The head coach of Ukraine's futsal team, Oleksandr Kosyenko, in an interview with the Ukrainian Futsal Association press service highly evaluated the level of the next opponent of the blue and yellow team, France, and also spoke about calling up Petr Shoturma.

— Mr. Oleksandr, the national team of Ukraine is awaiting a match that does not require special motivation from either side. That bronze final of the 2024 World Cup — this will be what drives both teams even in a friendly game. How do you feel about such an opponent for preparation for Euro-2026?

— A very good team to spar with — playing, technical and at the same time strong and powerful. The French national team tries not to lose battles, acting technically both individually and as a team. The French have excellent team speed and good interaction between players. In my opinion, France is one of the most attractive teams in the world for its style. It will be very interesting and beneficial to play against them. 

And that we played with them for the bronze at the World Cup… This will be an additional motivation both for the French (they want to take revenge) and for us — we want to prove that we did not win those bronze medals by chance.

— There's no feeling that they invited us specifically for this — to play against a strong team before Euro and get an extra dose of motivation? As if, come to us, into our walls, we will beat you and go to the European Championship in good spirits.

— It's hard to say, maybe they do have such thoughts. But I think that they also want to conduct a nice friendly match. They pick good teams for friendlies — for example, not long ago they played against the Czech Republic. I think first of all they wanted to play with Ukraine's national team, and then yes, this story is not going anywhere, so it will add them motivation and if they get a positive result, it may give them additional confidence before Euro-2026.

— Petr Shoturma is returning to the national team of Ukraine — a return that was awaited. Your comment on this.

— We wanted Petr to recover as quickly as possible. He's an extremely important player not only for the national team but also for all of Ukrainian futsal, because he is a legend and history. We see that he adds with each game. This is very pleasant for us, since we were waiting for his return to the team, wanted him to recover by Euro time and be back with us again. Petr will lead our team once more as captain, as he's a leader both on the pitch and off it. He can bring us a lot of benefits.