Exclusive: Ukraine’s Natiia Pantsulaia on how football has been impacted by and adapted to war | OneFootball

For the third year in a row, Ukrainian football competitions are taking place amid the full-scale war. Despite a myriad of severe challenges, women’s football in Ukraine is gaining popularity and bringing some sense of normality amid the daily tragedies in Ukraine. Before each match, the players take to the field with Ukrainian flags, honouring the memory of the fallen heroes at the front with a minute of silence, thanks to whom football is alive in the country.

In this exclusive interview, Natiia Pantsulaia — one of the biggest stars of Ukrainian football — discusses the peculiarities of preparing and holding Ukrainian women’s team matches, the various challenges faced by the players under martial law, and gender equality in football.

Pantsulaia also discussed whether women’s football in Ukraine is actually becoming one of the most effective tools of sports diplomacy and soft power that unites the nation in the face of the full-scale invasion.

The journey to 150 Ukrainian Premier League matches

Recently, you crossed the figure of 150 matches played in the Ukrainian Premier League and 50 matches for FC Metalist 1925. What are your emotions?

I take it calmly. I wouldn’t have counted them if the club hadn’t informed me. I’m more interested in team achievements. They are engraved in memory for life.

Tell us about your path to top-flight football. What was the key moment in your career? What achievements do you set for yourself in the future?

My story was banal. I lived in a village, on a street where most of the boys lived and they played football, and it became my sport. And so, it was all step-by-step. The key moment was probably the period of my childhood when my father took me to his matches. He played right-back. It wasn’t at the professional level, but in our village, we loved to get together and play football. He was a fierce player and somehow I liked it.

I don’t think much about the future; we move from game to game. As for the club, of course, the coach has set us the task of winning the Ukrainian Cup and the Championship. I share his wishes.

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Challenges for young female football players in Ukraine

What challenges do young female football players in Ukraine now face to make their way to big-time football in the face of the full-scale invasion?

I think there were such problems even before the war — development, academies, children’s schools for girls. They exist for boys, I don’t know in what condition, but they exist. A player should be already developed at the age of 15 for the national teams, like U15, then U17 and so on, instead of getting into football only at 15.

About gender equality, sexism in women’s football and salaries. A report by the World Economic Forum states that full achievement of gender equality at the global level is expected in 134 years.

Recently, four players in the Argentine national women’s team refused to participate in international competitions due to ‘humiliating’ pay and poor training conditions. At Italian club Pomigliano, the players are not compensated for treatment, are not paid according to the contract, do not undergo medical examinations, and some players face harassment from men in the club. What is the situation in Ukrainian football?

In terms of non-payment for medical examinations, for example, treatment of injuries, this is already changing for the better because it almost does not happen anymore. Perhaps in clubs that do not have sponsors and proper funding, this still occurs, but in general, clubs are responsible for all this. Salaries are a rather tough issue.

I can tell you a lot of unpleasant stories from my own experience and not only that, but in recent years everything has improved. It’s sad that girls don’t get much, and that’s a fact, but not all clubs can be blamed for that.

As for harassment, I can’t say that it was so evident in my time when I started playing professional football. Although there were signs. But the world has changed and we don’t have that anymore. Everything has gone in the right direction. I haven’t heard about such cases for a long time. We have changed in this respect.

Investing in Ukrainian women’s football during wartime

Will there ever be salaries in women’s football at the level of men?

This is a very deep question. Perhaps some country will take on this responsibility. Football is a business, all the same. And it has to generate income. It will generate income only when women’s football itself reaches such a level when many people will watch it, both on TV and live. This will happen not only with the proper work of the clubs of the Ukrainian Football Association, but also with qualified coaches.

Are you satisfied with the investment in Ukrainian women’s football during the war?

If you take our club, where I play now, yes. We are treated there — and I feel it, not just say it — with great respect. You can see their work, how they treat us. It’s primarily about funding and conditions. I can say that I am 100 percent satisfied with my club Metalist 1925.

