Sergey Popov: "I want to try myself in professional club football and sincerely grateful to the FFU for the coaching experience I received in the youth teams"

25.01.2019 14:26

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

The head coach of the youth U-19 national team of Ukraine Serhiy Popov accepted the offer of FC Zorya Luhansk and is leaving his current position. An experienced mentor commented on his decision on the official website of the FFU.

"First of all, I want to thank the leadership of the Football Federation of Ukraine and my colleagues with whom I worked in the coaching staff of youth teams for more than three years," said Sergei Popov. - I remember with pleasure the extremely interesting and rich way we went together with fellow coaches and players 2000 year of birth - from the final part of the European Championship 2017 in Croatia before reaching the elite round of the 2019 European Championship. This path was full of unique and vivid moments that will remain in my heart forever. Therefore, the decision to leave the position of head coach of the national team was very difficult for me. I got a good experience and was able to observe the quality growth of young football stars of Ukraine. "

"However, modern football places very high demands on both players and coaches," said Serhiy Popov. - In particular, it is a need for continuous self-development. Of course, being a coach of the youth team is one of the highest steps in the career of any coach. But at this stage I want to try myself and apply coaching experience in professional club football. That's why Luhansk decided to accept the offer of FC Zorya. I am sure that our youth national teams have a huge potential and a lot of great players who will soon strengthen the main team of the country. The future start of preparation of the U-19 national team for the elite round of the European2019 - this is a good opportunity to continue the growth of the team. I wish my pupils success and high achievements in the future and once again thank FFU for cooperation! "