In the coming days, the blue-yellows will compete against France, Slovenia and Latvia for the only ticket to the 2026 Olympics
Head coach Ukrainian national hockey team Dmitry Khristich shared his expectations for his team’s upcoming final round 2026 Olympic Games qualifications.
“We have no illusions, we know who we’ll be playing against. We know that they’re stronger, faster, but our game is more important to us. Playing against such opponents at that tournament [олимпийской преквалификации] — not only him, but the whole season was on the plus side for our hockey. We played not with weaker opponents, with the same Hungary, Poland, Italy, and looked good. We do not build illusions, we know that it will be difficult and we are preparing ourselves for this.”
“Who can we cling to for the result? 0:0 before the start [каждого] match. Of course, France, which has been in the top division for many years and is therefore stronger than Slovenia. Slovenia was there [в элите]came back, and is also higher than us in the ranking. Therefore, there will be no easy matches, we are preparing for all games. We know that we need to work on our game and not let them play the way [они хотят]”.
Let us recall that today the final application of the Ukrainian national hockey team was made public before the final matches of the Olympic qualification.
In the preliminary round of Olympic qualification, the blue-yellows defeated South Korea (4:0), beat the Polish team (3:2) in a shootout, and triumphed over Estonia (5:3).
In the final round, Khristić’s team will play France, Slovenia and Latvia. The matches will be held in Riga from August 29 to September 1. The winner of the quartet will receive a ticket to the 2026 Olympic Games.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
