FC “Kolos”: Results of 2021 for our teams

The year 2021 is coming to an end, and it's time to remember all the main events of this year for our club, where there were bright ups and downs.  We will note our main team, youth, women's and teams of our Academy.  But everything is subordinated!

Let's start with our main team.  "Kolos" started in 2021 on February 14 with a match of the 14th round of the UPL - at the stadium "Dynamo".  Valerii Lobanovskyi, Kovalivka's team drew 0-0 with "Shakhtar" Donetsk.  In the next round, "Kolos" won away "Lviv" 1-0, which confirmed their European Cup ambitions.

Another zero draw occurred in the main time of the quarterfinal match of the Cup of Ukraine 2020/2021 against "Dynamo" Kyiv.  Unfortunately, we lost in the penalty shootout, but for three weeks "Kolos" did not lose and did not miss a single goal from the greats of Ukrainian football - "Shakhtar" and "Dynamo".

In the spring of the UPL, Ruslan Kostyshyn's team did not lose a single match until the last round of the championship, and only when "Kolos" reached the Conference League ahead of schedule, the boys lost in the 26th round to "Dynamo" 0:3.  Nevertheless, Kovalivka's team finished in the championship on the historic fourth step, scoring 41 points (10 wins, 11 draws and 5 defeats).  The most important achievement - the second season in a row the team won a pass to the European Cups.

But in the European Cups we did not have enough time to prepare for the small off-season, and "Kolos" failed to pass Kazakhstan's "Shakhter".  Both in Kovalivka and Astana there were zeros on the scoreboard, and in the penalty shootout the Kazakhs were lucky - 3:1.

After this annoying departure from the European Cups, "Kolos" became turbulent.  Our team could not find their game, and the shock was a failed match in all senses against "Dynamo" Kyiv, which our team lost 0:7.  After that, our manager Ruslan Kostyshyn, who asked the leadership to resign, could not stand the nerves.  The resignation was accepted, and Ruslan Vladymyrovych remained in the structure of the club.

Serhii Kuznetsov, acting head coach of "Kolos", started with a 1:3 defeat at home to "Mariupol", but then there was a local success - a 1-0 away victory over "Inhulets".

In the next six matches there were five defeats (including relegation from the Cup of Ukraine from "Metalist" Kharkiv) and a 2:1 victory over "Chornomorets", and after a failure in the home game against "Lviv" (0:1) the club's management  decided to entrust the team to another assistant to Ruslan Kostyshyn - Yaroslav Vyshniak.  And this move worked - "Kolos" rallied and began to win.  Although "Shakhtar" lost 1:3 at first, Kovalivka's team under Vyshniak later won four and drew.

Yaroslav Vasyliovych was recognized as the best coach of the 17th round of the UPL, and already in the 18th round (final in 2021) "Kolos" gave Kovalivka an incredible solution in the game against "Minaj", winning a 2:1 victory in the last  minutes of regular time!

As a result, "Kolos" finished the first half of the VBET League season in eighth place in the standings, scoring 24 points (7 wins, 3 draws, 8 losses).  But we went to the winter break with great optimism and great hopes for the new 2022 year!

It is worth remembering our youth teams "Kolos" U-19 and U-21, which finished last season 2020/2021 in the spring in sixth and seventh place, respectively.  Oleksandr Pozdieiev's boys scored 39 points, and Vladyslav Savchuk's boys scored 40 points.

Unfortunately, the UPL has decided not to hold the backup championship, so in the 2021/2022 season only our youth team "Kolos" U-19 will play.  After the first round, Kovalivka's players  took tenth place in the standings, scoring 22 points (7 wins, one draw, 10 losses).

Our girls brought joy in 2021.  "Kolos" won the First League of the Ukrainian Championship last season and received a pass to the Premier League.

The start in the Premier League was not very successful for Kovalivka's players - three defeats in a row, but the girls of Lyudmyla Pokotylo found their game, won five victories in the next seven matches, and reached the TOP-6 of the championship.  Next year, the "Kolos" women’s team will compete with the five strongest teams in Ukraine in the TOP-6 of the Premier League!  In addition, the girls made it to the quarterfinals of the Cup of Ukraine, and this stage will take place in the spring of 2022.

We will also note the teams of our Academy that take part in the championships of the Children's and Youth Football League of Ukraine (CYFLU) in four age categories.  In the season 2021/2022 Kovalivka's teams give just phenomenal results.
 The U-17, U-16 and U-14 teams finished the first half of the season in first place in their standings.  Moreover, seventeen-year-old Kovalivka's players  (coach - Andrii Kostenko) lost only once, sixteen-year-olds (coach - Oleksandr Demchuk) did not lose once (ten wins and one draw), but fourteen-year-olds (coach - Oleh Davydenko) generally won 11%.  in eleven fights!  Only our team "Kolos" U-15 (coach - Volodymyr Dalekyi) is still in sixth place, but the overall pleasant picture in CYFLU for our teams will not spoil.  Andrii Kostenko, Director of the FC "Kolos" Academy, is sure that we are on the right track!

It should be noted that this year Kovalivka also hosted international matches - the national team of Ukraine U-21 held a qualifying match of the Qualifying Tournament for Euro-2023 (U-21) against Armenia (2:1) at our Kolos Stadium;  and the women's national team of Ukraine played qualifying matches for the 2023 World Cup against the Faroe Islands (4:0) and Spain (0:6), as well as the playoff match for the 2022 European Championship against the team of Northern Ireland (1:2).

This was the year 2021 for our club, and we are looking forward to the New Year.  Congratulations to all our fans on the upcoming holidays, and thank you for supporting our teams this year.  See you at football in 2022!