Ukraine team guide
Friday, May 1, 2015
Article summary
The 2009 champions bowed out in the group stage 12 months ago but will go into the 2015 tournament having scored 19 goals in their six qualifying fixtures.
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Ukraine breezed through qualifying, winning four, drawing two and averaging over three goals a game. Coach Olexandr Holovko put a lot of faith in players from FC Shakhtar Donetsk, whose Under-19s have enjoyed an excellent season having reached the UEFA Youth League final. Of the Shakhtar contingent, free-scoring midfielders Beka Vachiberadze and Viktor Kovalenko in particular caught the eye, even though the latter missed the elite round after attending a training camp for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Ukraine were winners of this competition on home soil in 2009, and are returning to the final tournament for the second time since then after bowing out in the group stage last term.
Qualifying round: Sweden 2-2, Bulgaria 5-1, Israel 5-0 (Group 8 winners)
Elite round: Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1, Poland 4-2, Montenegro 2-0 (Group 5 winners)
Key players: Valeriy Luchkevych (defender, FK Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Beka Vachiberadze (midfielder, FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Viktor Kovalenko (midfielder, FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Marian Shved (FC Karpaty)
Coach: Olexandr Holovko
Date of birth: 06/01/1972
A central defender for Ukraine and a member of the FC Dynamo Kyiv side that got to the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, Holovko is a disciple of Ukrainian coaching great Valeriy Lobanovskiy.
Team records
Qualifying top scorers
Viktor Kovalenko, Andriy Boryachuk, Olexandr Zubkov: 3
UEFA European Under-19 Championship best
Winners: 2009
Honours in UEFA youth competitions
UEFA European Under-19 Championship
Winners: 2009
UEFA European Under-18 Championship
Runners-up: 2000
