Serhiy Sapronov: "Some positions in defense and attack need to be strengthened"

25.08.2021 14:01

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

From August 23 to 30 in Pushcha-Vodytsya, the girls' national team of Ukraine (WU-17) is preparing for the first round of the 2022 European Championship.

- Due to the pandemic, the national teams of different age groups did not gather for almost two years, - said the head coach of the girls' national team of Ukraine WU-17 Serhiy Sapronov in a comment to the official website of the UAF. - That's why we had to make a lot of efforts to decide who to invite to the meeting.

- Does the girls' team have a base club?

- Yes, Ladomyr from Volodymyr-Volynskyi. And this is no accident, because Oleg Bortnik's wards play in the top league of the Ukrainian championship. The second team in the national team is the First Capital from Kharkiv.

It should be noted that this training is more selective, because the first training sessions have shown that some positions in defense and attack need to be strengthened. Let's finally decide after sparring - with Kolos and Atex.

- And which of the players you were counting on could not come to Pushcha-Vodytsya?

- Anastasia Galak and Tatiana Veremeychuk. Unfortunately, injuries will prevent them from taking part in the first round of the European Championship.

- Who else is part of your coaching staff?

- Mykola Sydorchuk, Lyudmyla Lemeshko and Oleksandr Mitko.

According to the rating, the girls' national team of Ukraine will play in League B, where in the group stage its rivals in September will be the players of Estonia, Moldova and Northern Macedonia. We will set up wards for promotion in the table of ranks, and the main competitors will be housewives - Estonians.

Friendlies 

26.08.2020

Ukraine WU-17 - Atex (Kyiv). 10.30

29.08.2020

Ukraine WU-17 - Kolos (Kovalivka). 17.00

The squad of the Ukraine team WU-17

Goalkeepers: Yeva Rayenko (Pantery Uman), Varvara Novikova (Ladomyr Volodymyr-Volynskyi), Oksana Zahirna (Karpaty Lviv).

Defenders: Darina Krasnoborodko (Kolos Kovalivka), Yana Kharchyna, Bozhena Dub (both Ladomir Volodymyr-Volynskyi), Victoria Skotsyk (Veres Rivne), Victoria Plechyshcheva (First Capital Kharkiv), Daria Kyrychenko, Valentyna Protsko (both - "Youth" of Chernihiv).

Midfielders: Myroslava Nevar, Dana Korotchuk (both - "Ladomyr" Volodymyr-Volynsky), Anastasia Kiselevych ("Veres" Rivne), Maryna Ptytsyna, Valeria Gresa, Polina Barinova (all - "First Capital" Kharkiv), Khrystyna Masnyuk ("Prykarpattia-CYSS") №3 ”Ivano-Frankivsk), Valeria Honcharuk (Kyiv).

Forwards: Dilara Bondareva, Eva Izotova (both - "EMS-Podillya" Vinnytsia), Victoria Radionova, Veronika Borkovskaya (both - "Ladomir" Volodymyr-Volynsky).

It will be recalled that the girls' national team of Ukraine under the age of 17 will play in League B of Euro 2022, where its rivals will be Estonia, Moldova and Northern Macedonia.

The draw for the first round of the European Under-17 Championship took place in March, with a record 49 teams. The tournament will be held in a new format, reminiscent of the UEFA League of Nations.

The new two-year cycle format replaces the old qualifying format with qualifying and elite rounds. It includes group mini-tournaments with ups and downs in the class. The final stage will take place in 2022 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian national team has automatically received a ticket to the final tournament, but will take part in the first two rounds. The tournament returns after a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented the championship from being held in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons.

Based on the results of the draw, the place and dates of the matches in group B3 were determined. From September 26 to October 4 this year, Serhiy Sapronov's wards will take part in the competition in Estonia.

The blue-and-yellows will start with a match against the national team of Northern Macedonia (September 27), then their rivals will be the players of the national team of Moldova (September 30), and will finish the group stage of the Ukrainian on October 3 with a match against Estonia.

First round draw

League A

Group A1: Norway, Ireland, Hungary, Bulgaria.

Group A2: Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Scotland.

Group A3: Italy, France, Sweden, Wales.

Group A4: Germany, Finland, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Group A5: England, Poland, Belgium, Russia.

Group A6: Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Greece.

Group A7: Spain, Serbia, Iceland, Northern Ireland.

League B.

Group B1: Belarus, Georgia, Kosovo, Luxembourg.

Group B2: Lithuania, Croatia, Armenia, Kazakhstan.

Group B3: Ukraine, Estonia, Moldova, Northern Macedonia.

Group B4: Slovakia, Israel, Faroe Islands.

Group B5: Turkey, Romania, Latvia.

Group B6: Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Albania.

The matches will take place from August 1 to November 14.

Tournament format

The first round will determine which teams will rise higher in the league and which will fall lower in the league before the second round.

Reaching the top league

From League B to League A: six group winners and the best second team.

Relegation to league lower league

From League A to League B: seven fourth teams in their groups.

The second round will take place in the spring of 2022. The seven winners of League A groups will join the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final stage, which will take place from 4 to 15 May 2022. There will also be a transition of teams between leagues, which will be relevant for the first round of the European Championship-2022/2023. The seeding of participants before the draw of the second round will depend on which places in their teams the teams will take in the first round.