Under-21 Group D: Finland vs Ukraine facts

Matchday 2 of UEFA European Under-21 Championship Group D kicks off at the Košice Football Arena as Finland face Ukraine.

Both sides are looking to regroup after letting slip favourable positions on Matchday 1. Finland had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Netherlands in Košice despite taking a two-goal lead thanks to first-half strikes from Casper Terho (25) and Topi Keskinen (28), while Ukraine twice led Denmark in Presov through Nazar Voloshyn (22) and Maksym Braharu (78) only to concede twice in the final ten minutes to lose 2-3.

Previous European U21 Championship meetings

Matches 4
Finland wins 1
Ukraine wins 2
Draws 1
Finland goals 4
Ukraine goals 5

The teams were paired in the 2021 qualifying competition, each recording a 2-0 away victory. Benjamin Källman (18) and Onni Valakari (81pen) gave Finland the points in Zaporizhzhia on 6 September 2019; Yukhym Konoplya (23) and Danylo Sikan (45+3) did likewise for Ukraine in Helsinki on 8 September 2020.

Ukraine took four points off Finland in the 2013 qualifying competition, a 1-1 home draw in Sevastopol preceding a 2-1 win in Lahti with Pylyp Budkivskyi scoring in each game. Roman Bezus got Ukraine's first goal in Finland, where Joel Pohjanpalo got a late consolation for the hosts.

Form guide

Finland

Finland's sole previous finals appearance came in 2009, when they lost all three games in a group also including England (1-2), Germany (0-2) and Spain (0-2).

The Finns were third in their qualifying section behind Norway and Croatia as they missed out on the 2023 finals.

This time round, a team coached by Mika Lehkosuo – appointed in January 2023 – claimed 20 points, Finland's record tally, to finish second in Group E behind Romania (W6 D2 L2). They then beat Norway 6-3 on aggregate in the play-offs (5-1 h, 1-2 a).

Otso Liimatta was Finland's top scorer in qualifying with seven goals.

Ukraine

Ukraine are making successive finals appearances for the first time.

A team coached by Ruslan Rotan reached the semi-finals at the 2023 tournament, finishing Group B runners-up behind Spain – the teams level on seven points – before beating France 3-1 in the quarter-finals only to lose 5-1 against Spain in the last four.

That was Ukraine's first finals appearance since 2011. Five years earlier they had reached the final on debut, winning their group and beating Serbia and Montenegro 5-4 on penalties after a goalless draw in the semi-finals before a 3-0 defeat in the final against a Netherlands side Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko's team had beaten 2-1 on Matchday 1.

With Spaniard Unai Melgosa having replaced Rotan as head coach, Ukraine were second behind holders England in qualifying Group F for these finals, picking up 24 points after winning eight of their ten games (L2).

Nazar Voloshyn was Ukraine's top scorer in qualifying on 24 goals.

Links and trivia

Adam Marhiyev was in the RFS side beaten 1-0 by Dynamo Kyiv on Matchday 8 of the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League. The Ukrainian side included Kostiantyn Vivcharenko, Taras Mykhavko, Vladyslav Vanat, Valentyn Rubchynskyi and Nazar Voloshyn.