Ruslan Rotan: "The fact that Slovakia is a goal-scoring team immediately catches the eye..."

Head coach of the Ukraine U-21 national team, Ruslan Rotan, commented on the draw for the Euro 2023 (U-21) qualification play-offs.

Ruslan Rotan: "The fact that Slovakia is a goal-scoring team immediately catches the eye..."

Photo by the press service of the UAF

According to the draw results for the playoff qualification round, the team coached by Ruslan Rotan will face Slovakia. The future opponent of Ukraine's youth national team secured second place in Group C, where they were unable to outperform Spain but managed to surpass Northern Ireland, Lithuania, and Malta. The playoff matches will take place from September 19–27 this year. Our team will play the first match away.

Head coach of Ukraine's youth national team Ruslan Rotan commented on the draw results: "I immediately said that we should get an opponent that we can overcome. We accept the draw as it is. Slovakia is a strong team. We already played against them in Antalya, where they won 3–2, although we were leading 2–0 during the game.

That this is a goal-scoring team immediately catches the eye. Taking our match with Slovakia as an example, then in their qualifying group they also faced Spain and lost to them twice with a score of 3–2. This team scores a lot (18 goals in the qualification cycle) but also concedes quite a few (10). The opponent is worthy, we respect him, and will prepare for these matches.

As for the cadres of Ukraine's youth national team, it is very important that our championship starts. It's tough on the boys when they don't have game rhythm. They struggle with understanding and mental qualities without it. We need to start our championship at all costs. We will keep an eye out for new talents, but we have a solid core. All the players who went through the qualifying cycle will prove that we deserve to qualify for the European Championship."

We remind you that 16 teams will participate in the final tournament — Romania and Georgia as hosts, plus 14 more national teams joining them based on qualification results (nine group winners, the best team among second-place finishers, and four playoff winners).

Participants of the Final Tournament: Romania, Georgia, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Italy, Switzerland.

UEFA-2023 (U-21). Qualification. Playoff

Croatia — Denmark

Slovakia — Ukraine

Ireland — Israel

Iceland — Czech Republic

UEFA-2023 (U-21). Qualification. Group H

Final Standings

Team

M

W

D

L

Pts

GD

1. France

10

8

2

0

+26 (31—5)

26

2. Ukraine

10

7

2

1

+9 (20—11)

23

3. Serbia

10

3

3

4

-1 (10—11)

12

4. Faroe Islands

10

2

4

4

-6 (6—12)

10

5. North Macedonia

10

2

3

5

-7 (8—15)

9

6. Armenia

10

1

0

9

-21 (7—28)

3

Final Standings of Second-Place Teams 

Team

Group

M

W

D

L

Pts

GD

1. Switzerland

E

8

5

2

1

+8 (14—6)

17

2. Ukraine

H

8

5

2

1

+6 (16—10)

17

3. Denmark

I

8

5

2

1

+6 (12—6)

17

4. Croatia

A

8

5

1

2

+9 (19—10)

16

5. Czech Republic

G

8

5

1

2

+7 (13—6)

16

6. Slovakia

C

8

5

0

3

+8 (18—10)

15

7. Ireland

F

8

5

0

3

+4 (13—9)

15

8. Israel

B

8

4

1

3

+3 (13—10)

13

9. Iceland

D

8

3

3

2

+6 (13—7)

12

Points earned against teams that finished sixth in their groups are not counted.

Playoff: September 19–27, 2022.

Final Tournament: June/July 2023.

The tournament featuring 16 national teams will be held 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 take place in Romania, while the final will be played in Georgia.