As part of the preparation for the U-20 World Championship 2025, which will take place from September 27 to October 19 in five cities in Chile, the Ukrainian U-20 national team will play two friendly matches in Spain.
Mykhailenko (in the center; photo: uaf.ua)On June 6, Mykhailenko’s team will play against the Moroccan U-20 national team, and on the 10th, they will meet the U-19 national team of the USA.
Let us remind you that the U-19 youth national team of Ukraine secured a spot in the U-20 World Championship by reaching the semifinals of Euro-2024 in Northern Ireland.
The U-20 World Championship 2025 will take place in five cities in Chile: Valparaíso, Santiago, Viña del Mar, Rancagua, and Talca. 24 teams from six confederations will participate in the tournament. They will initially compete in six groups. The two best teams from each group, as well as four from six that take third place, will advance to the Round of 16. Then the tournament will proceed as usual.
After the U-20 Africa Cup, all 24 participants in the World Cup are known: Chile (as the host); Spain, France, Italy, Ukraine, and Norway from Europe; USA, Mexico, Cuba, and Panama from CONCACAF; Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay from South America; Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Australia from Asia; New Zealand and New Caledonia from Oceania; South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, and Egypt from Africa.
The draw for the U-20 World Cup 2025 will take place in the summer (the date has not yet been determined). The seeding will be based on the total number of points earned by the country in the last five U-20 World Cups - 2023 (100%), 2019 (80%), 2017 (60%), 2015 (40%), 2013 (20%). The geographical principle will also be taken into account during the draw. According to preliminary information, Ukraine will be in the second pot.
It should be added that the current U-20 world champion is Uruguay, while in 2019, the gold was won by the Ukrainian national team led by Oleksandr Petrakov.
