Today, March 7, the Ukraine U-17 national team (players born in 2006 or later) started their participation in the elite round of the Euro 2023 qualification.

Their first match in Group 6 was against the hosts of the mini-tournament, played at the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium in Paphos, Cyprus.

Our boys quickly took control of the game and established a comfortable lead. In the 9th minute, Han capitalized on a penetrating pass from Yischenko to score a beautiful goal into the far corner. Shortly after, the guests scored again — Bilyi received the ball in the penalty area and outmaneuvered the goalkeeper.

After this, the Cypriots added some pressure in attack, creating moments near Bakus' goal, and just before halftime Avramidis found himself in a scoring position and reduced the islanders' deficit. The hosts had several more chances to score even after the referee's additional time.

However, in the second half, the players of Yuri Moroz secured victory. In the 60th minute, Kalin broke into the penalty area, dribbled past two defenders and slid the ball past the goalkeeper. Shortly thereafter, Vladyslav could have scored again but this time Pisiass saved his team. Later on, Cypriot Sofokleus had a great chance to score, yet missed the target, followed by Constantinos who failed from just a few meters.

In turn, at the 82nd minute, blue and yellow scored their fourth goal when Ponomarenko headed in Paschak's cross. After this, the hosts managed to score one more goal from a penalty kick.

Overall, the Ukraine U-17 national team started their participation in the elite round with victory — 4:2. The next match of our team will be on March 10 against Ireland.

Euro 2023 (U-17). Elite Round Qualification. Group 6

07.03.2023

Cyprus (U-17) — Ukraine (U-17) — 2:4 (1:2)

Goals: Avramidis (45), Tsiliou (90, from penalty) — Han (9), Bilyi (22), Kalin (60), Ponomarenko (82).

Cyprus (U-17): Pisiass (captain), Pirincis, Mikelidis, Janaku (Socratous, 44), Nikolau, Andreu, Avramidis, Loukaidis (Tsiliou, 67), Kattiris (Evanghelou, 67), Pursaitidis (Sophokleus, 67), Constantinou (Isaac, 88).

Ukraine (U-17): Bakus, Bakay, Korobov, Zakharchenko (Dytyar, 88), Dikyi, Yischenko (Budko, 83), Paschak, Bilyi (Osypenko, 88), Han (Synchuk, 83), Kalin, Ponomarenko (captain) (Rusnak, 83).

Warned: Avramidis (54), Mikelidis (68) — Paschak (61), Kalin (71).

Italy — Ireland — 2:2 (0:2)

Tournament Table

10.03.2023

Italy — Cyprus (15.00)

Ukraine — Ireland (15.00)

13.03.2023

Ukraine — Italy (15.00)

Ireland — Cyprus (15.00)

Match start times are in Kyiv time.

In the elite round, 32 teams are divided into eight groups with a total of 15 spots available for the final stage, which will take place from May 17 to June 2 in Hungary. The eight group winners and seven second-placed teams with the best results advance to the finals along with the host nation.

Euro 2023 (U-17). Elite Round Qualification

Group 1: Serbia, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus.

Group 2: Montenegro, Wales, Scotland, Iceland.

Group 3: Netherlands, England, Denmark, Northern Ireland.

Group 4: Spain, Germany, Turkey, Finland.

Group 5: Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia.

Group 6: Italy, Ukraine, Cyprus, Ireland.

Group 7: Belgium, Norway, Croatia, Slovenia.

Group 8: France, Switzerland, Latvia, Albania.

As a reminder, in the qualification round of Euro 2023 (U-17), Ukraine's U-17 national team under Yuri Moroz's leadership secured first place in their group, outperforming teams from Azerbaijan (5:2), Liechtenstein (7:0) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1:1).