The “Blue-Yellows” failed to cope with the French team.
The Ukrainian national hockey team suffered a crushing defeat to the French team in the first match of the final round of the 2026 Olympic qualifying round. The match in Riga ended with a score of 7:2 in favor of the French.
In the first period, France scored two goals – Florian Shakiashvili and Stephane Da Costa scored, and in the second period, they managed to upset the “blue-yellows” three more times – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Sasha Trey and Pierrick Dube scored.
At the start of the third period, the Ukrainians got one goal back thanks to the efforts of Vitaliy Lyalka. However, the French responded with two scoring shots by Perret Jordan and Charles Bertrand.
At the end of the match, Ukraine scored a second goal against their opponents – the final score was set by Alexander Peresunko.
In addition to France, the Ukrainians’ opponents in the final round of the 2026 Olympic qualification are the Latvian and Slovenian teams.
Our team will play its next match on August 30 against the Latvians, and on September 1, in the final match, it will meet the Slovenians.
All matches of the final part of the 2026 Olympic qualification in this group are taking place in Riga, Latvia. Only the winner of the quartet will receive a ticket to the Olympics.
Recall that the Ukrainian national hockey team has only played at the Olympic Games once – in 2002, the Ukrainians took tenth place at the Olympic tournament in Salt Lake City (USA).