Rotan: We recruit players from clubs to play with dignity in the Olympics

In the first Olympics in its history, the Ukrainian national football team will not be represented by the strongest squad. The head coach of the team, Ruslan Rotan, said this in an interview with Footboom.

According to the specialist, even the Ukrainian clubs do not want to let their top players go to the games in Paris, citing the absence of the tournament in the official FIFA calendar.

“At the moment, quite difficult negotiations are underway with the clubs. There are answers about some players from foreign clubs – most of them are not allowed to go to the Olympics. We wrote letters to the Ukrainian clubs, but not yet we also receive official answers. I regularly talk with coaches and directors … But, unfortunately, I can say that I do not see a particular desire from most of the club representatives to help the Olympic team – the Olympics do not take place on the date of FIFA let’s not forget what time we live and play. Let’s remember that the interests of the state must also be taken into account.

We always respect the interests of the clubs and meet them halfway. A recent example is the last tournament. We had an agreement with the head coach Dynamo Alexander Shovkovsky that we will release the players of his team after the third match. We kept our word, despite the loss of some personnel. Similar situations existed before, but now we have a slightly different story.

Now we must understand how important it is Dynamo enter the main round of the Champions League. We are very concerned about the prestige of the capital club, about its financial interests, so, perhaps, we will not be able to ask the “core” players to participate in the Olympics. But in any case, if we can’t find a compromise even about the reserve performers of Dynamo and their newcomers, then it will be very difficult for me and, perhaps, for the fans to understand.

I expect that the people of Kiev will definitely release two players. It will be a sporting trick. After all, this will give them the right to postpone the matches of at least the 1st round of the UPL in order to better prepare for the European Cup matches. But we want to get more players from the capital club.

u Shakhtar I don’t see any compelling reason not to release Olympic players from a club that will begin European competition in the fall. Especially when we are talking about a club that does so much for the country outside the football field and always emphasizes its patriotism.

Don’t get me wrong – we have enough good players, we believe in them, we believe in the work we do. But we are very worried that the dream of a whole generation of football players is being killed before our eyes. And the fans. A year ago, we not only went to the Youth Euro, but got into the quartet of the best teams on the continent and, for the first time in the history of our country, won the right to play in the Olympics. Now we just grab each of them from the clubs to adequately represent the country. Every day, the coaches of the Olympic team receive phone calls and letters from football players. They expect good news, but we have nothing to answer yet – the clubs do not give official confirmation. And on July 2, we have to send an official application to participate in Ukraine’s first Olympic football tournament,” said Rotan.

We remind you that earlier the Ukrainian Olympic team became a successful international tournament in France.