February 4 – Ukraine and Russia play each other (today) in a historic futsal semi-final at the European championship against a backdrop of heightened political tension over the threat of renewed conflict between the nations.
European governing body UEFA have kept Russia and Ukraine, and their clubs, apart in draws since 2014 and the conflict over Crimea, but Nyon has no such control over the knockout phase of a competition and the match will be the first men’s competitive meeting between the nations in a Uefa tournament since 2007. The last match in football was a Euro 2000 qualifier in 1999.
“We have no special secrets,” said Ukraine captain Petro Shoturma. “But we are all together as a team. With our character and our spirit, we will try to win. The only principle for us is that this is a semi-final. This is the only thing important.”
The Netherlands is hosting the futsal tournament and extra security measures will be in place for the semi-final at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, where capacity has been limited to 1,250 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The winner will play either Spain or Portugal in the final on Sunday. Russia won the European futsal crown in 1999 while Ukraine has finished runners-up five times.
“It’s a special match because it’s a semi-final,” said Russian captain Sergey Abramov. “It doesn’t matter who we play … Maybe you want me to talk about political things but we are going to speak only about sports.”
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