On April 22, it was announced that Serhiy Rebrov had stepped down as head coach of the Ukrainian national team. Under his leadership, the team played 34 matches, securing 16 wins, suffering 10 defeats, and drawing 8 times. Ukraine failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
“In my opinion, the head of our national team should be a Ukrainian. But no matter how much we discuss various candidates, it all comes down to our players. I am shocked by the matches of the Ukrainian national team that I have seen. There was no speed, no passing, no dribbling. Take the March game against Sweden, for example. It was played monotonously, without any spark. Ponomarenko scored a goal, but it was at the very end. What kind of football is that? And this in a match of such importance, where we should have gone all out, burst into the opponent’s box, and attacked.
But to do all this effectively, you need a team of true professionals. A team of like-minded individuals united by one goal—to earn the right to overcome the first barrier on the road to the World Cup finals. Like my teammates at Dynamo Kyiv in the mid-80s. Pick anyone from that lineup—they were machines. I don’t even know who was better. At any rate, the middle line of Dynamo at that time was one of the best in the world, believe me. Those are not empty words. Each of us had excellent qualities—both physical and technical.
They were guys with such character that they could ‘tear apart’ any opponent. Up front, we had two strikers with high speed and the ability to finish attacks. We used pressing and gave maximum effort. I could talk about this for a long time. That’s why I’m concerned about finding worthy footballers for the national team—players who can show meaningful football and prove they belong in the national team. But what we see now is that some players run around the field, jump, and skip—but there’s no one to single out,” Belanov said, as quoted by Ukrainian media.