The head coach of Ukraine's U-19 national futsal team, Igor Moskovichov, in an interview with the AFS press service, summed up his team's performance at Euro 2025, where they reached the semifinals.

— First and foremost, I would like to thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for allowing us to represent our country in this most important tournament in youth futsal, — stressed Mr. Igor. — Every minute in our team everyone understood who made it possible for us to be here.

I am also grateful to the club managers who develop Ukrainian children's futsal. I thank the first coaches of these boys who played at the European Championship and generally all coaches working with children's futsal.

Also, I would like to thank all the coaches who work with my wards now. And I thank the boys themselves for doing everything they could. 

— On a five-point scale, do you rate this Euro as a solid four?

— Yes, definitely. A five would have been if we had made it to the final. For that, we lacked skill and depth of squad. As it is — a solid four.

— It's known that history does not recognize formulations that begin with "if only." But still, it's interesting — if your team leaders Illia Prykhodko and Oleksandr Zhukov had been able to play, the result could have been even better?

— Do you remember how I said in an interview after the tournament in Poreč that we would be in the final? Well, I am convinced that if we had our leaders, we would have made it to the final. You know that Prykhodko is an attacking player who can create a moment out of nothing, Zhukov was the top scorer in the selection. We lost two attacking players who could create sharpness.

Moreover, we lost four players who were first in the selection for all previous tournaments. With this squad, we won't play anymore because you can get injured in the national team and return after half a year or a year. In youth, however, the age limit is over — and that's it.

You are right when you say that this is history now, and it cannot be rewritten. It's very sad, but we will move forward. I believe there are prospects in our youth team because six players who participated in Euro 2025 will play at the next continental championship.

Everything that we couldn't achieve in Moldova, we will try to do over the next two years. We will prepare, improve understanding among players. I hope new players won't be weaker than this generation.

— Is there already an understanding of who is the closest reserve for Ukraine's youth team?

— We have a very large selection — there are really good players born in 2008-2009. There will be between 20 to 30 candidates from which we need to choose the best. This is going to be a very difficult job.

For example, in the previous selection team there were five-six leaders and the rest were more or less on one level. In the team that recently played at Euro 2025, there were ten-twelve players of one level.

In the next generation, we expect around twenty to thirty candidates, so choosing will be very difficult. The main thing is to make the right choice. And I am confident that if we don't make a mistake with the selection, then we will have a team that will finally compete with Spain and Portugal.

— Are all potential candidates for the youth team currently playing in Ukraine?

— Yes, they are all currently in Ukraine. In December we plan to organize a gathering so that we can start understanding who is ready for demands, who fits and who doesn't. Starting from December, we will prepare for friendlies and build the new team.

— Who do you think among this youth team that made it to the top four at Euro 2025 can already receive invitations from European clubs? After all, scouts could have been watching our players in Chisinau.

— I'll say right away — Artem Maliavinsky. He was born in 2009, three years younger than the rest, but I didn't see him anywhere struggling or falling behind, rather he imposed his game. Understanding of futsal, extraordinary technique, good dribbling — he has everything, so I think Artem Maliavinsky will surpass his brother and make people talk about himself.

— It would have been interesting to see the bronze final against Slovenia's team, but UEFA unfortunately does not organize third-place matches at youth European championships. Is there any resentment that your team could have performed a "swan song" and won medals, but simply wasn't given the opportunity?

— Yes, of course. For many, this is absurd... Now I am in Zaporizhzhia, and everyone tells me: «A match for third place would have been very interesting, we all would have watched and cheered.» UEFA stole the spectacle and emotions from fans, whether positive or negative.

In my opinion, UEFA deprived our supporters of joy in victory or despair in defeat. At least they could have watched a game and enjoyed it. As I already said, this is another stolen good match.

— Watching the Euro 2025 final between Spain and Portugal, did you catch yourself thinking what we lack to compete with these giants of youth futsal? And what can be done to get closer to their level?

— What caught my eye — is that they are twice as fast in decision-making on the pitch. We, Ukrainians, have always been known for coming out of defense into attack, but Spain and Portugal absolutely did not allow us to do this. After losing possession, they went into such a counter-pressing that our players couldn't even lift their heads. We lost to them in speed of decision-making and the transition from defense to attack.

We don't have the right to concede goals from counterattacks, but in the semifinal against Spain we conceded four or five goals after opponents' counterattacks. The strong sides of Spaniards — is ball control, breaking down the defense, that is they score from positional attacks. But we conceded five after counterattacks — we don't have the right to play like this. So we deservedly lost. This should be fast counterattacks in us, but it didn't happen. It's clear that technically we always looked weaker than Portuguese, Brazilians, Spaniards, but we can't afford to be slower and give up in transitional phases.

I am convinced that we are gradually getting closer to Portugal and Spain. Yes, we conceded to Portugal — 0:4, but I cannot say that the Portuguese dominated on the pitch. Yes, at the beginning they were a bit better, but if we had scored our goal, maybe even two — who knows how the game would have unfolded.

However, mentally we are still somewhat weaker and don't believe in our success. We will prepare the new generation for victories, instill confidence in young players so that they feel capable of winning against any team.