September 7 marked the start of a tournament in a new cycle for Ukrainian youth — the qualification for Euro-2025 (U-21). In group F, teams from England, Ukraine, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, and Luxembourg will compete for spots at the final stage.

The tournament in our sextet kicked off with a match between Northern Ireland and Luxembourg, which the hosts surprisingly lost — 0:1. The Ukrainian youth national team (players born in 2002 or younger), led by Spanish coach Unai Melgosa, will begin their qualification campaign against the British side. This game will take place on September 12 in Slovakia, at the National Training Center of Poprad (kickoff — 7:30 PM Kyiv time).

As part of their preparation for the Euro-2025 qualification (U-21), blue-and-yellow will play a friendly match against Germany's youth national team. The game will take place today, September 8 at the "Ludwigsparkstadion" in Saarbrücken (kickoff — 7:15 PM Kyiv time). A live broadcast of this friendly can be seen on the YouTube channel of the Ukrainian Football Association.

«These 10 days of training are a single process. We don't want to cut anything out just because we have a friendly match, but of course, we want to play as well as possible. We want to see players and give them playing time, observe how they understand our game idea.»

«Germany is a very good team with many individual talents. They have high intensity in pressing. In attack, they play more positionally, trying to keep the ball. Many athletic players who are also well-equipped technically. We expect a worthy opponent.»— Head coach of Ukraine's youth national team Unai Melgosa said in an interview with the press service of the Ukrainian Football Association.

Composition of Ukraine's Youth National Team

Goalkeepers: Ruslan Nescheret ("Dynamo" Kyiv), Yakiy Kinaraykin ("Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk), Kiril Fesyun ("Kolos" Kovalivka).

Defenders: Arseniy Batagov, Anton Bol (both — "Zorya" Luhansk), Danil Skorko ("Oleksandria"), Artem Smolyakov ("Polesye" Zhytomyr), Vitaliy Roman, Bohdan Slubik (both — "Rukh" Lviv), Volodymyr Saluk ("Chornomorets" Odesa), Andriy Bulysa ("Minay").

Midfielders: Yegor Yarmoluk ("Brentford", England), Vladislav Brachko, Nazar Voloshyn (both — "Dynamo" Kyiv), Valentyn Rubchinsky ("Dnipro-1" Dnipropetrovsk), Illia Kvasnytsya ("Rukh" Lviv), Maxim Bрагару ("Chornomorets" Odesa), Ivan Losenko ("Shakhtar" Donetsk), Yevhen Pavlyk ("Vorskla" Poltava), Kiril Sigeiev ("Oleksandria").

Forwards: Igor Krasnoper («Obolon» Kyiv), Denis Tesliuk ("Rukh" Lviv), Bohdan Vyunnyk ("Shakhtar" Donetsk).

Group Composition for the Euro-2025 (U-21) Qualification Tournament

In the final stage of Euro-2025 (U-21), 16 teams will participate: Slovakia and another 15 national teams that join it based on qualification results (nine group winners, three best second-placed teams, and three playoff winners).

Group A: Italy, Ireland, Norway, Turkey, Latvia, San Marino.

Group B: Spain, Belgium, Scotland, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Malta.

Group C: Netherlands, Sweden, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Gibraltar.

Group D: Germany, Poland, Israel, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Estonia.

Group E: Romania, Switzerland, Finland, Albania, Montenegro, Armenia.

Group F: England, Ukraine, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg.

Group G: Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Belarus, Faroe Islands, Andorra.

Group H: France, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus.

Group I: Denmark, Czech Republic, Iceland, Wales, Lithuania.

Schedule of Group F Matches

07.09.2023

Northern Ireland — Luxembourg 0:1

11.09.2023

Luxembourg — England

12.09.2023

Serbia — Azerbaijan

Ukraine — Northern Ireland

12.10.2023

Azerbaijan — Northern Ireland

Luxembourg — Ukraine

13.10.2023

England — Serbia

16.10.2023

Ukraine — England

Northern Ireland — Serbia

17.10.2023

Azerbaijan — Luxembourg

17.11.2023

Ukraine — Luxembourg

18.11.2023

Serbia — England

21.11.2023

Ukraine — Azerbaijan

England — Northern Ireland

Serbia — Luxembourg

22.03.2024

Luxembourg — Serbia

Azerbaijan — England

26.03.2024

England — Luxembourg

Azerbaijan — Ukraine

Serbia — Northern Ireland

06.09.2024

Luxembourg — Azerbaijan

Northern Ireland — England

Ukraine — Serbia

10.09.2024

Northern Ireland — Ukraine

Azerbaijan — Serbia

11.10.2024

England — Ukraine

12.10.2024

Northern Ireland — Azerbaijan

15.10.2024

Luxembourg — Northern Ireland

England — Azerbaijan

Serbia — Ukraine

Playoff: 11–19 November 2024.