Let’s get back to the issue of gender equality. Recently, the first female referee from Albania, Emanuela Rusta, deleted her Instagram account because of sexism against her. According to her, refereeing is not a matter of gender but a matter of competence. Are there similar problems in Ukrainian football? How can we fight this in Ukraine and internationally?

The fact that she deleted the account was her choice. She could have kept it and fought, she could have abstracted from it, she could have continued to do her job. She made her choice — she can be understood, in principle. In Ukrainian football, I think such signs are manifested. If a match is refereed by a girl or a woman, and then there are comments of a different nature and you can read it under the post, then yes, there is such a thing. I think it is difficult to change this. This is a whole process of education since childhood. It just doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, you have to be well-mannered, remain human and respect the choices of others. I don’t think it’s a simple task.

Ukraine women’s national team

Can you tell us about the international social project ‘TARGET’ (promoting gender equality among young football players), to which the UAF has joined? How do you support such a project? What is its value for young football players?

It’s really nice that such projects are being created. It’s really good. Especially for children, because they are educated there so that they carry the right concepts later. I think this is the right thing to do and we need to develop and move forward in this regard.

Building confidence on the international stage

In June, the national women’s team of Ukraine played its matches in the Euro 2025 qualifying tournament against Wales. Many Ukrainian fans came to Llanelli Stadium to support our team. Despite the ratings and forecasts, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. And the second leg ended in a 2-2 draw. Share your impressions and emotions from this match.

Surely, every match, especially in the national team, with all due respect to the clubs, the national team is the national team — it always comes first, it’s very important. This is my purely subjective opinion. Emotions in the national team are always overwhelming. It seems to me that when we drew 1-1, we realised what we could do.

Our second game was proof of this, because the two goals they scored were purely our team mistakes. But we managed to fix everything and get a positive result. These were incredible matches when you play against an opponent who is considered to be higher in the class, but when you take to the field, you realise that everything works out, that everything is possible. When the whistle blows and the game starts, there are no equal classes, but only confidence, experience, and perhaps character. Desire also comes first.

About the meeting of the national women’s team of Ukraine with the Ukrainian diaspora and IDPs in Wales, who are uniting around the world to help Ukraine.

We used to have such meetings in Poland. Now, at this time, the meetings are different from those before Russia’s full-scale invasion. Now, everything is especially warm and you can feel this connection, that we are like family. Although we meet in a different country, we are as one, like a family.

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Gratitude and resilience amid wartime challenges

Any chance of seeing the national team’s training camp and matches in Ukraine?

I don’t think so.

How do logistical problems affect your fitness? Because of the war, traveling takes a lot of time, and the national team’s training camps happen abroad. Does this affect the team’s results, in your opinion?

There are lots of nuances. The road is usually difficult for us, and that’s understandable. Moreover, if we played a game in the Championship and we leave the next day, it’s very difficult. You should be recovering, but you spend time on the bus, where there is no recovery at all. It’s uncomfortable, and we spend a day or two in the national team to fully recover. The staff in our national team is well aware of this, so the first training sessions are focused on tactics: to remember everything and get into the rhythm.

Is it emotionally difficult to play during regular blackouts as a result of Russian shelling?

No, you have to understand this. When you see that there is a war in your country, and you have no electricity for several hours or even ten hours, and you can’t take a shower after a training session, this is not the worst thing today.

It’s something you have to adapt to, be patient and just be grateful that you’re not somewhere in a hot spot. It’s real hell out there, and not having electricity for a few hours is nothing compared to that.

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How emotional stress and external factors impact play

How are the preparations for the matches of FC Metalist 1925 held in Shchaslyve village, the Kyiv region? Is it difficult to mentally tune in to the game, especially during away matches in Poltava and Kryvyi Rih? And against the backdrop of regular alarms in the capital due to drone/ballistic attacks and power outages? Your team’s match against FC Shakhtar was postponed due to an air raid alert that lasted more than 10 hours.

