Vadym Kostyuchenko: "Women's football in Ukraine continued to develop even under quarantine restrictions"

30.12.2020 13:00

Photo of UAF press service

The first vice-president of the Ukrainian Football Association Vadym Kostyuchenko summed up the results of 2020 in the field of women's football development, which is one of the priorities in the work of the UAF.

- Vadim Konstantinovich, what from the planned 2020 in the women's football sector managed to realize, and what - no?

- First of all, I would like to note that women's football was and remains a priority of the Ukrainian Football Association, which has been repeatedly emphasized by the President of the UAF, a member of the UEFA Executive Committee Andriy Pavelko. And this was reflected in the decision of the UAF Executive Committee, which in early March approved a strategy for the development of women's football for the next four years. This document should cause a real revolution, as it provides for the mandatory presence of women's teams in all clubs of the Ukrainian Premier League.  

As for the results of last year, it started as usual. The traditional gathering of goalkeepers of national women's national teams took place, as well as in previous years, the "winter championship" took place, which was held for the first time in Chernihiv. Competitions in the girls' football league started, where teams consisting of players under the age of 17 took part. The WU-17 girls' national team held a training camp in Kharkiv in preparation for the elite round matches of the European Championship. And the national team took part in the representative international tournament in Spain.

But then the entire subsequent calendar was crossed out by the COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine restrictions it caused. Eventually, the elite round and the final stage of the girls' Euro 2020 (WU-17) were canceled, and the qualifying matches of the youth women's Euro-2021 were postponed several times and were finally scheduled for next year.

- Restrictions also affected club football, but the Ukrainian championship was still completed…

- Yes, not only to finish, but also to start a new season. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the All-Ukrainian Women's Football Association, headed by Valery Lunchenko, for constructive cooperation. The Ukrainian Football Association, for its part, did everything in its power to complete the matches of the championship among the teams of the major league and play the Cup of Ukraine. As a result, Kharkiv's Zhytlobud-2 under the leadership of Natalia Zinchenko made a "golden double", winning both tournaments, and also represented Ukraine in the Women's Champions League draw in the fall.

It is nice that in difficult conditions we managed to keep the representation among clubs in the new, anniversary, 30th championship of Ukraine among women's teams. The first part of the competition is over, the draw for the first time takes place according to the new scheme, in two stages, which should intensify the competition among the best clubs and increase the overall level of the tournament. The teams of the first league, which are playing in two rounds for the first time, also started the competition in the new season of the national championship. There are children's schools, in particular, the UAF Academy, where girls study together with boys.

Yes, in general, quarantine restrictions have significantly affected our lives, but the structure of competitions is preserved, women's football continues to develop.

- A separate reason for positive emotions was provided by the national team. Did you expect such a result of the blue-yellows?

- As far as I know, Natalia Zinchenko always sets only the maximum tasks for her wards. So, for me personally, it was not a surprise that five victories in a row of our main women's team, which secured her second place in the selection group of the Euro, which will take place in 2022. But we still have to make our way there through the head-to-head matches that await our girls in April 2021.

I would also like to remind you that the Ukrainian Football Association made sure that the coaches of all national teams felt confident and could work calmly and make further work plans. According to the decision of the UAF Executive Committee, contracts with Natalia Zinchenko, as well as coaches of the girls' national teams WU-17 and WU-19 Serhiy Sapronov and Valery Palamarchuk were extended until the end of 2021.

Special sincere thanks from the leadership of the UAF to all the clubs that prepared players for the women's and girls' national teams of Ukraine in the past year! We hope for fruitful cooperation in the next year, 2021.