Oleksandr Kosenko: Netherlands beat us at Euro-2022, so we will try to take revenge for that defeat

08.07.2022 13:00

Photo by uefa.com

Oleksandr Kosenko, head coach of the Ukrainian futsal team, commented on the results of the draw of the main round of the 2024 World Cup qualifying.

The national futsal team of Ukraine will begin its participation in the World Cup 2024 qualification from the main round. Blue and yellow have dropped to group 11, where they will meet with Netherlands and Kosovo. The main round matches will be completed by March 8, 2023.

The head coach of our team, Oleksandr Kosenko, in a comment for the UAF official website, assessed the strength of the future opponents: "Netherlands beat us at Euro-2022, so we will try to take revenge for that defeat. However, this is the second question. We need a victory primarily because this is a new qualifying cycle, although the previous match against Netherlands will add motivation.

Kosovo is a Balkan team, they are all unpredictable. Good team. All opponents are preparing, they know how to play. Even though, we beat Kosovo 7:1 in the 2020 World Cup qualifiers, but every year the teams develop more and more, new players appear, many are naturalized. Let's see what changes they will have. I think they are still trying to develop futsal. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare.

I hope that the national team of Ukraine will be able to prepare for the matches of the main round. We don't have any training plans yet, you understand the situation yourself. We need to wait a little, to understand how the new championship will go."

In the main round, 36 national teams are divided into 12 groups of three teams each, in which matches will be played at home and away. The 12 group winners and the four best runners-up will advance to the elite round. The other eight runners-up will compete in the main round playoffs.

WC-2024. European qualification. Main round

Group 1: Spain, Moldova, Cyprus.

Group 2: Georgia, Belgium, Austria.

Group 3: Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia.

Group 4: Portugal, Belarus, Lithuania.

Group 5: Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Montenegro.

Group 6: Azerbaijan, Poland, Greece.

Group 7: Croatia, Hungary, Israel.

Group 8: Finland, Romania, Denmark.

Group 9: Serbia, France, Norway.

Group 10: Italy, North Macedonia, Sweden.

Group 11: Ukraine, Netherlands, Kosovo.

Group 12: Slovakia, Latvia, Germany.

Match dates

September 12-21, 2022

October 3-12, 2022

November 6-9, 2022

February 27 - March 8, 2023

Format

Qualification takes place in five stages: the preliminary round (mini-tournaments), the main round (groups with home and away matches), the playoffs of the main round (home and away matches), the elite round (groups with home and away matches) and elite round playoffs (home and away matches).

Main round playoffs

Draw: March 10, 2023.

Matches: April 10-19, 2023.

Eight teams will be divided into four pairs, the matches will be held at home and away. The winners will advance to the elite round.

Elite round

Draw: July 5, 2023

Matches: will be completed by December 20, 2023.

20 national teams will be divided into five groups of four teams, the matches will be held at home and away. Five winners of the groups will go to the 2024 World Cup. The four best winners of the second places will go to the playoffs of the elite round. If the European Association is selected for the final tournament, only the top two runners-up will advance to the playoffs of the elite round.

Elite round playoffs

Draw: January 25, 2024

Matches: April 8-17, 2024.

Four teams will be divided into two pairs (if only two teams will take part in the playoffs, a draw will be held to determine the order of matches), matches will be held at home and away. The winners will go to the 2024 World Cup.