The Ukraine national under-21 football team is also known as Youth [football] team of Ukraine () is one of junior national football teams of Ukraine for participation in under-21 international competitions. The team is managed by the Ukrainian Association of Football staff, committee of national teams. The team participates in qualifications to the Olympic competitions and the continental (UEFA) U-21 competitions.

Their first game the team played was on 28 October 1992. Its first competition the team entered in 1994 the qualification round for the 1996 European Under-21 Championship. The team has qualified for a tournament twice. The under-21s not only qualified for the 2006 European Under-21 Championship, but also reached the final, where they lost to Netherlands on 4 June 2006 by 3–0. The under-21s also qualified to the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship that was held in Denmark.

History Its first game under national flag the team played on 28 October 1992 by hosting Belarus national under-21 football team in a friendly game in Ternopil (Ternopil City Stadium). The game ended in scoreless tie and was attended by 4,000 people. The initial squad consisted of following players Sergei Aleksandrov, Dmytro Parfenov, Serhiy Fedorov, Oleksandr Koval, Vladyslav Vashchuk, Vitaliy Kosovskyi, Ihor Luchkevych, Serhiy Onopko, Vladimir Lebed, Hennadiy Moroz, Vitaliy Pushkutsa, Kostyantyn Pinchuk, Oleg Solovyov, Ruslan Romanchuk, Oleksandr Karabuta. Later two out of the squad Lebed and Aleksandrov continued to play for Russian national teams.

In August 1993, the Ukraine youth squad took part in its first tournament where it contested few teams outside of Europe. Its first competitive tournament became the Youth Euro 1996 where it was eliminated in qualification group. Its first game Ukraine U-21 played at home against its opponents from Lithuania on 6 September 1994.

It took Ukraine another 10 years to finally qualify to the tournament final when in 2006 it almost won the tournament losing in the final game to Netherlands which earned its first title instead.

Tournaments Summer Olympics record As U-23 team

Olympic Games recordYear 1900 see Note 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 192819361948195219561960196419681972197619801984 198819921996Did not qualify2000200420082012201620202024 Group stage 3102352028Did not qualify2032 To be determinedTotal:1/30Group stage9th310235 *Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out. **Since 1968, Spain has sent its under-23 national team.

UEFA U-21 Championship Since 1984, it is an official U-21 European championship. Since 1992, the tournament doubles as qualifying competition for the Olympic Games every four years.Europe – U-23/U-21 Tournaments 1994: Did not enter. 1996: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 6 in qualification group. 1998: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group. 2000: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 5 in qualification group. 2002: Did not qualify. Finished 1st of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off to Switzerland. 2004: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group. 2006: Runner-up. Finished 2nd of 7 in qualification group. Won qualification play-off over Belgium. 2007: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 3 in qualification group. 2009: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group. 2011: Group Stage. Finished 1st of 5 in qualification group. Won qualification play-off over Netherlands 2013: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group. 2015: Did not qualify. Finished 2nd of 5 in qualification group. Lost qualification play-off to Germany. 2017: Did not qualify. Finished 4th of 6 in qualification group. 2019: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group. 2021: Did not qualify. Finished 3rd of 6 in qualification group. 2023: Qualified. Finished 2nd of 6 in qualification group. Won qualification play-off over Slovakia. 2025: Qualified. Finished 2nd of 6 in qualification group. 2027: Did not qualify.

