Meet the Under-19 Futsal EURO semi-finalists: Spain vs Ukraine, Portugal vs Slovenia

Holders Portugal play Slovenia after two-time winners Spain meet Ukraine in Friday's 2025 UEFA European Under-19 Futsal Championship semi-finals at Arena Chișinău.

The four made it through the group stage on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday with Portugal topping Group A and Spain winning Group B. We introduce the contenders, with Portugal looking to retain the trophy, Spain attempting to make it three titles and four finals in four editions and both Slovenia and Ukraine aiming for a maiden decider.

SPAIN vs UKRAINE

• Spain have met Ukraine in all three previous final tournaments, beating them 3-2 in the 2023 semis, drawing 2-2 in the 2022 group stage and winning 7-1 in the same round in 2019. Spain and Ukraine met in two Las Rozas friendlies last month with one win apiece.

Spain

Qualifying main round Group 2 winners (Esztergom, Hungary)
9-0 vs England, 3-1 vs Finland, 5-0 vs Hungary

Final tournament Group B winners
3-0 vs Türkiye, 3-2 vs Czechia, 6-2 vs Slovenia

Finals top scorers: Pablo Guti, Daniel Martínez Ruano 4
Top scorer including qualifying: Pablo Guti 7

2023 final tournament: Runners-up
Group stage: 3-5 vs Portugal, 3-3 vs Croatia, 5-2 vs France
Semi-finals: 3-2 vs Ukraine
Final: 2-6 vs Portugal

2022 final tournament: Winners (hosts)
Group stage: 9-0 vs Romania, 11-1 vs Croatia, 2-2 vs Ukraine
Semi-finals: 5-2 (aet) vs Poland
Final: 6-2 (aet) vs Portugal

2019 final tournament: Winners
Group stage: 3-0 vs Croatia, 7-1 vs Ukraine, 5-0 vs Netherlands
Semi-finals: 3-1 vs Poland
Final: 6-1 vs Croatia

• Coach Albert Canillas has led Spain to two titles and three finals in the three previous editions. He has coached an unrivalled 27 matches in this competition and brought up his 100th game as Spain U19 coach on Wednesday against Slovenia.
• Spain have never failed to reach the final of this competition.

Ukraine

Qualifying main round Group 5 winners (Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia)
9-2 vs Montenegro, 6-2 vs Netherlands, 1-0 vs Serbia

Final tournament Group A runners-up
7-0 vs Moldova, 0-4 vs Portugal, 2-0 vs Italy

Final tournament top scorer: Nazar Pershyn 3
Top scorers including qualifying: Nazar Pershyn 6

2023 final tournament: Semi-finals
Group stage: 1-2 vs Italy, 4-2 vs Slovenia, 7-4 vs Finland
Semi-finals: 2-3 vs Spain

2022 final tournament: Semi-finals
Group stage: 6-4 vs Croatia, 5-2 vs Romania, 2-2 vs Spain
Semi-finals: 1-4 vs Portugal

2019 final tournament: Group stage
Group stage: 7-0 vs Netherlands, 1-7 vs Spain, 1-3 vs Croatia

• Ukraine are without qualifying top scorer Oleksandr Zhukov and 2023 finals veteran Ilya Prykhodko for the tournament due to injury.
• Goalkeeper Ivan Bielimov was part of the 2023 squad.

PORTUGAL VS SLOVENIA

• Portugal beat Slovenia 3-2 in a dramatic 2023 semi-final in Poreč, Croatia. This June they met again in the same city and Portugal also won 3-2 on their way to another title, in the Futsal Week competition.

Portugal (holders)

Main round Group 3 winners (Gondomar, Portugal)
9-2 vs Belarus, 3-1 vs Kazakhstan, 4-4 vs France

Final tournament Group A winners
7-1 vs Italy, 4-0 vs Ukraine, 10-0 vs Moldova

Finals top scorer: Rodrigo Monteiro 7
Top scorer including qualifying: Rodrigo Monteiro 8

2023 final tournament: Winners
Group stage: 5-3 vs Spain, 5-1 vs France, 4-3 vs Croatia
Semi-finals: 3-2 vs Slovenia
Final: 6-2 vs Spain

2022 final tournament: Runners-up
Group stage: 4-2 vs Poland, 2-1 vs France, 6-1 vs Italy
Semi-finals: 4-1 vs Ukraine
Final: 2-6 (aet) vs Spain

2019 final tournament: Semi-finals
Group stage: 6-0 vs Latvia, 3-1 vs Poland, 4-1 vs Russia
Semi-finals: 2-2 (aet, 2-3 pens) vs Croatia

• Portugal are yet to be beaten over 40 minutes in this competition, the penalties loss to Croatia in 2019 and extra-time defeat by Spain in 2022 the sole blemishes.
• Rodrigo Monteiro scored against Italy then got hat-tricks versus Ukraine and Moldova to move onto a U19 Futsal EURO finals record seven goals.

Slovenia

Qualifying main round Group 4 winners (Jelgava, Latvia)
5-0 vs Andorra, 5-2 vs Belgium, 6-3 vs Latvia

Final tournament Group B runners-up
2-1 vs Czechia, 4-1 vs Türkiye, 2-6 vs Spain

Finals top scorer: Mihael Čop 3
Top scorers including qualifying: Mihael Čop, Urban Sevenšek 6

2023 final tournament: Semi-finals
Group stage: 4-2 vs Finland, 2-4 vs Ukraine, 4-2 vs Italy
Semi-finals: 2-3 vs Portugal

2022 final tournament: Did not qualify

2019 final tournament: Did not qualify

• Captain Lovro Trdin was part of the Slovenia squad that reached the last four in 2023 and has a national record 52 U19 caps.
• Martin and Mihael Čop are the brothers of Luka Čop, who helped Slovenia to the 2023 semis.