2020: results of the year for Ukraine U-18/19

23.12.2020 14:00

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Unlike the youth national teams of Ukraine, composed of players of 2004 or of 2003, the team of Volodymyr Yezerskyi (born in 2002) did not have time to play a single match in 2020. Although the plans were ambitious.

Yezerskyi's wards were waiting for the start of the Euro 2021 (U-19) selection in November 2020. The first stage was to take place in Israel - with the host teams, Montenegro and Belarus. To prepare for the start, two international tournaments were planned (in March - the Federation Cup in Turkey, in May - the Slovakia Cup) and two pairs of control meetings: in September - with Bulgaria (away), in October - with a rival who was still selected at home. .

Already in January, the rivals of the Ukrainians in the Slovakia Cup - the Czech Republic, Japan, Spain - became known. But coronavirus quarantine ruined all plans. In April, the Slovaks announced the postponement of the tournament to 2021, but then everyone still hoped that in the second half of 2020 everything will be fine. However, UEFA later rewrote all the calendars for the youth teams.

According to the new schedule, the Euro-2021 (U-19) qualifying will take place with 13 mini-tournaments in March 2021, after which play-offs to be played in May / June (13 group winners and Portugal will be divided into seven pairs). And the final part should take place on schedule - in July 2021 in Romania.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian footballers born in 2002, despite the quarantine restrictions for the national team, continued to develop their talent individually and at the club level.

Five of Yezersky's wards, following the example of Ruslan Neshcheret, made their debut in the youth national team of Ukraine: Arsenii Batahov (Dnipro-1, September 4), Illya Zabarnyi (Dynamo, September 4), Danylo Skorko (Dynamo, October 13), Volodymyr Brazhko (Dynamo, November 13) and Heorhii Sudakov (Shakhtar, November 13). Meanwhile, Zabarnyi went even further and became one of the youngest debutants of the national team of Ukraine. His debut in Andrii Shevchenko's team took place on October 7, and since then he has played four matches.

Four players born in 2002 made their debut in the main draw of the Champions League in autumn of 2020: Dynamo's Zabarnyi and Neshcheret, miners Vyunnyk and Sudakov. And the last two managed to take part in the victory over the famous Real Madrid in away game in October (3: 2).

And legionnaire Eric Shuranov made his debut for the main team of the Bavarian club in December 2020 thanks to a productive game for the junior and youth teams of the German Nurnberg. True, in the Second Bundesliga, where Nuremberg is currently playing, but it's the German championship.

Footballers born in 2002 in the main squads of UPL clubs in the 2020/2021 season (all official tournaments)