timchik («Dynamo» Kyiv).

Oleksandr Hlyvinskyi, press secretary of the national team of Ukraine