Natalia Zinchenko on what Vorskla Poltava has been through to set up Roma clash
Like every team in Ukraine, champions Vorskla have been affected by the ongoing war with Russia. Now, they're in the Champions League qualifiers...
“Unfortunately, we are already used to these realities,” says Natalia Zinchencko, head coach of Ukrainian champions Vorskla Poltava.
Zinchenko, former national team player and national team head coach, is in Italy, tasked with taking Vorskla to the group stage of the Champions League, but an almost impossible task stands in her and her team’s way in the shape of Serie A champions AS Roma.
But the reality is even to be here is an achievement. Vorskla, like every other team in Ukraine has been battling for normality against the backdrop of the ongoing war with Russia, and football for a time was very much on the back-burner.
The ‘realities’ Zinchencko refers to include the league restarting, but with special protocols such as games only being played in dedicated stadiums with air raid shelters, so that players, staff and officials can be safe should air raid sirens sound during a match.
“It’s scary when rockets fly and children and people die. It’s impossible to get used to it…”
It happens often too, and games have been seen to take several hours to complete due to lengthy stoppages. European games cannot yet be played in the country, with next week’s second leg also being played in Rome.
As if Vorskla’s task wasn’t tough enough as it is.
The national team have been playing games in nearby Poland, and as much as it would be incredible to see any Ukrainian team reach the group stage, it’s a miracle at all they’ve been able to conquer what they have.
“Letters, worries…it’s not scary anymore,” admits Zinchenko, who took over the team in 2021 after leaving her role as Ukraine head coach. “It’s scary when rockets fly and children and people die. It’s impossible to get used to it.
“It was not difficult to prepare the girls, they understood everything and fulfilled all the requirements that we proposed to them,” she adds, on trying to return to a normal schedule with the war still raging.
It’s just over 18 months since Russia started invading Ukraine, with Poltava situated near the east of the country, close to the border and the area where the Russians began to try to take over cities in the eastern side to get towards the capital Kyiv.
One of the early targets was the major north-eastern city of Kharkiv, where the team happened to be when the war began.
“Like everyone at that time, we woke up to explosions in the city,” recalls Zinchenko. “There was not enough time to gather and go, because we had young players and they had nowhere to run, I had no right to leave them.
“I took them in the car and drove west, where at that moment it was more or less safe. On this day, everyone rallied and helped each other. Oleksiy Shalaev gave us shelter for two weeks at the base of his team in Horishni Plavnyi, Poltava Oblast.
“After that, I went further with the girls to Lyiv Oblast, where we were hosted by the family one of our players. We sent the girls to go and play in Hungary and I stayed with them until the end of the summer, for which I am very grateful. I stayed in the country, believing until the end that our team would survive and we would continue to perform.”
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So much of Zinchenko’s playing career was spent in Russia, with the national enjoying a brief honeymoon period in the women’s game, and shortly after joining Zvezda Perm the now 44-year-old found herself playing in the 2008-09 UEFA European Cup final.
When she retired in 2010 after winning seven Russian league titles and two cups, she became the head coach of Zvezda, but now firmly back in Ukraine, she describes the nation she represented and coached the national team as “more than the motherland” to her.
“I can’t explain in words! I am proud and happy that I played and then coached the national team. And now, for many years, I have been working with the girls and trying to do everything so that everything is better for them than it was for me.
“I am grateful to everyone who returned to our country during the war and continues to help develop women’s football.”
Continuing to develop women’s football is more important than ever, and it’s easy to forget while the domestic game is yet to really make waves in Europe, the UAF had been backing women’s football significantly until the onset of the war.
They’d made an incredibly ambitious appointment to replace Zinchenko in Barcelona’s treble-winning coach Lluis Cortés, and had a firm bid in to host Euro 2025, before the war ensured they had to pull out of the running.
They’ve also now lost Cortés, and while it means a bit of a reset for their longer-term plans to strengthen the national team and get the team into a major tournament, Zinchenko believes things are still heading in the right direction.
“Believe me, Ukraine is still in good condition,” she says. “There are many qualified specialists in Ukraine, who have supported our football for many years.
“We have one problem, we need to organize more children's schools, sections, academies. Yes, it will take time, but without this it will be difficult for us to compete with the top teams of Europe and the world. I hope that our team will get to the Euros sooner than we will host it. And we will accept it - we will definitely accept it, but we must remove the enemy from our country!”
In a sad way, she accepts things are as they are for the time being, and they are used to waking up every day knowing what will dominate the headlines.
But football in particular has been a saving grace for many, and the decision to restart the leagues so soon after the war began was to send a message to the world people wouldn’t stop living their lives, and fight back against what is happening to them.
“You are right, every morning starts with the news for the last year and a half. It is especially difficult when I am away in another country and my relatives are not safe. I think it is much more difficult for me than for them.”
The sacrifices have been worth it for moments like this though, as Vorskla prepare to take on the champions of Italy in Rome.
Roma stunned the likes of Juventus last season with a stylish brand of football and never looked likely to be caught by the chasing pack, and Zinchenko is well aware of the challenge which faces her side, but also knows they have absolutely nothing to lose.
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“It will be very interesting for me and our team to play against a team like Roma. We have not met teams of this level yet, so let's see what we are capable of and in what aspects we should have to add to get there.
“To reach the group stage may even be a dream for many. It will be a great achievement for the team, for the country. We are now playing for our country, our people and the Armed Forces. Many warriors are watching our team and will be very happy if everything works out.”
As she ends, Zinchenko issues a rallying cry to those fighting for her country, those fighting to make sure her staff and players can carry on as normal, and she is well aware of the sacrifices so many have made for the sake of the country.
“We will do our best to make our Ukraine and women’s football flourish. To our soldiers of the Armed Forces, come back alive, we are waiting for you.”