The head coach of the Ukrainian beach soccer team, Mykola Kostenko, about the team's preparation plans for the III European Games

24.05.2023 14:01

Photo of the APFU press service

At the III European Games in Poland, the Ukrainian beach soccer team will play in the group round in Quartet B together with Switzerland, Italy and Moldova. The other group will feature Poland, Portugal, Spain and Azerbaijan. The coach of our team, Mykola Kostenko, shared the plans of the blue-yellow team regarding the preparation for the tournament.

"This weekend, the Yevgeny Ryabchuk Memorial Tournament took place at the Kyiv Hydropark, in which four of our leading teams competed. Almost all players of the Ukrainian national team, with the exception of a few, took part in it. These were very good intense matches. For example, the winners of both semi-finals, NC Beachsoccer and VIT, were decided in a penalty shootout and overtime. This shows the level of struggle.

In the final, NC Beachsoccer won (3:0) in a very spectacular match. And in the match for the third place, many goals were scored, as they say, for the spectators. This is what our collectors need in order to gain game tone as soon as possible.

As for direct preparation for the European Games, our coaching staff has planned a training camp in Nazare, Portugal. We are leaving Kyiv on June 1 and expect to be there at night from the 2nd to the 3rd. There we will work in two microcycles. The first will be aimed at developing speed and power qualities, endurance. The boys will train in a three-time mode. And the second is technical and tactical components. We will record standard positions, play in attack and defense.

The collection will continue until June 10, and we are sure that it will be held in excellent conditions. The team will live outside the city, in a sports hotel with a gym. For a coach, this is a dream. Training, nutrition and rest are all perfect," said the coach.

We will remind that the head coach of the Ukrainian national team Mykola Kostenko and his assistant Oleksandr Korniychuk invited 13 players to a training camp in Portugal.

The composition of the Ukrainian beach soccer team at the meeting in Portugal

Goalkeepers: Andrii Nerush ("Griffin"), Oleksandr Poslavskyi ("VIT"), Denys Sabatyuk ("Alternative").

Outfield players: Ivan Glutskyi, Maksym Voytok, Oleg Budzko, Yuriy Shcherytsia (all — "VIT"), Dmytro Voitenko, Andriy Pashko, Ihor Levchenko (all — "Alternative"), Oleg Zborovskyi, Andriy Borsuk (both — "Arthur Music") , Oleg Shchytnyk (NC Beach Soccer).

We would like to remind you that both men's and women's beach soccer tournaments at the 2023 European Games will be held from June 27 to July 1 in Tarnow, Poland.

According to the regulations of the competition, the men's national teams will play in a one-round tournament at the group stage, based on the results of which the two best teams from each group will advance to the semifinals. The losers will compete for the 5th-8th places.