A tempting slice of Tyrolean pie rests in an Icelandic fridge.
Before delving into the DNA of our national team, let's take a look at some general organizational facts.
Expansion of the Tournament and Hosts
Following another restructuring of the EHF, the forum has for the first time expanded from 16 to 24 teams. The tournament will be hosted by three countries: Hungary, Switzerland, and Austria. This trio of organizers has already been tested at the last championship, but completely new experiences await in two years when Euro-2026 will be hosted by five (!) countries. At this year’s celebration, the Ukrainian team will experience Tyrolean hospitality – matches involving them will take place in Innsbruck, Austria. In Group F , our girls will play against Iceland (December 1) and the Netherlands (December 3) after an opening match with Germany.
New Tournament Format
The format has also changed, expanding to eight kilograms of forum. Teams are still divided into quartets, but the main feature is that only the two best teams from each group advance to the main round. This means that half of the participants will conclude their tournament after three matches. Previously, three out of four teams would advance from the group.
In the main round, two groups of six teams are formed. The fortunate teams from A+B+C and D+E+F with "golden" points (earned in matches against other teams in their group) will play four more games. Then, the two best teams from each sextet will form the semifinal pairings.
Team Rosters
The EHF has allowed for the first time the final roster to include 20 players (previously 18). However, the national federation of Ukraine has decided to leave two players out of the delegation.
Composition of the Ukrainian women's handball team for the European Championship
History of Ukraine's Participation
The "blue and yellow" are participating in their 12th European Championship:
1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 (silver!), 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014.
For a long time, we remained one of the few teams that had not missed a single Euro. However, in 2014, when a difficult period hit Ukraine, handball took a wrong turn...
Olha Perederiy was a whirlwind line player at Euro-2014, and now she is the team manager for Euro-2024
It took a full 10 years to return to the European arena. One of the factors for success was the increase in the number of spots in the final stage of the competition. Previously, qualifying was immediately considered a significant achievement, but now failing to qualify is seen as a failure, as the doors to the major are wide open.
The Ukrainian team, albeit with difficulty, managed to qualify for the Euro, finishing second in the group, ahead of Slovakia. However, this did not save both teams from the fourth basket and proximity to exotic teams like Turkey, the Faroe Islands, and Portugal.
Chances and Draw
It can definitely be said that the draw was favorable – from the third basket, we got the weakest ranked team, Iceland. The match against them promises to be crucial – Ukraine has a chance to take points from the "ice cream makers".
By the way, Ukraine's last victory at the Euro came a full 14 years ago – in a memorable match when we dismantled Germany. Not only did we dismantle them, but we also met the mandatory condition of overcoming a -7/-8 handicap – 33:23! At that time, our girls made quite a stir in Europe: they not only eliminated the Germans from the tournament but also led to the dismissal of their coach and carried the Dutch along with them to the main round.
The irony is that at Euro-2024, we will once again play against Germany and the Netherlands (who are fierce rivals). However, the current power dynamics have changed significantly, and now even avoiding a crushing defeat for our team would be a worthy result.
Before we move on to personnel matters, let’s note the main events on the pre-tournament path.
- The qualifying cycle for Ukraine began under the leadership of Vitaliy Andronov, who essentially led the team to the final stage. Last autumn, our girls played well against Germany (yes, it is always nearby, like Norway once was) and easily defeated Slovakia. However, after the 2023 World Championship, Andronov unexpectedly left his position. Only after 10 months did he hint in an interview that the reason for his departure was the lack of autonomy.
- It’s unnecessary to guess; it’s known that all decisions, including personnel ones, are made solely by the president of the FGU, Andriy Melnyk. Moreover, he appointed himself as the coach without any experience in this field. As a result, the head coach position shifted from Andronov to Boris Chyzhov. This is already his third (!) return to the national team, although he has never worked with women’s teams before, and he has no notable successes. The 78-year-old employee of the Ministry of Sports cannot even remember the names of his charges. And this is not a literary trope, but a sad reality. Chyzhov fits perfectly into Melnyk’s totalitarian model, where the head coach’s opinion does not hold any weight. In this case, it holds no weight whatsoever.
- A trend has emerged in the national team where the best performers at the time are not invited to the team, but rather those who pass an internal "filter". The qualification included 30 (!) handball players against the standard roster of 20 players. Six (!) absolute debutants made it to the final roster for the Euro.
Only in the last year have leaders fallen into the "undesirable" category. Yuliya Andriychuk – one of the strongest Ukrainian handball players, capable of covering two positions: center defense and any point on the back line. Tetyana Polyak – the captain of Halychanka, also effectively utilizes her versatility. Let’s add Anastasia Melekestseva – a line player who looks great in the team that placed in the Polish championship and Olesya Dyachenko – the MVP of the last season. For context, all four were participants in the 2023 World Championship.
Almost joining them was Kateryna Kozak. She was ignored throughout the entire preparation cycle. Due to injuries to two players with left-hand throwing arms, she was included in the delegation at the last moment. But what kind of synergy can be expected?
Is there, for example, a logical explanation as to why Olha Makarenko was pulled from friendly matches at the last moment but then included in the Euro squad? Moreover, there is a risk of seeing her in the starting lineup. Remember, six matches – six losses in "friendlies". Including a recent loss to the "dead" Slovakia and the strong Hungary. And there is nothing terrible in losses, but did they answer any personnel questions?
Havrysh, Furmanets, Shlyukhtina, Fenynets, Havavka – their assistance would certainly not hinder the Ukrainian team, and some of them should have been in the starting lineup given the personnel crisis.
Anarchism in Ukrainian handball has led to the fact that the number of "undesirables" includes the author of this material, who has covered the last three majors involving Ukraine (Euro-2012, Euro-2014, and WC-2023), long before the current leadership of the FGU came to power. Any player is forbidden to have professional contacts with the author under the threat of exclusion from the national team. We wrote about the surreal "ban" on interviews in the name of Melnyk HERE.
Who Will We Not See in Austria Regardless of External Factors?
First of all, it is worth noting Maria Hladun, Diana Dmytryshyn, and Yevheniya Levchenko (one of the strongest handball players