The head coach of Ukraine's under-19 national football team (players born in 2005 or later), Oleg Kuznetsov, commented on the draw results for the elite round of Euro 2024 (U-19) qualification. As a result of the draw, the blue and yellow team landed in Group 7, where they will play against Switzerland, North Macedonia, and Latvia.

The mini-tournament will take place from March 20 to 26, 2024, in North Macedonia. Only the winner of this group will advance to the final stage of the competition in Northern Ireland.

— We are satisfied with the results of the draw,— Oleg Volodymyrovych noted on the official website of the UAF.— I wouldn't say it will be easy, as Switzerland is a very strong opponent. North Macedonia and Latvia also won't be gifts. We haven't faced these teams before, so we need to study them carefully. At the same time, it's good that we didn't draw European giants such as France, Italy, Spain or the Netherlands. I believe in this situation we can set a goal of reaching Euro 2024, which means finishing first in our group.

The elite round will take place in March, so it would be nice to gather in February if there is an opportunity. But I understand that it will be difficult since many of our players are likely to go on training camps with the senior teams.

Euro 2024 (U-19). Elite round qualification

Group 1: Spain, Austria, Kosovo, Slovenia.

Group 2: Netherlands, Belgium, France, Lithuania.

Group 3: Norway, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro.

Group 4: Portugal, Denmark, Serbia, Greece.

Group 5: Scotland, Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy.

Group 6: Turkey, Germany, Croatia, Romania.

Group 7: Switzerland, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Latvia.

In the elite round, 27 teams that advanced from the qualifying round join top seed Portugal, which enters the competition at this stage. Winners of the groups in the elite round will join host Northern Ireland in the final stage, which will take place on July 15-28, 2024 and serve as UEFA's qualification for the U-20 World Cup (U-20).