– Most Ukrainian children play football in Hungary. They are very easy to give them citizenship. If they see potential in our young men, they immediately offer to change their passport. Anyone will look for where it is better.
– Can they play for Ukrainian national teams?
– Of course. Football citizenship is a little different. There are several examples. The child has a Hungarian passport, we call it and suggest you play for Ukraine. They often agree. That is, the passport of another country does not affect the desire of the player to represent the Ukrainian national team.
– But it turns out that you only press on patriotism?
– And what can we do? Our players are offered to stand for Spain, what do we do in this case? Only to beat patriotism. We become a country where thousands of children will play abroad. They became similar to Albania or Croatia in this regard. I asked the Albanians how they persuade their players. They replied that only patriotism, – said Mikhailenko.
Source: Sport.ua