Already in March, the women's national team of Ukraine will participate in the third European Championship in its history. As part of their preparation for the tournament, the blue-and-yellow team has traveled to Slovakia to play friendly matches against a local team. In the first game, the Ukrainians won — 3:2. After the match, head coach Oleg Shaytanov shared his thoughts.

"A difficult game. We expected it to be tough because all our previous matches were like that. We got a positive from winning, but we had enough unnecessary mistakes. So we will analyze these moments. I hope that in the second friendly match we will look much better."

Regarding newcomers, this was Veronika Dyatel's first game, perhaps not everything went as planned. After a long break, Anna Shulga returned; she really wanted to score and stand out in this match, but emotions somehow got in the way of her playing better.

As for goalkeepers, I won't single anyone out, but they played so well that our three goals allowed us to secure a victory.

The girls will rest, we'll do theory work and analyze the mistakes. I hope that in the second game we will look much better," — said Oleg Shaytanov in an interview for the press service of the Ukrainian Futsal Association.

Composition of the Women's National Team of Ukraine in Futsal

Goalkeepers— Anastasiia Tereshkina (“Internazionale,” Portugal), Viktoriia Kislava (“Torreblanca,” Spain), Nataliya Mytrofanova (“Deportivo Cordoba,” Spain); field players— Yulia Titova (“Italkavereale Statte,” Italy), Yulia Forsyuk, Xenia Grytsenko (both — “Mostoles,” Spain), Iryna Dubitska, Taisiya Babenko (both — “Internazionale,” Portugal), Oleksandra Skibina, Mariya Vaskovets (both — “Hoventut,” Spain), Anna Shulga (“Torreblanca,” Spain), Snejana Volovenko (“Atletico Navacerrero B,” Spain), Polina Drozd, Veronika Dyatel (both — “Ilves,” Finland).

As a reminder, according to the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, which includes UAF President Andriy Pavelko, the final part of Euro-2023 in women's futsal will be held from March 17 to 19 in Hungary. Matches of four teams will take place at “Phoenix Arena” in Debrecen.

One of the participants will be the Ukrainian national team. Also, Spain, Portugal and Hungary qualified for the final tournament. On January 24 in Debrecen, there was a draw, according to which the blue-and-yellow team's semifinal opponents are Hungary.

Euro-2023 Women's Futsal Championship

17.03    17.00    Semifinal              Spain — Portugal

17.03    20.30    Semifinal              Ukraine— Hungary

19.03    18.00    Match for third place

19.03    21.00    Final

Game start times are in Kyiv time.

In the main round of qualification for the European Championship in women's futsal, which took place in Poznan, Poland, our blue-and-yellow team managed to secure first place in their group. In the first game, the Ukrainian national team defeated the Netherlands (5:2), in the second — beat Croatia (5:1), and concluded the mini-tournament with a draw against Poland (1:1). In summary, our team qualified for continental glory for the third time in history.

As a reminder, the women's national team of Ukraine in futsal became bronze medalists at the final tournament of Euro-2022, which took place from July 1 to 3 in Portugal.