Ukraine vs Croatia facts

Ukraine kick off their first UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals campaign in 12 years at the Giulești Stadium in Bucharest against Croatia, who are appearing in a third successive tournament.

While Ukraine have not featured in the finals since 2011, their Matchday 1 opponents reached the knockout stages for the first time in 2021 after three previous group stage eliminations.

Group B is completed by co-hosts Romania and five time winners Spain, with all six matches in Bucharest at either the Giulești Stadium or the Steaua Stadium.

Previous meetings

The sides have played five previous competitive U21 games, most recently in 2015 qualifying. Croatia were 2-0 away winners in the first game in Lviv on 9 September 2013 thanks to early goals from Ante Rebić (16) and Marcelo Brozović (19); Rebić was also on target in the return fixture in Zagreb on 28 May 2014, his 56th-minute strike cancelled out six minutes later by Ruslan Malinovskyi.

The teams finished level on 19 points at the top of Group 5, Croatia placing first on head-to-head record, although both lost in the play-offs. Croatia were beaten 4-2 on aggregate by England while Germany were Ukraine's conquerors (5-0 agg).

Ukraine had come out on top in qualifying for the 2007 finals, with a 2-1 away victory in Rijeka on 6 September 2006 – although that was the only one of their two qualifying fixtures they won, Croatia losing both as Bulgaria finished top of the three-team section.

That was the teams' first fixture since 1995 when, in the 1996 preliminaries, Croatia won 1-0 in Zaprešić before a 1-1 draw in Kyiv. Once again, however, neither progressed to the finals, Italy finishing a point above Ukraine at the top of qualifying Group 4.

The sides' only other U21 fixture was a 2-1 Ukraine away victory in a March 2011 friendly, meaning each side has two wins in the six games between the countries, Croatia scoring seven goals to Ukraine's six.

Form guide

Ukraine

Ukraine are making their third finals appearance and a first since 2011, when they finished bottom of Group B having failed to win a game (D1 L2).

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.

Ukraine were third in their qualifying section for the 2021 tournament, behind Denmark and Romania.

This time round, Ruslan Rotan's side qualified with a play-off victory against Slovakia (2-3 a, 3-0 h), Danylo Sikan scoring a second-leg hat-trick.

Ukraine had finished second in Group H on 23 points, three behind France. They won seven of their ten matches and lost only one, albeit their heaviest ever qualifying defeat – 5-0 away to the section winners in which they were reduced to ten men after 26 minutes.

Dmytro Kryskiv, who scored in the first-leg loss in Slovakia, was Ukraine's top scorer in qualifying with four goals.

Croatia

Croatia are appearing in the final tournament for the fifth time, and the third in succession.

After bowing out in the group stage in 2000, 2004 and 2019 – failing to win a game in any of the three tournaments – Igor Bišćan's side snatched second place in Group D in 2021 thanks to Domagoj Bradarić's 91st-minute strike in a 2-1 defeat by England on Matchday 3. That took Croatia through on goals scored in a three-way head-to-head after they had finished level with Switzerland and England on three points; they subsequently lost 2-1 after extra time to Spain in the quarter-finals.

A 3-2 win against Switzerland on Matchday 2 in 2021 is Croatia's only victory in the U21 finals; their record otherwise is D3 L9.

In 2023 qualifying, Bišćan's team finished second behind Norway in Group A, winning seven of their ten games and losing only two – both 3-2, at home to Finland and away to Norway. They went on to beat Denmark 5-4 on penalties in the play-offs after a 3-3 aggregate draw, both teams winning 2-1 at home.

Roko Šimić was the team's top scorer in qualifying with seven goals, putting him joint second in the overall rankings for the 2023 preliminaries. He was the only player to feature in all 12 of Croatia's matches.

Links and trivia

Artem Bondarenko scored Shakhtar Donetsk's goal in a 1-1 draw at home to Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Youth League group stage on 22 October 2019. Bartol Franjić was in the Croatian club's side while Anatoliy Trubin, Kryskiv, Georgiy Sudakov, Sikan and Mykhailo Mudryk also featured for Shakhtar.

Franjić also helped Dinamo to a 1-0 home win in the reverse UEFA Youth League fixture on 6 November 2019. Trubin, Kryskiv, Sudakov, Bondarenko, Mudryk and Oleh Ocheretko played for Shakhtar.

A Dinamo Zagreb side including Franjić beat Dynamo Kyiv 4-3 on penalties in the UEFA Youth League play-offs on 12 February 2020. Ruslan Neshcheret and Kostiantyn Vivchenko were in the Dynamo side.