The Ukrainian national football team will play at the Olympic Games for the first time. The historic debut will take place in the men's tournament in Paris 2024, where the Blue and Yellows qualified for last year's Youth Euro.
At a press briefing before the Olympics, Vadym Hutzeit, president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, commented on the situation with the selection of the squad, saying that he sees advantages in inviting young and motivated players to the Games.
"For the first time since our independence, the national football team has made it to the Olympics. I hope it will be a strong team. We discussed with Coach Rotan the presence of the best players, because it is very important for us that clubs like Dynamo, Shakhtar, Zorya, Rukh send their best players. It is difficult because each team has its own calendar of qualifiers. And some players play for the best European clubs - they have their own conditions for attending such matches for the Ukrainian national team.
I had a conversation with the head coach. He is worried because he really wants to have a powerful team. We talked about this topic with Andriy Shevchenko, the head of the UAF, and all the management. They also want the team to be strong and powerful, so that Ukraine looks strong at the Olympic Games.
We hope that we will have a strong team, but I have seen many times when young athletes come to competitions who want to win, who have a thirst for it. Perhaps it's for the best that there will be young players and they will be more and more eager to win, to run and play and prove themselves," Gutzeit said.
The Olympic team led by Rotan has already left for France and will begin preparations for the first match of the 2024 Games - on July 24, the Blue and Yellows will face Iraq in the first round of the group stage.