In the summer of 2023, a historic event occurred — the Ukrainian U-21 national team earned a spot in the football tournament of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris thanks to an extremely successful performance in the final tournament of Euro-2023 (U-21)! This is the first time Ukraine has gained the right to compete at the Olympic Games!
Photo: uaf.uaExpectations for the potential performance of Ruslan Rotan’s team, who handed over the coaching responsibilities of the U-21 national team to Unai Melgosa while he continued his work as the head of the Olympic team, were very high. In Ukrainian football, there is indeed a very bright generation of young players that the coaching staff could theoretically rely on.
In January 2024, we learned that Rotan’s charges would play a friendly match against a very strong team from Asia (it turned out to be Japan) in March as part of their preparation, and in June they would participate in an extremely prestigious traditional tournament in France. Ultimately, Ukraine won that tournament, securing four victories in regular time and winning in a penalty shootout in the final!
However, the coaches could not gather all the strongest football players born in 2001 and younger for the Ukrainian Olympic team — only those whom the clubs agreed to release because the 2024 Games in Paris were not scheduled for FIFA dates. And our team did not advance from the group stage, finishing their debut at the Olympic Games with one victory in the group stage.
All matches of the Ukrainian Olympic team in 2024
Date | Status | Opponent | Score | Goals of Ukraine |
25.03.2024 | TM | Japan | 0:2 |
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04.06.2024 | MT | Indonesia | 3:0 | Synchuk, Mykhailenko, Fedor |
06.06.2024 | MT | Italy | 4:0 | Khlan, Martyniuk, Sikann, Voloshyn |
08.06.2024 | MT | Panama | 2:0 | Voloshyn, Yarmolyuk |
10.06.2024 | MT | Japan | 2:1 | Veletien (2) |
16.06.2024 | MT | Côte d'Ivoire | 2:2 | Shostak, Khlan |
14.07.2024 | TM | Egypt | 1:1 | Bragaru |
18.07.2024 | TM | Paraguay | 2:2 | Khlan, Fedor |
24.07.2024 | OI-2024 | Iraq | 1:2 | Rubchynskyi |
27.07.2024 | OI-2024 | Morocco | 2:1 | Krytskyi, Krasnopir |
30.07.2024 | OI-2024 | Argentina | 0:2 |
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A significant group of players was included in the extended list of candidates in March, June, and July 2024. This includes goalkeeper Yakiv Kinarykin (at that time — Dnipro-1), defenders Andrii Buleza (Karpaty), Kostyantyn Vivcharenko (Dynamo), Vitalii Roman (Rukh), Danilo Skorko (Oleksandriya), Bohdan Sliubik (Rukh), Artem Smoliakov (Polissia), midfielders Artem Bondarenko (Shakhtar), Illya Kvasnytsia (Rukh), Ivan Nesterenko (Vorskla), and forward Matviy Ponomarenko (Dynamo).
