Croatia U19 vs Ukraine U19 prediction 29.06.2026 | EURO U19

Croatia U19 managed to qualify for the EURO U19 for the first time since 2016, when they finished the competition with all three losses. The qualifications were pretty challenging as they first won Group 6 with Serbia U19, Georgia U19, and Georgia U19 in the first phase, and then even more impressively won the group with France U19, Switzerland U19, and Norway U19. The Croats hosted those two phases, which probably helped them a little in their qualifying campaigns. Now, it will be interesting to see whether their excellent performances will continue at the EURO in Wales. 

After securing the EURO, HNS president Marjan Kustic spoke to the media. He described it as one of the most beautiful days for Croatian football, highlighting the rare achievement of a small country simultaneously qualifying for multiple youth European and world tournaments. The president said the success did not come by accident, but rather through hard and systematic work. 

Ukraine U19 squad has failed to qualify for the previous tournament but reached the Semi-Finals in the previous one in Northern Ireland in 2024. Interestingly, they have four semi-finals and one championship (in 2009 when they hosted the competition) in six appearances. We can safely say they did great whenever they appeared in the tournament. In these Qualifiers, the Ukrainian team has done well, but we can safely say they had a much easier job and haven't faced opponents as difficult as Croatia U19 did. 

In recent days, coach Dmytro Mykhaylenko spoke about the upcoming EURO U19. He said that it is a pretty balanced group and that a lot will be decided by the team's preparations. However, the coach said Italy U19 is the favorite, with Serbia U19 as the second-best team.