The Ukrainian beach soccer team performed successfully in the World Cup 2024 qualifier in Baku, securing one of four European spots for the world championship in 2024 to be held in the United Arab Emirates.

The coach of our team, Mykola Kostenko, commented on the performance of the blue and yellow team at the games in Azerbaijan: "We secured first place in the group, then won the playoff match and fulfilled the main task of qualifying for the World Cup. Everything was at its highest level in the team — both in terms of player commitment and morale. As for nuances — the boys played exceptionally well defensively; true gentlemen. We lacked a bit of such careful play in defense during the European Games.

Regarding the matches in Baku, the most important and difficult one was against Poland. If we had lost this encounter, we probably could have forgotten about the World Cup. The Poles won their first match, and if they had won against us, they would have six points, while we only had two. Even with a successful game against Lithuania, five points wouldn't have saved us because Spain could also have reached six points. So, in fact, there was no room for error against Poland.

The coaching staff is very pleased with the boys as they managed to overcome both the psychological moment after an unsatisfactory performance at the European Games and the physical fatigue of not being home — we immediately traveled from Poland to Azerbaijan for the qualifying tournament. It was extremely hot in Baku, reaching up to 35 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, we had a very good emotional conversation with the players before the start of the games in the locker room; we prepared ourselves and managed to beat Spain first, then Poland.

Although each match had its own leader who pulled the team along, everyone contributed to the overall success. In the playoff game against Moldova, we scored five goals, all by different players. Against Lithuania, we made it difficult for our opponents with a somewhat forced approach. In the previous meeting, one of our goalkeepers, Andriy Nerus', received a red card, and to ease the burden on Oleksandr Poslavsky, who couldn't help us in the first match due to health issues, we brought in Oleksandr Korniychuk at that position. When he came onto the field, we slightly changed our game structure, focusing more on ball possession, and he played more as a fifth outfield player. The Lithuanians clearly struggled to adjust to this tactic of ours, which contributed to our victory."

Recall that the World Cup 2024 in beach soccer will take place from February 15th to 25th next year in the United Arab Emirates.

World Cup 2024 Qualifier

Europe. Group B

July 5. Spain — Ukraine — 3:4, extra time.

July 6. Ukraine — Poland — 3:2

July 7. Ukraine — Lithuania — 4:1

Final Standings

Playoff Match

July 9. Ukraine — Moldova — 5:2