Today, on May 4, the Ukrainian U-16 national team (players born in or after 2009) played their first match at the UEFA Development Tournament in Finland — against Greece.

The blue and yellow team arrived in Finland to prepare for the Euro-2026 (U-17) qualification. According to the coach of the team, Oleksandr Sytnyk, this gathering can be considered a selection process. The first opponents of the Ukrainians were their Greek counterparts.

Our team quickly took the lead — Onyshchuk converted a penalty for a foul by an opponent in the penalty area. However, the Greeks soon scored twice: first Kontsas finished off a combination after intercepting on our half of the field, and then Tounousidis delivered a fine shot past Stolyarenko. After that, until halftime, the Greeks were closer to scoring.

At the start of the second half, the Greeks earned a penalty, but Kontsas missed it by shooting over the crossbar. The Ukrainians' attempts to equalize the score were unsuccessful, and on the 77th minute Kostoglu increased our opponents' lead. In summary, the Ukrainian team started their competition with a loss — 1:3.

The next match of the tournament will be played by the blue and yellow team against the hosts on May 6 (kickoff at 5:30 PM).

UEFA Development Tournament among youth national teams U-16

04.05.2025

Greece (U-16) — Ukraine (U-16) — 3:1 (2:1)

Goals: Kontsas (12), Tounousidis (13), Kostoglu (77) — Onyshchuk (5, from the penalty).

On the 55th minute, Kontsas missed a penalty kick (over the crossbar).

Greece (U-16): Nikolaidis, Psirukis (Kitos, 62), Kontekas (Gousios, 73), Papageorgiou (Stergiaropoulos, 73), Tounousidis (Paliras, 73), Materia (P’ierros, 73), Haldzis (Karangelis, 62), Leontopoulus (Petousis, 62), Tsialis (Maras, 73), Papasaraf'yanos (Kostoglu, 62), Kontsas (Delimpais, 62).

Ukraine (U-16): Stolyarenko, Panchyshyn (Levitsky, 46), Shapovalov (Smotrytskyi, 46), Kvikvinia (Serdyuk, 46), Onyshchuk (Ivanov, 76), Dyachok (Yablonskyi, 66), Yermak (Voloshko, 46), Kozushko (Bida, 46), Zadorozhnyi (Rudzey, 46), Dobrovolskyi (Shvec, 46), Harkyevych (Horbatov, 76).

Yellow cards: Psirukis (4), Kontsas (37), Kostoglu (90) — Harkyevych (33), Levitskyi (49), Horbatov (89).

Finland — Hungary — 2:0

Standings

06.05.2025

Hungary — Greece (13:00)

Ukraine — Finland (17:30)

09.05.2025

Ukraine — Hungary (10:00)

Finland — Greece (15:00)

Recall, on December 5 in Nyon, Switzerland, the draw for the first round of Euro-2026 (U-17) qualification took place. As a result of this draw, Ukraine's youth national team ended up in Group 1, where it will face Italy, Montenegro and Estonia. The host of the mini-tournament will be Estonia.

Schedule of matches for Ukraine's U-17 national team

01.10.2025. Montenegro — Ukraine

04.10.2025. Ukraine — Estonia

07.10.2025. Ukraine — Italy

Results of the draw for the first round of Euro-2026 (U-17) qualification

Group 1: Italy, Ukraine, Montenegro, Estonia.

Group 2: Czech Republic, Hungary, North Macedonia, Gibraltar.

Group 3: England, Sweden, Lithuania, Scotland.

Group 4: Spain, Denmark, Latvia, Andorra.

Group 5: Belgium, Norway, Belarus, Moldova.

Group 6: Austria, Ireland, Kosovo, Faroe Islands.

Group 7: Serbia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malta.

Group 8: Croatia, Netherlands, Albania, Kazakhstan.

Group 9: France, Israel, Romania, Azerbaijan.

Group 10: Switzerland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, San Marino.

Group 11: Northern Ireland, Finland, Cyprus, Armenia.

Group 12: Portugal, Slovenia, Wales, Liechtenstein.

Group 13: Poland, Germany, Luxembourg.

Group 14: Greece, Iceland, Georgia.

54 teams were divided into 12 groups of four participants and two groups of three participants. The host of the final tournament, Estonia's national team, will also participate in the qualification.

Based on the results of the first round of qualification, 14 group winners and 14 teams that finish second will advance to the second round of Group A of the League. The remaining 26 teams will take part in the second round of Group B of the League.

Teams advancing to the second round of qualification in Group A will compete for seven spots at Euro-2026 (U-17) in spring 2026. Estonia, as the host of the tournament, received an automatic berth. It is worth noting that the qualifying round in Group A is also a qualifying round for the CS-2026 (U-17) in Qatar.

Moreover, teams from both leagues of the second qualification round will compete to improve and decrease their league status before the first round of Euro-2028 (U-19) qualification.