Stepanovsky: I try to visit our players in clubs, to see how they play live

Head coach Ukrainian national basketball team Vitaly Stepanovsky spoke about preparations for qualifying matches EuroBasket 2025 against Slovenia And Portugalwhich will take place at the end of February.

“I now have a lot of time that I can devote to the national team. I look at players individually, look at their matches. I have more time after I terminated the contract with Craiova, and not vice versa, as some media wrote.”

“That’s why I try to visit our players in clubs and watch them play live. Now I’m in Santiago de Compostela, where Artem Pustovoy and Alexander Kovlyar will play their match for Obradoiro on Sunday. I was at their training session, we talked, I’ll watch their game, and then, perhaps, I’ll go see other guys, in particular, Andrei Voynalovich in Poland.”

“My assistants are involved in scouting, in particular individual scouting, which is very important. After all, for Slovenia we will only have videos of their matches from the World Cup. It is very important to adhere to our rules in defense and attack. Of course, there won’t be much time, but it’s important for me that the guys who come to the national team are ready physically and get playing time and practice in their clubs.”

“The specifics of preparing for national team matches during the club season are due to the lack of time. There was a lot of time in the summer, we could have planned and worked out more, and done a lot of analysis. Now we will have evening training on February 17, and on the 20th we will fly to Slovenia. Therefore, before leaving we will have only three training sessions. With the exception of a few players, there will be a lot of guys who were in the team in the summer, so it will be a little easier in that regard, there will be a little bit of updating and refreshing to do.”

From spring 2022 to January 2024, Stepanovsky headed the Romanian Craiova, which included Ukrainian national team players Vitaly Zotov and Pavel Krutous. Since April 2023, the specialist has combined this post with the position of head coach of the Ukrainian national team.

The blue-yellows will begin preparations for the matches on February 17 in Riga, and on February 20 they will go to Slovenia, where they will play the first qualifying match. The team’s extended roster included 16 players.

Stepanovsky’s team will open the qualifying tournament with a match against Slovenia on February 22. The blue-and-yellows will then play Portugal on February 25th. Nominally, the “home” match for Ukraine will take place in Riga. The third opponent of the Ukrainians in Group A is Israel.

European Championship qualification will take place during three windows: 19-27 February 2024, 18-26 November 2024 and 17-25 February 2025. Each team will play two games in each window. To qualify for the EuroBasket finals, the Ukrainian national team must take one of the first three places in the group.