Unai Melgosa's team took the lead twice against the Poles but ultimately suffered defeat.
The Ukrainian youth football team (U-21) lost to Poland in preparation for the final tournament of Euro 2025. The friendly match in Belek (Turkey) ended with a score of 3:2 in favor of the Poles.
The first half was dominated by the “blue-yellows” – in the 19th minute the score in the match was opened by the forward of Gdansk “Lechia” Bohdan Viunnik .
At the start of the second half, the Poles got even – in the 49th minute, Szymon Włodarczyk scored. In the 67th minute, Vyunnik scored a double, putting the Ukrainians ahead again.
However, Unai Melgosa's men failed to maintain their lead. In the 78th minute, Mariusz Fornalczyk restored parity in the match, and a minute before the end of regular time, Filip Szymczak snatched victory for the Polish team.
Full video of the match Poland U-21 – Ukraine U-21
It should be noted that on March 21, the Ukrainian youth team tied in a friendly match with Slovenia (1:1), and then lost in a series of post-match penalties – 5:6.
The final stage of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2025 will take place from 11 to 28 June 2025 in Slovakia.
The Ukrainian youth team will play in Group D at the upcoming European Championship with teams from Denmark (June 12), Finland (June 15) and the Netherlands (June 18).
The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals (June 21-22), followed by the semi-finals (June 25) and the final in Bratislava (June 28).
The youth team of Ukraine (U-21) is the current semi-finalist of the continental championship. At Euro 2023, the Ukrainians, led by Ruslan Rotan, stopped one step away from the final, losing to Spain in the semi-final.
Thanks to this achievement, our country was represented for the first time in history in the football tournament at the Olympic Games, which took place in 2024 in France.
Earlier it was reported that the Ukrainian youth team learned its opponents in the Euro 2027 qualifiers.