Serhiy Kovalets: "There is no need to give any ultimatums. We are at war. Clubs and the UAF need to come to an agreement"

Famous Ukrainian coach Serhiy Kovalets commented on the news that the U-19 national team will play a friendly tournament in Seoul without a single representative of Shakhtar Donetsk.

Sergey Kovalets

- According to media reports, Shakhtar did not release their players to the Ukrainian youth national team for a friendly tournament due to their busy schedule. However, Oleg Kuznetsov says that the players simply did not have time to get to the national team after the UEFA Youth League match. What do you think about this?

- The parties need to come to an agreement. The club and the UAF must communicate and find a common language in terms of the effectiveness of the players who play for the national team. When I worked in the national team, I talked to the clubs' management and we found a common consensus.

- During your coaching career with the national team, were there any cases when clubs did not let their players go?

- Of course, it happened. Especially clubs did not want to let players go to the Commonwealth Cup because it was held in winter, and the teams were just going to the training camp. If a player was not released, we gave others a chance to prove themselves.

But there were other cases. Malinowski was supposed to go to the training camp with Zorya in 2014, I got a call from Vernydub, he really wanted to take him with him to Turkey, I said: "Let Ruslan play for the national team in the tournament, he's never played for the youth team before." Vernydub agreed: "Okay, let him play, and then come to the training camp." So you need to communicate and negotiate.

- Is there any way to deal with this, perhaps with the help of the UAF?

- There is no need to set any ultimatums. We are at war, and in this difficult time, clubs and the UAF need to reach an agreement.

- Should Shakhtar call up the Donetsk team for the next matches after such an act or should they stick to the principle?

- There is no need to create conflicts. If there are no Shakhtar players, then other players should be given a chance to prove themselves in a friendly tournament. We have a lot of talented youngsters.

Andriy Piskun