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The men's national beach soccer team of Ukraine departed for Spain on Monday to participate in the first qualifying stage of Euroleague-2025 in Division A.
APFU photo
The men's national beach soccer team of Ukraine departed for Spain on Monday to participate in the first qualifying stage of Euroleague-2025 in Division A.
Recall that it will take place from May 22nd to 25th in the Spanish town of El Puerto de Santa Maria. The head coach of our team, Mykola Kostenko, has published the roster for this tournament. He can rely on twelve players.
Goalkeepers: Andriy Nerus, Oleksandr Poslavsky (both from "Alternativa").
Field players: Oleksandr Korniychuk, Oleg Zborovskyy, Anton Ross, Hryhorii Komar, Yevhen Melnychuk (all from "Alternativa"), Ivan Gluts'kyi, Andriy Borsuk, Andriy Potapov, Oleksandr Samoylenko (BSC "Sunrise"), Maxim Voytok (unattached).
Mykola Kostenko also outlined the goals of the blue and yellow team for prestigious competitions and spoke about their preparation.
"Unfortunately, we were unable to conduct a full training camp before leaving for Spain. The weather in Kyiv was very poor. We mainly trained early in the morning when it wasn't too warm. Players even had to wear additional special socks, which is somewhat inconvenient. Additionally, several players couldn't participate in the camp due to health issues."
"Optimal preparation didn't happen, but we managed to do a lot of things. For example, we played a friendly match last Friday, and then the national team players participated in their club teams at the traditional tournament named after Yevgen Ryabchuk. So, we were preparing practically every day."
"Regarding our future opponents, I'll say right away that there are no weak rivals now. We have a fairly difficult group, and even the second quartet is not weaker. We play against Germany, Georgia, and Spain. The Spaniards will be very focused on winning after their not-so-successful World Cup performance, especially since they are hosting this Euroleague stage. We played with the Germans in March at an international friendly tournament in Klaipėda. They brought a lot of newcomers to watch then. This is a team that always takes Euroleague seriously, so it will be challenging. The Georgians have also recently radically changed their approach to beach soccer and are doing a lot for its development. We expect an interesting tournament and will prepare accordingly."
"Regarding this year's competition format, I don't see anything negative in it. BSWW leadership constantly changes it depending on the season load. In this selection, we play at two stages—the first one in Spain and the fourth one in Moldova. Qualification for the Super Final will depend on the number of points we earn at these stages."
"As for our goal for the tournament, it remains unchanged—striving for first place. There are no other tasks, so we'll be preparing to achieve this goal," said Mykola Kostenko.
Group 1: Spain, Ukraine, Germany, Georgia.
Group 2: Portugal, Poland, France, Turkey.
May 23. Ukraine — Germany (15:45)
May 24. Ukraine — Georgia (14:30)
May 25. Spain —Ukraine (21:00)
Match times are in Kyiv time.
The second stage of Euroleague-2025 will take place from July 18th to 20th in Batumi, Georgia, the third one—from July 25th to 27th in Castellammare di Stabia, Italy, and the fourth—from August 1st to 3rd in Chișinău, Moldova. The Super Final is scheduled for September 9th to 14th in Viareggio, Italy.
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