Ukraine headed to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019™ having fallen at the Round of 16 in each of their three previous visits. A side coached by Oleksandr Petrakov and featuring Andriy Lunin defied the odds to go all the way and clinch the nation’s first FIFA title with a 3-1 final win over Korea Republic.
With the 2021 event – originally planned for Indonesia – cancelled due to COVID, and the Blue and Yellows having failed to reach the showpiece two years later in Argentina, Chile 2025 will be the first time since lifting the title that they have touched down on U-20 World Cup soil.
They’re now led by Dmytro Mykhaylenko, a former Ukraine international who has previously coached Dnipro and Pafos. He took over in February 2024, and is loving his new line of work.
“I’m really happy to be a part of the Ukrainian Federation,” he told FIFA in an exclusive interview. “It’s nice. It’s a little bit different to managing a club team, it’s more work in the offices. But I’m enjoying it.”
Soon after entering the hotseat, he was tasked with leading his new side through the elite round of UEFA U-19 EURO qualifying, in which they defeated hosts North Macedonia, Latvia and Switzerland to reach the event.
The finals acted as the qualifying tournament for Chile 2025, with the top two from the pair of four-team groups punching their tickets, while the third-placed sides faced each other in the play-off. Drawn alongside hosts Northern Ireland, Norway and Italy, Mykhaylenko admits he thought qualifying would be a tall order.
“No, it was a hard way to pass through with the strong teams we played,” Mykhaylenko admitted when asked if he entered the tournament eyeing qualification. “We were happy to, first, be in the elite-round group in North Macedonia. That was the tournament where we got the confidence to go through a strong group in Northern Ireland.”
Goalless draws with the hosts and Norway ensured Mykhaylenko’s charges entered the final-day battle with Italy in second and guaranteed at least a spot in the play-off, but an unlikely victory would rubber-stamp their U-20 World Cup return.
A delightful Hennadiy Synchuk lob put the Blue and Yellows in front on seven minutes, but Italy roared back, as goals either side of half-time put the Azzurrini in control. Undeterred, Ukraine levelled through Danylo Krevsun, before Matviy Ponomarenko coolly slotted home a 75th-minute penalty to secure the win and their ticket to Chile.
“The biggest problem with the tournament in Northern Ireland was that it was vacation time and many guys weren’t in good shape for this competition,” he recalled of the July finals. “That’s why we got better and better throughout the tournament. In the first and second games, we didn’t produce the best performance.
“Against Italy, it was our best game in the tournament. We were good against France [in the subsequent semi-final], but against Italy, it was a great performance. We were very proud. For Ukraine, it’s always tough to play against a strong team like England, Italy, Spain, whatever. It’s always a big success to beat them. I’m proud of what we achieved.”
Ukraine took that confidence into their last-four meeting at Windsor Park with France. They made most of the running in a first half where good chances went begging and Oleksiy Husyev hit the bar, but Les Bleuets would eventually edge it 1-0 to make the final. Drenched in pride, Mykhaylenko took solace from his team’s showing.
“After the game, we were disappointed because we were very close to the final,” he said. “It was an equal game without many chances for both teams. Unfortunately, the luck was on the French side. We could keep our heads high after the tournament, we were happy with it. It’s not so often that the Ukrainian U-19 side plays in a semi-final of a European competition.”
You can read more from our interview with Dmytro Mykhaylenko below.
Dmytro Mykhaylenko: It’s quite an equal group, I don’t think we have a big team like Brazil or Argentina [to contend with]. It’s very difficult to predict who’s going to be first or second place in the group. It’s quite interesting. Everything is in our hands and we believe in ourselves.
I don’t think so. It’s another story, another page. We’re going to prepare for this game, we’re not turning back to 2019 when Ukraine beat them in the final. It was a very talented generation for Ukraine. Now, we have another generation. I think it’s going to be a completely new history.
We want to play attractive football and we want to show our best. We have talented boys. Now, we have many players who play in other countries; there are guys who play in a different European country or in the USA. We expect an attacking game. We want to go as far as we can. We have a very strong group of players who have been together for two or three years already.
For us, it’s a big honour to represent our country in such a competition. We want to be in the quarter-final or a semi-final, that’s our target. We want to give some happiness to the Ukrainian people. All of the guys are looking forward to the competition and want to show our best.
I think we have two or three players who are going to be part of the team. Maybe not quite so soon, but in the future, some of them are going to play for the senior team. We have a talented 2005/2006 generation. One of them (Taras Mykhavko) has already been called up for the national team.
