After a four-day training camp in Szeged, Hungary, Ruslan Rotan's team traveled to Kitakyushu City, Kyushu Island, in Fukuoka Prefecture for the match against Japan U-23, supported by the Japan Football Association. This historic encounter marked the first-ever match for the Ukrainian Olympic team.

The first half saw Japan dominating possession, with Ukraine goalkeeper Fesyun called into action multiple times to keep the score level. Despite some attempts from the Ukrainian side, including a chance from Sych, Japan's goalkeeper Kokubo remained vigilant.

Japan broke the deadlock early in the second half when Sato capitalized on a corner kick to put his team ahead. Despite Ukraine's efforts to level the score, Japan extended their lead in the 76th minute when Tanaka took advantage of a defensive mistake and found the net.

The match ended with a 2:0 victory for Japan U-23, marking a disappointing result for Ukraine in their first Olympic preparation friendly.

Friendly Match

Japan U-23 - Ukraine U-23 - 2:0 (0:0)

Goals: Sato (48), Tanaka (76)

Japan U-23: Kokubo, Ohata (Uchino, 85), Baba, Sekine, Suzuki, Yamada (Hirakawa, 46), Sato (Komi, 78), D. Fujita (c), Matsuki (Venaka, 78), Someno (Hosoya, 46), Araki (Tanaka, 67)

Substitutes: K. Fujita, Nozawa, Nisio, Bangnagande, Handa, Takai, Kawasaki, Yamamoto, Fujio

Coach: Go Oiwa

Ukraine U-23: Fesyun (Yermakov, 60), Bol (Faryna, 46), Dydyk (Dyachuk, 60'), Martyniuk, Sych (c) (Matsenko, 72), Nazarenko (Fedor, 72'), Siheiev, Shostak (Kuliiev, 46), Shulianskyi (Kashchuk, 60), Zhelizko, Kukharevych (Kulakovskyi, 72)

Coach: Ruslan Rotan

Referee: Lewis Smith (England)

Date: March 25, 2024

Venue: Kitakyushu Stadium, Fukuoka

Recall that on March 20, Ukraine learned their opponents for the football tournament at the 2024 Olympics. Placed in Group B, Ukraine will face Argentina, Morocco, and a third Asian team. Their group stage matches are scheduled for July 24, 27, and 30.

Olympics 2024. Men's Football Tournament

Group A: France, USA, winner of the intercontinental play-off, New Zealand.

Group B: Argentina, Morocco, AFC-3, Ukraine.

Group C: AFC-2, Spain, Egypt, Dominican Republic.

Group D: AFC-1, Paraguay, Mali, Israel.

Group B Schedule

July 24, 2024

Argentina vs Morocco (16:00, Saint-Étienne)

AFC-3 vs Ukraine (20:00, Lyon)

July 27, 2024

Argentina vs AFC-3 (16:00, Lyon)

Ukraine vs Morocco (18:00, Saint-Étienne)

July 30, 2024

Ukraine vs Argentina (18:00, Lyon)

Morocco vs AFC-3 (18:00, Nice)

Match times are in Kyiv time.

The two best teams from Group B will face representatives from Group A in the knockout stage.

Recall that last summer, by defeating France (3:1) in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Euro (U-21) and reaching the semi-finals, our team achieved a historic success, securing the country's first-ever appearance at the Olympic football tournament. Alongside Ukraine, Spain and Israel secured licenses for the 2024 Summer Olympics from Europe in this discipline through the 2023 Euro U21.

As of today, 12 participants of the men's football tournament at the 2024 Olympic Games are known, who will compete from July 24th to August 9th in seven cities in France: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Nice, and Nantes. According to the regulations, players born after January 1, 2001, can participate in the competition. In addition, each team can include three players older than this age.

In total, 16 teams will participate in the tournament: France as the host, three teams will represent Europe (Ukraine, Spain, Israel), three - Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Mali), three - Asia (to be known by May 3), two - South America (Paraguay, Argentina), two - CONCACAF zone (USA, Dominican Republic), one - Oceania (New Zealand), and the winner of the play-off between the fourth teams of Africa (Guinea) and Asia will join them.