U-19. Ukraine became a participant in the final tournament of the European Championship for the eighth time: a historical perspective

30.03.2024 16:00

Photo by uefa.com

Youth team of Ukraine U-19 for the first time since 2018 made their way to the final part of the European Championship and can fully count on a successful continuation of performances in the Euro-2024 cycle. After all, in four of the seven previous exits to the final round, our players won medals. Let's remember how it was.

At their debut European Championship in 2000 (then it was called Euro U-18, although 19-year-old footballers played), Anatoly Kroschenko's wards reached the final, where they lost to France — 0:1.

In 2009, at the home Euro, which was held on the fields of Donetsk and Mariupol, Yury Kalitvyntsev's team from second place in the group advanced to the semifinals, where they defeated Serbia (3:1), and then England (2:0) in the final. and won the European Championship!

Two more times, our 19-year-old football players took bronze awards, stopping in the semifinals — in 2004 and 2018. Both times it was enough to make it to the U-20 World Championship, where the Ukrainian team won gold for the fourth time - in 2019!

It is worth noting that the U-19 (and then U-20) national team of Ukraine achieved success most often under the leadership of Oleksandr Petrakov. With him, she twice made it to the finals of the Euro tournament and took bronze in 2018, played with him twice at the U-20 World Cup (2015 — 1/8 finals, 2019 — gold).

Ukrainian national team U-19 in the final tournaments of the European Championship