The youth national team of Ukraine has also started its preparation for the decisive matches of the Euro-2023 (U-21) qualification tournament. The players under Ruslan Rotan's guidance began their gathering on May 17, as reported by the press service of the UAF.

"First and foremost, I want to express gratitude to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for defending our country against Russian invaders and allowing us to continue our path towards the European Youth Championship," noted Mr. Rotan. "We are proud of our soldiers and will take them as an example when we step onto the football field."

We are also grateful to the leadership of the UAF and UEFA for ensuring that Ukraine's youth national team prepares as well as possible during this difficult time. Initially, we planned to gather on May 15 in Chisinau at Moldova’s national training base, but after neighboring country also faced unrest, our management quickly moved the gathering to Turkey. We met in Istanbul on May 17.

Photo by UAF press service

The preparation will last until the end of the month. We hope to play two friendlies, negotiations for opponents are ongoing. It's very good that many of our footballers have been playing charity matches with Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk recently. I believe that experienced specialists like Mircea Lucescu and Roberto De Zerbi have properly prepared these players physically. We were in constant contact with representatives of these teams.

I want to thank FC "Ruh" for hosting not only the Lviv team members we called up, but also several other footballers who joined this club at our request. By the way, after Shakhtar Donetsk stopped their training in Turkey, some of our candidates from that team started training with Metalist Kharkiv, which is located in Antalya. We are grateful to the leadership of Kharkiv's club.

Thus, we hope that the players have arrived at the gathering in good functional condition. In the first days of training, we will be able to assess their readiness level. Indeed, some boys lack game practice, but we understand the circumstances they faced. We will find a way out of this situation. There is enough time. We have made our bets on experienced players, although as always, we also called up several newcomers.

We will closely monitor the performances of our U-19 youth team where there are already several footballers who caught and continue to catch our attention. But the main football goal at the beginning of summer is for Ukraine's national team to qualify for the World Cup. Currently, four players from the youth age group are preparing for it, and we once again take pride in the young talent of our country.

Unfortunately, due to injuries, we lost two players—Vladimir Brachok and Oleksandr Nazarenko. In the first training session, 21 footballers participated. Four more foreign-based players will join after their seasons end. We will train at Turkey's national team base, where conditions for training are excellent.

Composition of Ukraine's youth national team

Goalkeepers: Anatoliy Trubin (Shakhtar Donetsk), Ruslan Nescheret (Dynamo Kyiv), Kirill Fesyun (Kolos Kovalivka).

Defenders: Anton Bol, Konstantin Vihcharenko (both—Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Drambajev (Mariupol FC), Oleksiy Syts, Roman Didik (both—Ruh Lviv), Dmitro Kapinus (Metalist 1925 Kharkiv), Maxim Talovev (Slavia, Czech Republic).

Midfielders: Georgy Sudakov, Artem Bondarenko (both—Shakhtar Donetsk), Arseniy Batagov (Polesia Zhytomyr), Danyil Alefirenko, Maxim Khlyan (both—Zorya Luhansk), Eldar Kuliev (Minai FC), Mykola Mikhaylenko, Maxim Bragaru (both—Chornomorets Odesa), Dmitro Krisykyv (Metalist 1925 Kharkiv), Ivan Zhelizko (Valmiera, Latvia), Bohdan Biloshovskyy (Oleksandria).

Forwards: Vladyslav Vanat (Dynamo Kyiv), Vladyslav Supryaga (Sampdoria, Italy), Mykola Kukharevych (Leuven, Belgium), Bohdan Vyunyk (Zurich, Switzerland).

We remind you that the home matches against North Macedonia and France will be played in Istanbul at the «Esenyurt Nedim Kadioglu» stadium, where local club «Istanbulspor» plays (capacity—4 500 spectators). Both matches will start at 19:45.

As for the away matches of Ruslan Rotan's wards, the game Faroe Islands — Ukraine will take place in Torshavn on the «Torshovur» stadium (kick-off—20:00 Kyiv time), while the match Armenia — Ukraine will be held at the Yerevan Football Academy Stadium (kick-off—18:00 Kyiv).

Qualification Tournament for Euro-2023 (U-21). Group H

Table of standings

01.06.2022

Faroe Islands — Ukraine

02.06.2022

France — Serbia 

North Macedonia — Armenia

05.06.2022

Ukraine — North Macedonia

06.06.2022

Armenia — France

07.06.2022

Faroe Islands — Serbia

09.06.2022

Ukraine — France

12.06.2022

Armenia — Ukraine

In the final stage of Euro-2023 (U-21), 16 teams will participate—Romania and Georgia as hosts, plus 14 qualifiers from the group stages (nine group winners, the best second-placed team, and four playoff winners).

Playoff: September 20-27, 2022.

Final tournament: June/July 2023.

The tournament featuring the sixteen teams will take place at four stadiums in Romania (two — in Cluj-Napoca and two — in Bucharest) and four in Georgia (in Batumi, Poti and two — in Tbilisi). The opening match will be held in Romania, while the final will take place in Georgia.