The head coach of the Ukrainian women's futsal team, Oleg Shaytanov, commented on their loss in the first friendly match against Italy (2:4).

"The score on the board reflects the game. If we lost, then of course, we deserved this defeat. However, we will still analyze these conceded goals, they were indeed unnecessary. Despite this, we made concessions."

I would like to welcome our debutantes. Indeed, playing your first match for the national team is difficult, especially if your opponent is a very serious Italian team. Therefore, I want to congratulate them and say that they looked quite good against such a strong opponent.

Of course, there will be rotation. In the second game, girls who did not play will get their chance. As I said, some more, others less, but everyone will play against Italy's national team," — quotes from Oleg Shaytanov the press service of the Ukrainian Futsal Association.

The second match between the teams of Italy and Ukraine will take place today in Taranto (kick-off at 20:00 Kyiv time).

Women's Futsal World Cup 2025. European Qualification. Format

26 teams will compete for four spots in the main and elite rounds.

Participants: England, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gibraltar, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden.

Spain and Portugal have received direct spots in the elite round. If a European team hosts the World Cup, it will receive a direct spot in the final stage.

Main Round (dates of draw and matches to be determined later)

24 teams will be divided into six groups. Group winners and, if necessary, the best second-placed team will advance to the elite round.

Elite Round (dates of draw and matches to be determined later)

Eight teams, including Spain and Portugal, will be divided into two groups. The top two teams from each group will advance to the final stage.

The first Women's Futsal World Cup will take place in 2025. Sixteen teams will participate in the tournament. The quotas for participation are distributed as follows: Europe — 4, South America — 3, Asia — 3, Africa — 2, CONCACAF — 2, Oceania — 1. Another spot will go to the host country.

After introducing the Women's Futsal World Cup, UEFA will expand the women's futsal Euro to eight teams. The tournament will be held every four years, and the next one will take place in 2027.

As a reminder, all three European championships in women's futsal that were held until now — in 2019, 2022 (rescheduled from 2021) and 2023 — were won by Spain. The Ukrainian team occupied fourth, third, and second places respectively.