The Ukrainian national team has announced its final squad for the Men's European Volleyball Championship, where they are one of Bulgaria's opponents in Group B in Sofia.
Head coach Raul Lozano will rely on 14 volleyball players. The final roster was provided by the Ukrainian coaching staff to Suspilne Sport.
Compared to the extended squad of 18 players, four were dropped just before EuroVolley 2026. These are setter Vitaliy Shchitkov, opposite Oleksandr Boyko, middle blocker Andriy Chelenyak, and outside hitter Oleksandr Nalozhnyi.
Interestingly, the final roster includes another volleyball player with the same name – Oleksandr Boyko, who is a libero. He recovered from a knee injury and replaced his younger brother Yevhen Boyko in the squad during preparation.
Ukraine's squad for EuroVolley 2026:
Setters:Yurii Synytsia, Serhii Yevstratov
Opposites:Vasyl Tupchii, Maksym Tonkonoh
Outside Hitters:Oleh Plotnytskyi, Dmytro Yanchuk, Yevhen Kisiliuk, Tymofii Poluian
Middle Blockers:Yurii Semeniuk, Vladyslav Shchurov, Maksym Drozd, Denys Veletskyi
Liberos:Yaroslav Pampushko, Oleksandr Boyko
Among the major absentees is Illia Kovalov. One of Ukraine's key outside hitters will miss EuroVolley 2026 due to health problems. Kovalov was part of the Ukrainian team that reached the quarterfinals of the European Championship in 2023.
However, Tymofii Poluian is in the squad. When the extended group was announced in August, he was still recovering from hand surgery and training on an individual program.
Ukraine concluded its preparation for EuroVolley with three friendly matches in Estonia. Raul Lozano's team recorded two wins and one loss, with the only defeat coming in the last test match against host Estonia with a score of 2:3 (25:20, 25:20, 35:37, 25:27, 13:15).
The Ukrainians begin their participation in Group B on September 10 at 7:00 PM against Israel in "Arena 8888 Sofia". On September 11 at 4:00 PM, they play against North Macedonia, and a day later comes the clash with Bulgaria. After a rest day on September 13, Ukraine faces Portugal on September 14 at 4:00 PM, and concludes the group stage against Poland on September 15 at 7:00 PM.
Bulgaria and Ukraine will face each other on September 12 at 7:00 PM in "Arena 8888 Sofia".
photo: Nikolay Varadinov
