Today, January 26 in Turkey, the Ukrainian U-16 youth team (footballers born in 2010) will play their first match within an international friendly tournament — against the Czech Republic team.

The head coach of the Ukrainian U-16 youth team, Volodymyr Samborskyi, noted that this stage of preparation has a familiarizing character due to the large number of new players in the squad:

"At this stage of preparation, there are many new footballers, so we work and get acquainted simultaneously. Overall, with players born in 2010, we are slightly behind in terms of scouting: last year there was only one camp, and already for 2026, we plan to gather four times. Therefore, now it is important to cover as many performers as possible and prepare the squad for the first qualification round of the European Championship."

Artem Reba did not leave "Barcelona". The same situation with goalkeeper David Kryvets from "Real" and Zakharcha Hetman from "Feenord". In addition, only recently recovered from injury David Vizavetskyi from "Juventus", whom we planned to call for the first camp of this team. But overall, now we have the opportunity to observe performers who play abroad — such as nine of them right away."

Throughout the training-camp period, the blue and yellow will play three matches: two within the tournament, and another friendly match on January 31, the opponent for which is currently being clarified.

The match Ukraine (U-16) — Czech Republic (U-16) will begin at 11:00 Kyiv time. The live stream will be available on the YouTube channel of UAF.

Ukrainian U-16 youth team squad

GK: Ihor Galdin («Levante», Spain), Mykhaylo Mykula («Braga», Portugal), Artem Skakun («Hertha», Germany).

DF: Maksym Misyura («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Timur Ugrik, Kostyantyn Kyslyanka (both — «Ruh» Lviv), Mykhaylo Abramovich («Gorytsia», Croatia), Bohdan Begmetiuk («Milan», Italy), Yaroslav Kybukevych («OFKIP-Polissia» Kyiv), Kyrylo Savchenko («Haiduk», Croatia).

DM: Illya Birladanu («Shakhtar» Donetsk), Illya Ostrovsky, Denys Gordyeyev (both — «Ruh» Lviv), Bohdan Podhorodniy, Myroslav Donik (both — LNZ Cherniaki), Artem Kovbasuk («Kishvarda», Hungary), Danylo Malikov («Fortuna», Germany), Bohdan Rudenko («Shlonsk», Poland).

FW: Artem Fedushko, Oleh Dyurinets, Illya Bodak (all — «Ruh» Lviv), Yevhen Shevchenko (LNZ Cherniaki).

Schedule of the Ukrainian U-16 youth team matches

26.01. Ukraine (U-16) — Czech Republic (U-16). 11:00

28.01. Turkey (U-16) — Ukraine (U-16). 14:00 

31.01. Ukraine (U-16) — opponent to be clarified.