It’s hard for all the girls, there are different cases. You warm up, your body is prepared for the main work on the field, and then the air raid alert sounds and you can sit for 2-3 hours and then prepare your body again and it’s all wrong because there is less time to prepare. Furthermore, we are all athletes and eat differently.

For example, someone eats three hours before the game, someone later or earlier. And this time is difficult to predict because air raid alerts last differently. The nuances are different, but this is not the worst thing. There are emotional girls who can’t pull themselves together afterward because they heard an explosion nearby. It all has an impact, but unfortunately, these are the realities today. We have to live with it.

Addressing mental health support in football in Ukraine

When it comes to mental health in women’s football, especially in times of war, football experts abroad actively discuss it. For example, Scottish specialist Brian Graham noted that ‘we cannot afford to ignore the impact of mental health on football.’ What do you think is the situation with this in football in Ukraine, and what would you do to improve it?

How do you take care of your mental health amid war?

Honestly, this is a difficult question for me. I think everyone has been affected by the war in their own way. I don’t know how others cope with it, but I have clearly realised that life is the most valuable thing we have. Therefore, you should live your life in pleasure. Every day, when I wake up, I keep a positive attitude. There are so many good and interesting things around, and it’s not about things. I celebrate the little things, especially when I wake up and the sun is shining outside the window — I will walk around smiling all day. Of course, bad news affects me, sometimes I get overwhelmed.

I don’t know how to improve the mental health of our players today. This is all an individual concept. I think the most effective way would be if we heard the news that our terrorist neighbour had disappeared from the world map.

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Overcoming obstacles in the Ukrainian football landscape

What are your expectations from the Innovative Project for the Development of Female Athletes, presented at the Football House by Anastasiia Klympachenko? Your club will actively participate in this project.

The idea is interesting. If it works, why not? It’s always worth a try.

Adaptive sports are now actively developing in Ukraine during wartime. For example, Odesa has introduced a system of adaptive sports such as kayaking, diving and hoeing. There was also a wheelchair basketball tournament called the Black Sea Cup. What is your attitude to such initiatives, and do you plan to participate in such programmes for veterans as a coach?

It’s very cool. I don’t know if I would participate in such programmes for veterans as a coach, I think you must learn how to do it first and then think about it. It’s not easy. I would be interested in watching and cheering for a start. These people deserve much more than we give them. I support such socially useful initiatives.

What are the current problems in women’s football in Ukraine? And what needs to happen to make improvements despite all the challenges?

The main problem is the war. We need to build/create children’s schools and academies because children start their sports career at the age of six. Maybe at the age of five, if they want to. Then there will be no recruitment, but selection of the best. And then there will be a level, because we will recruit the best. But it all depends on funding. To get something, you have to invest.

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FC Metalist 1925: Championing charity and community engagement

Your club, FC Metalist 1925, actively engages in charity work. Could you tell us more about the meeting with teenagers (participants of the intensive ‘I succeeded’ and ‘Do-gooders Club’) during the summer training camp?

I am proud of these people who work in my club. It’s cool what they do. I don’t know who else can boast about this, it’s interesting that they do useful work without getting anything in return. As for the meetings, the ‘Club of Do-gooders’ is interesting, I didn’t know it existed. There was nothing like it in my generation. They are cool, young and study various issues of the day. They are very smart for their age. It was cool to listen to how they think and work, we talked and received a lot of positive information. They from us, we from them. It was an awesome day.

How did the meeting between FC Metalist 1925 and public figures Serhii Prytula and Olga Harlan, six-time Olympic medallist and champion of the Beijing and Paris Olympics, go? What was the purpose of this meeting, and what were its results?

The goal is always the same. The club’s management does not boast that they are involved with charity. The goal of our club is to set an example so that more people take part in it, take an interest, and help more. It’s important to involve famous people because that’s how it usually works. They came, we met. To my pleasant surprise, Olga Harlan is a very humble person, easy to talk to, shy. An athlete of this level, with this kind of soul, is worth a lot. Serhii Prytula was joking, he was cheerful, positive, and awesome.