UEFA U-21 European Championship record

UEFA European Under-21 ChampionshipUEFA European Under-21 Championship QualificationYearRoundPosition1960–1992Part of Part of 1994Did not enterDid not enter 1996Did not qualify106222412 19988512144 200083231612 2002126151617 2004825185 2006Runner-up2nd521246148242711 2007Did not qualify210124 20098503167 2011Group stage8th30121510541168 2013Did not qualify105232110 2015106132013 2017104241412 2019105231812 2021105141711 2023Semi-Finals3rd531198128222514 2025Group stage9th31024510802207 2027Did not qualify72321292029To be determinedTo be determinedTotal:4/16Runner-up2nd166371824137732539243143

Important friendlies Lobanovsky tournament (2006– )

Winners (2): 2009, 2019 Runners-up (4): 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017

Commonwealth of Independent States Cup (2012–2014)

Winner (1): 2014 Runner-up (1): 2013

Head coaches

ManagerRuslan Rotan became the 10th head coach in the history of the Ukrainian youth football team (Руслан Ротань став 10-м головним тренером в історії молодіжної збірної України). Ukrainian Association of Football. 28 December 2018NationUkraine careerPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAWin %Qualifying cycleFinal tourVolodymyr Muntian1992–19941585225121996Viktor Kolotov1995732217101996Oleksandr Ishchenko1996–1997117221961998Viktor Kolotov1998–19991263332162000Volodymyr Onyschenko1999–20012193923312000, 2002Anatoliy KroshchenkoInfo who was chosen to be the head coach of the Under-21 team. Football Federation of Ukraine (old website).20021016310122004Pavlo Yakovenko2002–20042086624202004, 2006Hennadiy Lytovchenko2003–2004211042Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko2004–20074121614422006, 2007, 20092006Volodymyr Muntian (caretaker)2008502328Pavlo Yakovenko2008–201270312514109662009, 2011, 20132011Serhiy Kovalets2013–2015472681394502013, 2015Oleksandr Holovko2015–201825137549342017, 2019Ruslan Rotan2018–20234723121279552021, 20232023Unai Melgosa2023–2026291351145382025, 20272025Dmytro Mykhailenko2026–present0000002027

Coaching staff Currently approved: PositionNameHead coach Unai MelgosaAssistant coach Kyrylo MazurGoalkeeping coach Vitaliy RevaFitness coach Andriy Shabalin

Results and fixtures 2025

2026

Players Players born in 2004 or later are eligible for the U21 Euro 2027 Qualification. Names in bold denote players who have been capped for the senior team. Names in italics denote players who not available for calling up anymore, because of the age limits.

Current squad The following players were called up for the friendly matches against United States and Japan on 5 and 8 June 2026; respectively.

Caps and goals correct as of 8 June 2026, after the match against the Japan.

Recent call-ups The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months and remain eligible for selection.

Notes UKR = Called up to the Ukraine national squad instead. INJ = Player withdrew from the squad because of injury. WD = Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue. RES = Reserves squad – replaces a member of the squad in case of injury/unavailability.

Player records Top goalscorers

RankPlayerGoalsCapsAveragePeriod1Pylyp Budkivskyi18232011–20132Danylo Sikan9192019–20233Oleksandr Aliyev8302003–2006Bohdan Viunnyk8362021–20255Nazariy Rusyn7112018–2019Andriy Totovytskyi7122013Serhiy Rebrov7171993–1995Artem Byesyedin7172015–2017Ruslan Fomin7202005–2008Oleksiy Byelik7292000–2003Artem Milevskyi7312003–2006

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Ukraine Under-21s all-time international record, correct as of 29 March 2021.

+Key Positive balance (more wins) Neutral balance (equal W/L ratio) Negative balance (more losses)

