France U-21 – Ukraine U-21. Options for the blue-yellows in the context of the 2024 Olympics and the unsuccessful story of the confrontation with the Tricolors

On July 2, as part of the 1/4 finals of Euro 2023, the youth team of Ukraine will play with their peers from France. After yesterday’s stage matches, in which Spain beat Switzerland and Israel beat Georgia, the chances of the blue-yellows for a ticket to the 2024 Olympics have become clearer. However, reaching the semi-finals may not be enough to get to the Games in Paris.

Option one: Ukraine beats France, England beats Portugal

With such arrangements, everything is simple. Pairs of semi-finalists will look as follows: Spain – Ukraine and Israel – England. Considering that the British do not apply for a ticket to the Olympics, and that the three best teams of the tournament will receive it, the blue-yellows will receive a pass to Paris.

Option two: Ukraine loses to France, England wins against Portugal

In this case, a couple of semi-finalists will be: Spain – France and Israel – England. So, two out of three vouchers are guaranteed by Spain and Israel. The third in a face-to-face match will be played by the two best ranked teams that have been eliminated in the 1/4 finals. And these are the national teams of Ukraine and Georgia.

Option three: Ukraine loses to France, England to Portugal

The worst option for blue-yellow. In this scenario, Spain – France and Portugal – Israel will play in the semi-finals. This means that all four semi-finalists will receive tickets to the 2024 Olympics. Recall that France gets to the Games directly, as the host of the Olympics.

How Ukraine played with France

So far, the statistics are not on the side of the blue-yellows. The Ukrainian youth team played 8 matches with their French peers. One – won, four – ended in a draw, three – lost. Scored eight goals, conceded 18.

Of the three defeats, all three were away. Two of them are painful. In March 1999, the blue-yellows received four dry goals, in October 2021 – five. In October 2015, the failure was not so tangible – 0:2.

The only victory over the Tricolor was in September 2016 under the leadership of Alexander Golovko. The duel in Kyiv at the Obolon stadium ended with a minimal victory for the blue-yellows – 1:0, thanks to a goal by Vakulko. For France, by the way, Pavard, Hernandez, Alle played in that match.

But all three draws were successful: two – 2:2, one – 3:3. The latter was recorded in the last face-to-face meeting of the teams today – in September last year, as part of the selection for Euro 2023.

France beat Ukraine three times in the group

Four times the youth teams of Ukraine and France ended up in the same selection group for the European Championship. Three times the Tricolors overtook the blue-yellows, since our team managed to get ahead of the French in the final standings.

It happened during the Euro 2011 qualification, when the blue-yellows finished first in their group, France – the third. The gap between the teams was only one point 16 against 15.

In the Euro 2000 qualifier, when the French and Ukrainian teams met for the first time in the same qualifying group, the Tricolors ended up with one point of advantage – 21 against 20. France finished first, Ukraine – second.

The situation was repeated in the Euro 2023 qualification, with the only difference being that the gap between the teams was three points: 26 for France, 23 for Ukraine.

In the qualification for Euro 2017, the blue-yellows lost to France by six points – 14 points against 20. At the same time, Ukraine finished fourth in the group, France – the second, letting the team of North Macedonia go ahead.