For the first time, a Rubin pupil will play at the European Futsal Championship

Rubin player Nikita Khromykh in the Armenian national team

Six national teams from the former Soviet Union will start at the tournament, and in this regard, futsal has proven to be the most successful sport. These are the teams of the hosts — Latvia and Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, and two representatives from the Transcaucasus: Georgia and Armenia. It is the Armenian national team that will feature Rubin воспитанник Nikita Khromykh, a graduate born in 1995. This is the generation of Alexey Kurzenev and Elmir Nabiullin, but unlike them, Khromykh chose futsal, having managed to play for the professional team «Yadran» from Kazan. Here is what Denis Korchagin, the sports director of «Yadran», recalled about him in «Real Time»:

— Initially, we had a team of friends called «Olimpik». After reformatting it and getting a sponsor, we won the second league championship of Kazan called «Olimpik-Likada». Then we won the first league called «Likada». It was then, at the debut in the top league, that Nikita Khromykh joined us. His teammates from the Rubin sports school played with us, there was a coach, and a training process. Khromykh's strengths: he was athletic, had a shot with both feet, dealt with opponents in the centre of the field, was dangerous in attack, but needed to work on defence.

In the 2017/18 season, Nikita, then already a player of «Yadran», had an offer to join Moscow «Spartak». But Nikita played until the end of the season and until the end of «Yadran's» existence. He joined «Spartak», but then Moscow changed their priorities and withdrew from the Super League. And they were no longer interested in Nikita's transfer. He then moved to «BLiK» from Nefteyugansk (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area), which also did not last long. He played there only until the end of 2019. «BLiK» was led by coach Evgeny Osintsev, who had previously trained «Tyumen» for a long time. Nevertheless, this season was enough for Khromykh to get used to the Super League level, and then he played only at this level for «Dynamo» from Samara and «Torpedo» from Nizhny Novgorod (the conversation with Korchagin took place before Khromykh's transfer to the TZMS team from Tula — author's note).

Armenia is focused on ex-Russians

Even without Boyarkin, but with Khromykh, the Armenian national team resembles a version of the Russian national team. Korchagin mentioned Nevedrov and Sanosyan as the leaders of the Armenian national team. Sanosyan is a воспитанник of one of Russia's superclubs from past years — Moscow «Dina», and now plays for «Norilsk Nickel» from Norilsk. Nevedrov is from Yugorsk and now plays for FC «Tyumen». In addition to them, the team includes Arthur Melkonyan from Saratov, who played for LKS from Lipetsk, and now he will have to look for a new team since Lipetsk withdrew from the Russian Super League in December last year. Mikael Gandilyan from Irkutsk, who now plays for the local team «Avia-Aero». Arsen Petrosov from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, plays for «Torpedo» from Nizhny Novgorod.

A native of Yekaterinburg, Hamlet Manukyan, plays in the Armenian championship, as does 37-year-old Garegin Mashumyan, who played classical football, and his career includes appearances at the Champions League qualification level. He played in futsal for Moscow «Spartak». His teammate in the national team, Karen Khatuev, was born in Karachay-Cherkessia. 22-year-old Arseniy Petrosyan from the second squad of «Novaya Generatsiya» from Syktyvkar, 18-year-old Arthur Stepanyan from Tyumen «Fakel-YUKIOR». 26-year-old Tyumen воспитанник David Aslanyan finished playing in the fall of 2022. Apparently, Mamikon Voskanyan, a native of Surgut, who has represented Armenia since 2019, has also retired.

Khromykh now plays for Tula TZMS from the top league, and his teammate Albert Agadzhanov will defend the gates of the Armenian national team. A native of Novorossiysk, he played futsal as an amateur while working as a customs management specialist at the Novorossiysk port. He was supposed to be promoted to head of the forwarding department at work, but he chose sports, becoming a goalkeeper in futsal. In the Armenian national team, he was initially at the level of the second goalkeeper, being the backup to the world's best goalkeeper in 2024, Luan Muller from Brazil. Muller took Armenian citizenship, as did Felipe Paradinski from Ukhta, Joao Guilherme from KPRF, and Julio Zanotti from «Norilsk Nickel». But they all lost the right to play for the Armenian national team, as, according to FIFA rules, foreign futsal players must play for at least 5 years in the country's championship before they can play for its national team.

