Volodymyr Brahtsio: "It will be a very difficult game, one can say, a battle"

The day before the third match of Ukraine's U-21 team at Euro 2025 against the Netherlands, our team's half-back Volodymyr Brazhko participated in a pre-match press conference. "I find it to be the biggest surprise in our group that the Netherlands national team is currently in third place."

Volodymyr Brahtsio: "It will be a very difficult game, one can say, a battle"

Photo of Andriy Yushchak

The day before the third match of Ukraine's U-21 team at Euro 2025 against the Netherlands, our team’s half-back Volodymyr Brazhko participated in a pre-match press conference.

"The biggest surprise for me in our group is that the Netherlands national team is currently third. But this is a team with very strong individual players. We have already seen and analyzed them. It will be a very tough game, you could say a battle. Both sides need to win. We are not going to play for a draw, although it suits us. If you play for a draw, then you might as well not come out to the match — only for a victory. I think this will be an interesting matchup. 

I want to say something about today's difficult night in Ukraine. The country of terrorists continues to bombard us. Our children, wives, families are caught in these bombardments. Every player has someone at home — a wife, girlfriend, parents, friends — who are now in Ukraine and everyone is worried about them. Personally, I didn't sleep until 3 AM because it was very noisy at home, and I kept asking how things were going on. We cannot forget this. We need to remind the world that the country of terrorists continues to bombard our cities and villages. I want to thank our Armed Forces and Territorial Defense Forces who protect us from the enemy every day. They do everything so we can represent Ukraine at an international level. I really want to dedicate tomorrow's game to our soldiers. We will go out on the field with double, or even triple motivation." — said Volodymyr Brazhko.

Ukraine's U-21 Squad for Euro 2025

Goalkeepers: 1. Ruslan Nescheret ("Dynamo" Kyiv), 12. Georgiy Yermakov ("Oleksandria"), 23. Vladyslav Krapivcov ("Girona", Spain).

Defenders: 2. Konstantin Vycharenko, 4. Taras Mykhavko (both — "Dynamo" Kyiv), 3. Illia Krups'kyi ("Vorskla" Poltava). 5. Artem Smolyakov ("Los Angeles", USA), 13. Volodymyr Saluk ("Metalist 1925" Kharkiv), 14. Eduard Kozik ("Kolos" Kovalyovka), 15. Vitaliy Roman ("Ruh" Lviv), 16. Arseniy Batagov ("Trabzonspor", Turkey).

Half-backs: 6. Volodymyr Brazhko, 9. Nazar Voloshyn, 21. Maxim Bragaru, 22. Valentyn Rubchynsky (all — "Dynamo" Kyiv), 7. Illia Kvasnitsya, 8. Oleh Ocheret'nyk (both — "Karpaty" Lviv), 17. Yegor Yamoluk ("Brentford", England), 18. Oleksandr Yaktsik ("Zorya" Luhansk), 19. Anton Tserenko ("Lechia" Poland), 20. Vladyslav Velyten ("Kolos" Kovalyovka).

Forwards: 10. Bohdan Vyunnyk ("Lechia", Poland), 11. Vladyslav Vanat ("Dynamo" Kyiv).

Euro 2025 (U-21). Final tournament

Group stage

Group A: Slovakia, Spain, Italy, Romania.

Group B: Czech Republic, England, Germany, Slovenia.

Group C: Portugal, France, Poland, Georgia.

Group D: Finland, Netherlands, Ukraine, Denmark.

June 12, 2025

Ukraine — Denmark — 2:3

Finland — Netherlands — 2:2

June 15, 2025

Finland — Ukraine — 0:2

Netherlands — Denmark — 1:2

June 18, 2025

Denmark — Finland (7 PM)

Netherlands — Ukraine (7 PM)

Tournament table

 

Team

M

W

D

L

GD

Pts

1

 Denmark

2

2

0

0

+2

6

2

 Ukraine

2

0

1

1

+1

3

3

 Netherlands

2

0

1

1

-1

1

4

 Finland

2

0

1

1

-2

1

June 21, 2025

25. C1 — D2 (Zilina, 7 PM)

26. A1 — B2 (Trnava, 10 PM)

June 22, 2025

27. B1 — A2 (Dunajska Streda, 7 PM or 10 PM)

28. D1 — C2 (Presov, 7 PM or 10 PM)

Semifinals

June 25, 2025

29. Winner of match 25 — winner of match 26 (Bratislava, 7 PM or 10 PM)

30. Winner of match 27 — winner of match 28 (Kosice, 7 PM or 10 PM)

Final

June 28, 2025

Winner of match 29 — winner of match 30 (Bratislava, 10 PM)

Kyiv time.