Against Confederation Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA GD UEFA 7 6 1 0 17 2 +15 UEFA 2 2 0 0 7 0 +7 UEFA 10 8 2 0 31 3 +28 UEFA 3 1 1 1 2 2 +0 UEFA 4 2 1 1 6 3 +3 AFC 1 1 0 0 4 3 +1 UEFA 14 6 6 2 19 12 +7 UEFA 4 2 1 1 8 5 +3 UEFA 6 2 0 4 10 11 -1 CONMEBOL 2 2 0 0 3 0 +3 AFC 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 UEFA 7 3 2 2 8 7 +1 UEFA 8 1 1 6 5 13 -8 UEFA 2 1 1 0 4 1 +3 UEFA 12 4 4 4 16 17 -1 CAF 1 1 0 0 3 1 +2 UEFA 6 1 1 4 5 11 -6 UEFA 5 3 2 0 13 5 +8 UEFA 5 2 2 1 5 4 +1 UEFA 9 1 5 3 8 14 -6 UEFA 11 5 4 2 28 12 +16 UEFA 6 0 1 5 2 14 -12 UEFA 8 5 3 0 11 2 +9 UEFA 2 1 0 1 3 5 -2 UEFA 5 3 0 2 13 10 +3 AFC 5 2 2 1 10 7 +3 UEFA 8 4 3 1 13 6 +7 UEFA 9 4 4 1 8 7 +1 UEFA 5 1 0 4 3 6 -3 UEFA 4 4 0 0 9 2 +7 AFC 1 0 0 1 2 3 -1 UEFA 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 AFC 2 2 0 0 6 0 +6 UEFA 8 6 2 0 19 6 +13 UEFA 4 4 0 0 16 3 +13 UEFA 11 6 3 2 23 14 +9 CAF 1 0 1 0 0 0 +0 UEFA 2 2 0 0 4 0 +4 UEFA 5 2 0 3 5 5 +0 UEFA 6 5 1 0 19 4 +15 UEFA 11 7 4 0 23 5 +18 UEFA 2 2 0 0 4 2 +2 UEFA 9 2 3 4 6 13 -7 UEFA 5 0 0 5 2 10 -8 UEFA 8 3 3 2 15 14 +1 UEFA 5 3 0 2 3 3 +0 UEFA 6 3 0 3 5 13 -8 UEFA 5 2 1 2 10 9 +1 AFC 1 1 0 0 6 1 +5 UEFA 5 3 2 0 13 5 +8 UEFA 8 1 5 2 7 6 +1 UEFA 10 7 2 1 18 6 +12 UEFA 6 1 4 1 5 7 -2 UEFA 4 1 1 2 2 6 -4 UEFA 3 1 0 2 7 3 +4 UEFA 5 2 1 2 7 6 +1 AFC 3 1 1 1 2 2 +0 AFC 1 1 0 0 4 1 +3 UEFA 13 6 3 4 19 14 +5 AFC 1 1 0 0 5 0 +5 CONCACAF 1 0 1 0 1 1 +0 AFC 5 2 3 0 7 3 +4 UEFA 2 2 0 0 4 0 +4 Serbia and Montenegro +1=1-1 2-4 (Yugoslavia) Kyrgyzstan national +1=0-0 4-0 Norway u-23 +0=0-1 0-2 England C +0=0-1 0-2

Home venues record Since the game Ukraine v Belarus (28 October 1992), Ukraine youth team have played their home games at 19 different stadiums.

VenueCityPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAPoints per gameVVL DynamoKyiv43201767636BannikovKyiv138322411Obolon ArenaKyiv12561228BoreksBorodianka531186TsentralnyiCherkasy530275ShakhtarChervonohrad3300110Dynamo Training CenterKyiv, Koncha-Zaspa321071CSK ZSUKyiv220082LokomotyvDonetsk220031KolosBoryspil211020SevastopolSevastopol211031Slavutych-ArenaZaporizhzhia210152Arena LvivLviv210142Auto ZAZZaporizhzhia110050SKAOdesa110040MetalistKharkiv110040TernopilskyTernopil101000UkrainaLviv101011IllichivetsMariupol100123Totals 102 55 32 15 196 79 Last updated: 2 June 2016. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

See also Ukraine national football team UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2006 UEFA Under-21 Championship Finalists

Notes

References

External links

Official website of the Ukrainian Association of Football Under-21 Team Official website of the Ukrainian Association of Football Under-21 Team full results archive Contains full results archive UEFA Ukraine U-21 page Contains rosters and photographs. The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships. Andrei Kudyrko. The Ukrainian youth: 1973 – 1983. Generation after generation (Украинская молодежь: 1973 - 1983. Поколение за поколением). UA-Football. 7 June 2006.