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Reflecting on Canada Olympic drone scandal

FIFA stripped the Canadian women’s national team of six points during the 2024 Olympic football standings following the spy drone scandal. What is your attitude to a similar situation in women’s football? Are there any such cases in the Ukrainian championship?

If we talk about our championship, I have not heard any stories — this is not allowed. If we talk about the national team, I remember that some representatives of other national teams were present at the stadium where we were training. They were filming the pre-match training. Our team asked them to leave the stadium. But flying drones to spy is a very strange case.

Are there more opportunities for girls now than there were when you started your career in professional football?

Definitely, yes. But there is still room for improvement.

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Finding positivity through football in challenging times

Football life in Ukraine goes on. Do you think that in such severe times, football is an important tool of democracy that unites Ukrainians and helps to raise morale? Is football appropriate now in the third year of the war?

Many professions are relevant because people need to get on with their lives. It is very difficult to live in depression. You can go crazy. Like football players, we do our own thing, we can switch off. In a world of negativity, we have the opportunity to find a piece of positive. It’s good that in times of war, there is football, people have jobs. Of course, we don’t have that many fans. But they are there, and they get a dose of emotions. I don’t want to talk about the level of football growth during the war because it shouldn’t be like this. There should be no war.

Does women’s football in Ukraine have a chance to achieve the world level in the face of the full-scale invasion?

I don’t want to think about development during the full-scale war. The war must not exist. When it is over, then we will talk. Reaching a high level means fruitful work and more than one year in the structure. This is all possible without war.

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The transformative potential of football

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic unfurled a scarf with the flags of Serbia and Russia at a League of Nations football match. Former Ukrainian footballer Tymoshchuk donated his shirt to a Russian auction to help the Kursk region. What is your attitude to this?

The flag can be shoved in one fine place. Tymoshchuk does not exist for me. He can do what he wants in the aggressor country. He no longer exists for us as a figure or a person.

Do you believe in the power of women’s football as an effective tool for sports diplomacy?

I don’t know anything about diplomacy. I just believe in football. It can change a lot. The power is in unity. Football is a team sport. Football can change a lot of things. If it works properly, if there is proper football education.

What successful story can you share about when women’s football in Ukraine played a positive role in your life and the life of our country?

Football is my whole life, because I have been in it all my life. It’s all about good things. Now it’s hard for me to say whether it has helped Ukraine. I think so, if we take clubs separately. We do what makes us happy. At least for a few hours a day. And it gives positive emotions to people.

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The path forward for Ukraine women’s football

About the League of Nations. In Division B, our national team will play against Croatia, Albania and the Czech Republic. How do you assess the opponents and the chances of promotion?

Now all the teams are strong and at a good level. World football is developing, and our past matches are proof of that. The men’s national teams are also proof of this. Some were outsiders — now they play on the same level as the top teams. Or they can even win. This also applies to women’s football. We have good teams in our group. The matches will not be easy, but we are not going to give up. In our group, we can prove ourselves and test what we are capable of.

UEFA is pledging €1 billion (£826m) in a six-year plan to develop women’s football. What are your expectations from this strategy?

We need to compare past investments with the future ones. If these funds are directed in the right direction, and they reach the right people who are football fans and use the money correctly, then we will see development.

I would direct this money to the initial phase. I don’t see anything formed without a foundation. We need to invest in young people and in children to get results over time. In the meantime, we need to correct any mistakes and correct them in a swift manner.

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What are your wishes to the fans?

Just love this sport. To those who watch and cheer, thank you. For those who don’t know about women’s football, just try to watch our game once on TV or live if you have the opportunity at the club level and beyond. And enjoy the game. This is sincere football, and there is little falsehood in it.

Christine Karelska prepared and recorded this interview in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 18th, 2024.

Karelska is a graduate of the College of Europe, the European Academy of Diplomacy in Warsaw and the Estonian School of Diplomacy. She produced this piece during her fellowship with the Odesa Regional State Administration’s Department of International Cooperation and Protocol, supported by Democracy Reporting International.

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