The match Ukraine – Romania began with a moment of silence despite UEFA's ban.

UEFA refused to hold a moment of silence before the Euro-2026 qualifying futsal match between Ukraine and Romania. Instead, our representatives agreed to hold this moment during the match itself.

According to the report from sports commentator Serhii Lukyanenko, UEFA did not agree to our Association's request for a moment of silence before the game. This also occurred before the match against Cyprus.

However, the Romanian team agreed to observe a moment of silence after the kickoff from the center of the field. This was done to honor the memory of the fallen Ukrainians.

"Because UEFA may call it politics, pretend reality doesn’t exist, but on the other side of the court, we met People. They were not obliged to us, but they showed respect to Ukraine and together honored the memory of our compatriots," Lukyanenko noted.

It is noted that the Romanian national team, despite losing in this match, managed to advance to the playoffs in parallel matches.

The Ukrainian national team qualified for the final tournament of Euro-2026 futsal after a victory over the Cyprus team with a score of 11:1. The tournament will take place from January 20 to February 7 on the fields of Riga and Kaunas.

In the final match of group 1, the Ukrainians met Romania. The game began with a moment of silence in memory of the victims of terrorist attacks.

The first half was evenly contested, and only in the 15th minute did the Romanians score a goal, but soon the Ukrainian team equalized. After the break, the Ukrainians managed to score two more goals and won the match with a score of 3:1.

The goals were scored by Farenyuk, Shved, and Semenchenko, while the Romanian goal was scored by Manya.

Ukraine - Romania - 3:1 (1:1)

Goals: Farenyuk (16), Shved (25), Semenchenko (31) - Manya (15).

Analysis

UEFA's decision to ban conducting a moment of silence before national team matches has become a topic of discussion. This prompted our Association to directly address the Romanians and agree to hold this event during the game. This shows how important it is for us to honor the memory of the fallen and assert our readiness to uphold such values.