The head coach of Ukraine's U-19 national futsal team, Igor Moskovichov, summed up the team's performance at Euro 2025 in an interview with the AFS press service, where they reached the semifinals.  

— First of all, I would like to thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for allowing us to represent our country at this most important tournament in youth futsal, — emphasized Mr. Igor. — Every minute in our team, everyone understood who made it possible for us to be here.

I am also grateful to the club managers who develop Ukrainian children's futsal. I thank the first coaches of these boys who played at the European Championship and all coaches working with children's futsal in general.

Also, I would like to thank all the coaches who work with my wards now. And I thank the boys themselves for doing everything they could. 

— On a five-point scale, how would you rate this Euro as a solid four?

— Yes, definitely. A five would have been if we had made it to the final. We lacked skill and depth in our lineup for that. So — a solid four.

— As is known, history does not recognize formulations that begin with the word "if." But still, it's interesting — if your team leaders Illia Prykhodko and Oleksandr Zhukov had been able to play, could the result have been even better?

— Do you remember how I said in an interview after the tournament in Poreč that we would be in the final? Well, I am convinced that if we had our leaders, we would have made it to the final. You know that Prykhodko is an attacking player who can create a moment out of nothing, Zhukov was the top scorer in the selection. We lost two attacking players who could create sharpness.

Moreover, we lost four players who were first in the selection for all previous tournaments. With this lineup, we won't play anymore because injuries can happen at the national level and then you return after half a year or a year. In youth, however, the age limit is over — and that's it.

You are right in saying that this is history now, and it cannot be rewritten. It's very unfortunate, but we will move forward. I believe there are prospects for our youth team because six players who participated in Euro 2025 will play at the next continental championship.

Everything that didn't work out for us in Moldova, we will try to do better over the next two years. We will prepare, improve understanding between players. I hope new players won't be weaker than this generation.

— Is there already an understanding of which nearest reserve exists in Ukraine's youth team?

— We have a very large selection — there are really good players born in 2008-2009. We will have between 20 to 30 candidates, from which we need to choose the best. This will be a very difficult task.

For example, in the previous selection team there were five-six leaders and the rest were more or less on one level. In the team that recently played at Euro 2025, there were ten-twelve players of one level.

But in the next generation we expect 20-30 candidates, so choosing will be very difficult. The main thing is to make the right choice. And I am convinced that if we don't make a mistake with the lineup, then we will have a team that finally competes with Spain and Portugal.

— Are all potential candidates for the youth team currently playing in Ukraine?

— Yes, they are all currently in Ukraine. In December we plan to organize a gathering to start understanding who is ready for demands, who fits and who doesn't. Starting from December we will prepare for friendlies and build the new team.

— Who do you think among this youth team that made it into the top four at Euro 2025 could already receive invitations from European clubs? Since scouts were watching our players in Chisinau.

— I'll say right away — Artem Maliavinsky. He was born in 2009, so he's three years younger but I haven't seen him anywhere else, shining out or anything like that, rather imposing his own fight. Understanding of futsal, extraordinary technique, good dribbling — he has everything, so I think Artem Maliavinsky will surpass his brother and make people talk about himself.

— It would have been interesting to see the bronze final against Slovenia's team, but UEFA unfortunately does not conduct third-place matches at youth European championships. Is there still a sense of regret that your team could have performed their "swan song" and won medals, but simply wasn't given the opportunity?

— Yes, definitely. For many this is absurd... Now I'm in Zaporizhzhia, and everyone keeps saying to me: «A match for third place would have been very interesting, we all would have watched and cheered.» UEFA stole the spectacle and emotions of fans, and it doesn't matter whether they were positive or negative.

In my opinion, UEFA deprived our fans of joy from victory or despair from defeat. At least they would have seen a game and enjoyed themselves. As I already said, this is the theft of yet another good match.

— Watching the Euro 2025 final between Spain and Portugal, did you catch yourself thinking about what we lack to compete with these giants of youth futsal? And what can be done to get closer to their level?

— What caught my eye — is that they are twice as fast in decision-making on the pitch. We, Ukrainians, have always been known for coming out of defense into attack, but Spain and Portugal absolutely did not allow us to do this. After losing possession, they went into such a counterpressing that our players couldn't even lift their heads up. We lost to them in speed of decision-making and transition from defense to attack.

We don't have the right to let in goals from counterattacks, but in the semifinal against Spain we conceded four or five goals exactly after opponents' counterattacks. The strong sides of Spaniards — is ball control, breaking down defenses, so they score from positional attacks. But we conceded five after counterattacks — we don't have the right to play like this. So we deservedly lost. It should be fast counterattacks in us, but it didn't happen. Clearly, technically we always looked weaker than Portuguese, Brazilians, Spaniards, but we can't afford to be slower and give up in transitional phases.

I am convinced that we are gradually getting closer to Portugal and Spain. Yes, we conceded to Portugal — 0:4, but I cannot say that the Portuguese dominated on the pitch from start to finish. Yes, at first they were a bit better, but if we had scored our goal, maybe even two — who knows how the game would have unfolded.

However, mentally we are still somewhat weaker and don't believe in our success. We will prepare the new generation for victories, instill confidence in young players so that they feel capable of winning against any team.