Today, February 17, the Ukrainian U-18 youth team (players born in 2008) within the training camp in Rome will play their first of two friendly matches against the host — Italy's U-18 national team.

The camp in Italy is part of preparation for the first round of Euro-2027 (U-19), where Ukraine's yellow and blue will face Czechia, Finland, and Estonia.

Head coach Mykhailo Mikhaylenko shared his expectations:

"We are going to Italy together with Oleksandr Sytnyk, so the task is to observe and test players against one of the best teams in this age category. We want to gain experience that we cannot get by playing in Ukraine. Besides, we will try to play on equal terms with the Italians and win."

I believe we have gathered the strongest players born in 2008, but I would like to emphasize that everything is changing rapidly at this age, footballers progress quite quickly, and I do not rule out that new names may appear on the next camp roster."

The match between Ukraine's and Italy's U-18 teams will take place at the Riano Athletic Center stadium belonging to the "Roma City" club, starting at 15:30 Kyiv time. Live stream — on the UAFA YouTube channel.

Ukraine's U-18 youth team squad

Gk: Kyrylo Hadashevych (VfB Stuttgart, Germany), Fedir Tkachenko (Real Betis, Spain).

Df: Yehor Kostyuk, Nikita Kaluzhnyi, Yaroslav Mylikost, Oleksandr Balakai (all from Shakhtar Donetsk), Danylo Ogorodnik (Dynamo Kyiv), Arsen Zalipka (Ruch Lviv), Volodymyr Halyi (Polissia Zhytomyr), Yehor Sherstyuk (Metallist Kharkiv), Mykhailo Melnyk (Napoli, Italy).

Md: Artem Zubryi (Shakhtar Donetsk), Pavlo Lysyn, Arseniy Fedorenko (both from Dynamo Kyiv), Muhamed Juraibaev (Ruch Lviv), Illia Kutiya (Hajduk Croatia), Maxim Tsymbalyuk (Vilniaus Dainava, Poland).

At: Ivan Andreyko (Dynamo Kyiv), Mykhaylo Bodnar (Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih), Dmytro Zudin (Hajduk Croatia), Vitaliy Glut (Chicago Fire, USA), Kirill Sydoruk (Stuttgart, Germany).

Schedule of Ukraine's U-18 youth team matches in Italy

17.02. Italy — Ukraine. 15:30

19.02. Italy — Ukraine. 12:00

Match start times — Kyiv time.

Reminder, in the first round of Euro-2027 (U-19) Ukraine will play in Group A3 with Czechia, Finland, and Estonia. The tournament for our group is from March 25 to March 31 in Finland.

European Championship 2027 (U-19). First round of qualification

Liga A

Group A1: Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden, Cyprus.

Group A2: Italy, Ireland, Poland, Scotland. 

Group A3: Czechia, Finland, Ukraine, Estonia.

Group A4: Germany, Austria, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Group A5: England, Croatia, Spain, Bulgaria.

Group A6: Portugal, Serbia, Greece, Kazakhstan. 

Group A7: France, Switzerland, Hungary, Wales.

Liga B

Group B1: Denmark, Romania, Andorra, Liechtenstein.

Group B2: Turkey, Kosovo, Armenia, Gibraltar.

Group B3: Slovakia, Belarus, Latvia, San Marino.

Group B4: Norway, Albania, Luxembourg, Malta.

Group B5: Netherlands, Faroe Islands, North Macedonia, Moldova.

Group B6: Northern Ireland, Lithuania, Azerbaijan.

Group B7: Iceland, Montenegro, Georgia.

Qualification to the second round

After the first round is completed, teams will proceed as follows:

• Teams that occupy 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in Liga A remain in Liga A for the second round.
• Teams that occupy 4th place in Liga A proceed to Liga B for the second round.
• Winners of groups in Liga B advance to Liga A for the second round.
• Teams that occupy 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in Liga B remain in Liga B for the second round.

Teams that played against each other in the first round will not meet again in the second round.