On Tuesday, October 15, the youth national team of Ukraine played its final match of the Euro 2025 (U-21) qualifying cycle - away, against the "youth" Serbia.
Euro 2025 (U-21) qualifying round. Group "F"
SERBIA (U-21 ) - UKRAINE (U-21) - 1: 0 (1: 0)
Goal: Aleksic (21)
Ukraine (U-21): Neshcheret, Roman, Salyuk, Melnychenko, Smolyakov (Khlan, 72), Rubchynsky, Varfolomeev (Ocheretko, 53), Yarmolyuk (K) (Fedor, 72), Bragaru, Krasnopir (Kvasnytsia, 53; Horbach, 90), Voloshyn.
Serbia (U-21): Kalićanin, Djurdžević, Milićić, Popović, Lazić (C), Aleksić (Krstić, 90+2), Stepanović, Šlićić (Trifunović, 78), Radojević (Vukićević, 90+2), Milošević (Petković, 13), Mijatović.
The hosts struck on target in the 1st minute of the match. Later, the Ukrainians sent the ball into the net, but Krasnopir did it from offside, then Yarmolyuk and Varfolomeyev checked the opposing keeper. In the 21st minute, the Balkans took the lead - Aleksic intercepted the ball in front of our penalty area, played with his partner and beat Nescheret. Shlyvych could have scored before the break, but at the last moment his shot was covered by Yarmolyuk. Voloshyn scored from a free kick for our team.
At the beginning of the second half, the Ukrainians pinned the opponents in their half, but failed to score. In the 66th minute, the Serbs responded with a shot by Shlyvych on target. The blue and yellows also took shots on goal, but lacked accuracy. Kvasnytsia did not use a scoring chance, failing to hit the frame on the finish after a great shot by Rubchynsky. Later, the Serbian keeper parried a shot by Hlan.
As a result, the hosts won 1-0. The Ukrainian national team finished second in the group and made it to Euro 2025 (U-21) as one of the three best teams among the runners-up.
Along with Ukraine, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Spain currently have licenses to participate in the European Youth Championship, which will take place from June 11-28, 2025, in addition to the host country, Slovakia. Three more participants will be determined in the playoffs on November 11-19. The pairings for the knockout stage are scheduled for October 17. The draw for the final tournament with the participation of 16 national teams (four groups of four teams) will take place on December 3 in Bratislava.
Final tournament position in Group F:
1. England - 25 points
2. Ukraine - 24
3. Serbia - 16
5. Northern Ireland - 11
4. Luxembourg - 8
6. Azerbaijan - 3.