Dramatic Finale: Where and How Ukrainian Women Won the First Gold in Futsal History

The Ukrainian girls' futsal national team became champions of the IV Summer Youth Olympic Games, which are taking place in Dakar (Senegal). In a tense final, the Ukrainian women defeated the Venezuelan team 4:3, scoring the decisive goal in extra time. This is Ukraine's first-ever Youth Olympic Games gold in futsal. This is reported by reports the outlet sport.ua.

The final match took place on November 11. The Ukrainian women opened the scoring thanks to a goal by Margarita Ruchka. However, the opponents equalized before the break — 1:1.

At the start of the second half, Margarita Ruchka scored a brace and once again put Ukraine ahead. Later, Venezuela equalized, but in the 36th minute Yeva Shchavinska scored the third goal for the Ukrainian team.

When it seemed that victory was near, the opponents managed to equalize 20 seconds before the end of regular time. So the fate of the gold medals was decided in overtime.

The winning goal was scored by Adelina Vlasenko — in the end, 4:3 in favor of Ukraine.

How the Ukrainian Women Reached the Final

In the group stage, the Ukrainian national team played in Group A. The team under the leadership of Oleksandr Zolotukhin began the tournament with a win over Venezuela — 5:4 in overtime. Later, the Ukrainian women beat Fiji (5:1) and Senegal (7:2).

The national team earned eight points and finished first in the group, which secured its advancement to the semifinal. There, the Ukrainian women defeated Italy 3:1. Venezuela, in turn, beat Iran (3:2) and also advanced to the final.

Roster of the Ukrainian National Team

The team roster included Adelina Vlasenko, Alina Hordiienko, Kira Hulenko, Elina Zavhorodnia, Angelina Zaporozhets, Margarita Ruchka, Polina Serykh, Oksana Shevchuk, Yeva Shchavinska, and Valeriia Yukhnovets. The team captain was Oksana Shevchuk.

This is the debut participation of the Ukrainian girls' futsal national team in the Youth Olympic Games. Futsal first appeared in the program of these competitions in 2018, but previously the Ukrainian team had not managed to qualify for the tournament.

At the Youth Olympics-2026, the Ukrainian national team currently has three gold medals to its credit (judoka Khazar Heydarov, hammer thrower Milaniia Kokhan, and the girls' futsal team), two silver (fencer Alina Dmytruk, racewalker Vitalii Tarasiuk), and three bronze awards (racewalker Daryna Kozka, wrestler Mykyta Kuzmenko, boxer Yevanhelina Petruk).

As a reminder, earlier a 17-year-old from Lviv became the vice-champion of the Youth Olympic Games. For more details about her achievements read in the article.