Georgia is saturated with Brazilians

According to this rule, the composition of the Georgian national team has changed significantly. The current squad includes Chimba from the Yugra team «Gazprom-Yugra», his former partner Viliana Lourenço, former Samara «Dynamo» player Fernando Drasler, former KPRF player Simi Sayotti, and five other Brazilians (nine in total). However, former Spartak player from Shchelkovo Elisandro and a duo of Brazilians are not in the current squad.

The current Georgian national team includes Georgi Gavtadze from «Tyumen», Dzhano Kvaratskhelia from Yugra «Fakel», and the highly experienced goalkeeper Zviad Kupatadze, who is already 46 years old. Kupatadze's teammates at «Gazprom-Yugra» were Vyacheslav Moskalenko, who died in the special military operation in 2024, and Alexander Chernik, who became the head coach of the Belarusian national team. At the start of the Euro qualifiers, he still played for «Gazprom-Yugra», and now he is part of the team's administrative staff, gaining experience in amateur football.

By the way, in the Russian Super League, there is another goalkeeper of Georgian nationality, Zurab Kalmakhelidze, also from «Gazprom-Yugra». But he defends the gates of the Russian national team, coached by ethnic Georgian Besik Zoizde. Kupatadze's replacement in the Georgian national team, Tornike Bukiya, previously defended the gates of Moscow «Spartak».

The Georgians played at the European Championship for the first time in 2022 in the Netherlands. Then the Georgian-Brazilian team lost in the quarterfinals to the Russian national team, and they qualified for that European Championship from the same group. They outpaced the Armenian and French teams, with France later becoming a semifinalist at the 2024 World Cup, losing the bronze medal match to Ukraine. The Ukrainians, by the way, will play at this championship as the bronze medalists of the 2024 World Cup (they beat Venezuela in the quarterfinals) and semifinalists of the 2022 European Championship (they lost the bronze medal match to Russia after beating Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals).

The mentioned Kazakhstan, which fought for the bronze medal at the 2021 World Cup, knocked out the Portuguese, the current world and European champions, from the 2024 World Cup, but failed to qualify for the current tournament. The thing is that Kazakhstan has abandoned dual citizenship in the sports environment, which has hit bandy, water polo, ice hockey, and now futsal. Now there are only three ex-Brazilians left in the Kazakhstan national team, and they lost to Armenia in the group stage. In the away match, they lost 2–4 due to a hat-trick by Khromykh. And then they lost to Italy in the playoff matches on penalty shots. Alas, the Kazakhs lost to the Portuguese in the semifinals at the mentioned 2021 World Cup, and they could have achieved incredible success. Zhomart Tokaev, almost a namesake and namesake of the current President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhomart Tokaev, ex-Brazilians Leo Igita, Douglas from KPRF, and Tainan — all of them will watch the current championship on TV.

Belarusians are not banned by FIFA

The 2021 Futsal World Cup was attended by 24 teams. Europe was represented by Kazakhstan, Serbia, the Czech Republic, which did not qualify for the Euro, and Russia. The entire championship took place in Lithuania, and now their neighbours, the Latvians, have become the hosts.

Even two countries as hosts would be quite enough to host the European Championship, but now Slovenia has joined the two Baltic neighbours. The thing is that the Euro hosts are not ready to provide visas for the Belarusians. So Slovenia has been added as a host venue for the Belarusian national team, which will play three group stage matches there, along with the Slovenians, with whom they are in the same group. Moreover, teams from the fourth group will also play in Slovenia.

The Belarusians are not banned in the international football federation, and, for example, in beach football, they became fourth at the 2024 World Cup and second at the 2025 World Cup. In «miny», they have much fewer achievements, and this is only the second time in history that they have reached the final stage. Now we are waiting for Dmitry Shvedko from KPRF and the newcomer to the Novosibirsk «Sibiryak» Daniil Krivitsky in the squad. Kazan fans may remember him from the 2021 CIS Games final; that final was refereed by «Dynamo» player Dmitry Orlov, and Damir Zabirov, who now referees the Super League, was on the stopwatch. The Russian champions included Vladislav Musin-Pushkin from Ukhta. The 2022 European Championship ended on February 6, and this tournament was the last for the Russian national teams, not counting the start of the Beijing Olympics.