Today, June 15, Ukraine's youth national team will play their second group stage match at Euro 2025 (U-21) against Finland. Here is our opponent.

Finland U-21

Number of appearances in the final stages of the European Championship (U-21) — 2. Best result in history — participation in the group stage (2009).

Squad

Goalkeepers: 1. Lucas Bergström («Chelsea», England), 12. Elmo Henriksson («Sporting» C, Spain), 23. Roope Paunio (SJK).

Defenders: 2. Ronnie Jansson («Kalmar», Sweden), 3. Thomas Galvez («Cambuur», Netherlands), 5. Samuli Miettinen (KuPS), 14. Kalle Vallius («Ilves»), 16. Dario Naamo («Sankt Pölten», Austria), 21. Ville Koski («Istra», Croatia), 22. Miksa Iltolva (HJK).

Midfielders: 4. Matti Peltonen («DCE United», USA), 6. Santtu Viinanen («Rosenborg», Norway), 7. Naatan Skita («Dunkerque», France), 8. Adam Marhiev («Aris», Cyprus), 10. Doni Ariefi («Ilves»), 13. Niklas Piitulainen («Südtirol», Italy), 15. Luca Hirvonen («Ulm», Germany), 20. Otto Liimatta («Famalicão», Portugal).

Forwards: 9. Teemu Hietonanen («Ilves»), 11. Kasperi Terho («Paderborn», Germany), 17. Juho Talvitie («Heracles», Netherlands), 18. Topi Keskinen («Aberdeen», Scotland), 19. Oiva Ykkola («Ilves»).

Head Coach

The Finnish youth team is coached by local specialist Mika Lehtonen, a 55-year-old who in the past was a defensive midfielder for his national team (1997–2000, 17 matches, 1 goal) and spent most of his playing career at HJK.

He began his coaching career independently with club «Honka» (360 matches), then came HJK (249 matches) and Norwegian «Kongsvinger» (18). Since January 2023, he has been the head coach of Finland's youth national team, which he led to the final stages of Euro U-21 for the first time in history.

Three times won the Finnish championship (2014, 2017, 2018), three times — the Finnish Cup (2012, 2014, 2017). Twice named coach of the year in Finland (2014, 2017).

Leader

The most prominent player on the Finnish U-21 team is right winger Kasperi Terho, who in January 2023 (at age 19) left HJK and joined Belgian «Union», then spent spring 2025 playing for German «Paderborn» in the Second Bundesliga.

He has played 58 matches at senior level for HJK (7 goals) and 51 matches for «Union» (7 goals), plus 11 matches for «Paderborn». He has extensive experience in European competitions, having played 20 games. He also made his debut with the senior national team of Finland in June 2024 but so far has only played two friendly matches.

In Euro-2025 (U-21) qualifiers — second top scorer for Finland and second in terms of goals plus assists after Otto Liimatta (4+3 compared to 7+4).

Path to Euro-2025 (U-21)

In the qualifying tournament, Finland's team started in Group E with two losses in three matches but finished second overall with 20 points. Above them — only Romania (22), below — Switzerland, Albania, Montenegro and Armenia.

In the play-offs, Lehtonen's team defeated Norway 6-3 on aggregate.

12.09.2023. Finland — Switzerland — 1:2

13.10.2023. Finland — Albania — 4:1

17.10.2023. Romania — Finland — 1:0

21.11.2023. Finland — Armenia — 6:0

22.03.2024. Albania — Finland — 0:0

26.03.2024. Montenegro — Finland — 1:2

06.09.2024. Armenia — Finland — 1:3

10.09.2024. Finland — Romania — 2:0

11.10.2024. Switzerland — Finland — 1:1

15.10.2024. Finland — Montenegro — 2:1

15.11.2024. Finland — Norway — 5:1

19.11.2024. Norway — Finland — 2:1

The match between the youth teams of Finland and Ukraine at Euro-2025 (U-21) will take place on June 15 in Košice (kick-off — 7 PM Kyiv time).

It is worth noting that in their first match, the Finnish team drew with the Netherlands 2-0 but lost the lead at the end of extra time — 2-2.