The article tackles the problem of developing students' teamwork competence in e-learning environments. The aim of the study is to substantiate the methodological foundations for successful organization of students' online teamwork. The article contains the results of the pilot study that was conducted to investigate the challenges of online teamwork and formulate the correspondent recommendations for instructors on how to successfully develop students’ team competence online. The study resulted in clarifying the component composition of the team competence, reasoning the psychological basis for organizing students' distance teamwork, and formulating pedagogical approaches to the successful organization of online teamwork. Also, several digital tools and instructions techniques are mentioned as recommended for avoiding the difficulties and challenges that were mentioned by the respondents in the survey. The obtained data can be used for theoretical substantiation of pedagogical models for organizing educational teamwork in distance and blended learning for sustainable development.