2023: results of the year for Ukraine U-19/20

24.12.2023 16:00

Photo of UAF press service

In 2023, the youth national team of Ukraine, made up of players born in 2004, completed its performances. This generation of football players was very unlucky, as corrections were constantly made in the process of their formation and gaining international experience. First there were quarantine restrictions, then war with all the consequences.

For the first time, Serhiy Nagornyak assembled a team in the spring of 2019. Before the end of the calendar year, his wards managed to play nine matches. Then four more at an international tournament in Turkey in January 2020. And after that, the blue-yellow team completely missed the Euro-2021 cycle (U-17) and could gather the next time only in November 2022, before the start of the Euro-2023 selection (U-19).

It is clear that with such a background it was impossible to prepare for official matches and create a monolithic team of the coaching staff. Therefore, it hardly makes sense to make claims against Serhiy Nagornyak.

At the same time, his team won the first qualifying round in November 2022 convincingly (Kosovo — 1:0, Cyprus — 4:1, Sweden — 2:0), but lost three times in the elite round in March 2023.

All matches of the youth national team of Ukraine U-19/20 in 2023

Taking into account the fact that after January 2020, this national team played only two cycles with matches (right away - official matches), it is difficult to say something about the selection. Trainers could conduct personnel work only theoretically, without practical verification.

Over five years (2019-2023), Serhiy Nagornyak's team played 19 matches, in which 52 football players played. The following players played the most games: Bohdan Slyubik — 18, Oleg Pushkarev — 15, Ivan Losenko, Yehor Yarmolyuk — 14 each, Yurii-Volodymyr Gereta, Denys Pochapskyi, Nazar Rusyak — 13 each, Andriy Kitela — 12, Oleg Fedor, Anton Tsarenko — each 11, Andriy Buleza, Danylo Udod — 10 each.

In 2023, three players made their debut in this youth national team - Nikita Aleksandrov, Kyrylo Sigheev and Dmytro Chernysh.

After March 2023, football players born in 2004 turned into full-fledged candidates for the youth national team of Ukraine. In which, by the way, two of this generation had time to debut even earlier: in November 2020 — Yehor Yarmolyuk, in November 2022 — Kyrylo Sigeev. Yarmolyuk, who has already become a core player of the youth team, has 10 matches on his account, Sigheev has four.

In September 2023, Andriy Buleza, Ivan Losenko and Bohdan Slyubik also played their debut games for the U-21 team under the leadership of Unaya Melhosa. But they haven't had a sequel yet. Another member of the 2004 generation — Ivan Varfolomeev — remained in reserve for the November match.

All football players of the youth national team of Ukraine U-19/20 of 2023