Ukraine national under-21 football team
The Ukraine national under-21 football team, nicknamed Молодіжка (the Young Men), is Ukraine’s junior national team for players under 21. It is run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The current head coach is Unai Melgosa and the captain is Maksym Melnychenko. The most-capped player is Arseniy Batahov with 39 appearances, and the top scorer is Pylyp Budkivskyi with 18 goals. Their home stadium is the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium.
Their first international match was a 0-0 draw with Belarus in Ternopil on 28 October 1992. The biggest win so far was 8-0 against Armenia in Kyiv on 13 October 1998, and the biggest defeat was 4-0 to France in Paris on 26 March 1999.
The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship and in Olympic qualifying. They have appeared at the Olympics once, in 2024, where they reached the group stage. In the UEFA Under-21 Championship, they have taken part four times (first in 2006), with their best result being runners-up in 2006 after losing 3-0 to the Netherlands in the final.
A brief history: Ukraine’s under-21s emerged after the country’s independence. Their first competitive campaign was in Youth Euro 1996 qualification. They reached the final of the 2006 European Under-21 Championship, finishing as runners-up, and also qualified for Euro 2011 in Denmark. Since 1992, Ukraine have hosted home games at many different stadiums across the country.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:53 (CET).