Mark Holenkov from Maccabi Haifa was included in the Ukraine U-18 youth national team’s squad for an international friendly tournament in Croatia. For the Israeli audience, this is not just a line in the lineup: the Ukrainian team is once again reaching the European youth level with a player representing an Israeli club.
The head coach of the Ukraine U-18 team, Dmytro Mykhaylenko, announced a list of 24 players for the tournament, which takes place in Croatia from June 3 to 9, 2026. The squad includes three goalkeepers, one of whom is Mark Holenkov, representing Maccabi Haifa, Israel. This was reported by the Ukrainian Football Association on June 3, 2026.
Ukraine U-18 in Croatia: dates, opponents, and schedule
The Ukraine U-18 team is holding a June friendly tournament in Croatia as part of the preparation for a new generation of players. Such tournaments rarely become big news outside the football community, but it is here that coaches test the nearest reserve, look at players from Ukrainian and foreign academies, and assemble the team before more serious international challenges.
Ukraine is set to play three matches: against Finland on June 3 at 18:30, against Norway on June 6 at 13:00, and against Turkey on June 9 at 13:00. This schedule is confirmed in publications about Mykhaylenko’s team lineup.
For the youth team, this is an important segment. Matches against Scandinavian teams and Turkey offer different levels of resistance: Finland and Norway are traditionally strong in organization and physicality, while Turkey is known for speed, combativeness, and individual actions.
Why Holenkov’s call-up is important for Israel
Mark Holenkov is listed in the squad as a goalkeeper for Maccabi Haifa. For Israeli football, this is a noticeable detail: the club from Haifa gains direct presence in the Ukrainian youth national team, and the story itself becomes another example of the connection between Ukrainian and Israeli football.
In Israel, such episodes are read more broadly than an ordinary sports news. Haifa, the Ukrainian national team, youth football, an international tournament in Croatia—all of this forms a living map of contacts between the two countries.
Against the backdrop of Russia’s war against Ukraine, sports remain one of the channels where Ukrainian presence in Europe continues to be visible. And if a player from an Israeli club appears in the national team, it enhances the attention of the Israeli audience.
Who Dmytro Mykhaylenko called up
Dmytro Mykhaylenko included 24 players in the squad. The goalkeeper line-up looks like this: Rostyslav Baglay from Shakhtar Donetsk, Mark Holenkov from Maccabi Haifa, and Yehor Klymenko from Rukh Lviv.
In defense, there are Nikita Melnyk from Napoli, Zakhar Onyshchuk from Bologna, Yehor Kostiuk and Nikita Kalyuzhny from Shakhtar, Yehor Sherstiuk from Metalist Kharkiv, Dmytro Maksymenko from Rebel Kyiv, and Arsen Zalipka from Rukh.
The midfield is assembled from players of Ukrainian and foreign clubs. The list includes Oleksandr Balakai and Artem Zubrii from Shakhtar, Illia Kutia from Hajduk Split, Vitalii Hliut from Chicago Fire, Dmytro Sukhonos from Kolos, Mykola Petrovskiy from Stuttgart, Illia Hryshchenko from Metalist, Mukhammad Dzhurabaev from Rukh, Vasyl Hustei from Puskas Academy, and Ivan Bahrii from Metalist 1925.
In attack, Mykhaylenko relies on Dmytro Zudin from Hajduk Split, Illia Menshikov from Austria Vienna, Matvii Bodnar from Kryvbas, and Oleksandr Dedov from Karpaty Lviv.
The lineup shows the geography of Ukrainian football
In this squad, it is clearly visible how the map of Ukrainian youth football has changed. The team includes players from Ukrainian clubs, but there is also a noticeable group of footballers from Italy, Germany, Austria, the USA, Hungary, Croatia, and Israel.
This is no longer a local story of one football school. Ukrainian youths are developing in different systems, playing in different championships, and returning to the national team with different experiences.
For the coaching staff, this is both an advantage and a challenge. The team receives players with international practice, but they need to be quickly assembled into a single game model. In a short tournament in Croatia, there is little time for adaptation, so discipline, interaction, and reliability in each line are important.
It is here that the role of goalkeepers is especially sensitive. At the youth level, a goalkeeper’s mistake often changes not only the score but also the psychology of the entire team. Therefore, the inclusion of Mark Holenkov from Maccabi Haifa in the trio of goalkeepers is not a formality but a real opportunity to make a statement in the Ukrainian national team system.
Ukraine, Israel, and football: where is the meaning for the reader
NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency views this story not only as sports news. For Israelis of Ukrainian origin, for the Ukrainian community in Israel, and for everyone following the connections between the two countries, the call-up of a player from Maccabi Haifa to the Ukraine U-18 team is a small but indicative fact.
In such cases, football works as a language of connection. It does not replace politics, diplomacy, or military support, but it shows that contacts between Ukraine and Israel exist on different levels: through families, clubs, academies, coaches, youth national teams, and personal player careers.
Mark Holenkov is not yet a hero of a major tournament or a star of the senior national team. But the call-up itself is already important: the Ukrainian U-18 is going to Croatia with a representative of an Israeli club.
For Haifa, this is an occasion to pay attention to a young footballer. For Ukraine, it is another signal that its football reserve is being formed not only within the country. For Israel, it is a reminder that the Ukrainian sports map has long not ended at Ukrainian borders.
What’s next
The tournament in Croatia will take place from June 3 to 9. Ukraine will play against Finland, Norway, and Turkey. For Dmytro Mykhaylenko’s team, this is a test of the lineup, and for individual players, a chance to strengthen their position in the Ukrainian youth national teams.
If Holenkov gets playing time, the match will become an important episode not only for him but also for Maccabi Haifa. In such a case, the Israeli club will be represented on the field as part of the Ukrainian U-18 national team.
In big football, such stories often start quietly: with a short line in the squad, with a friendly tournament, with a few matches in June. But it is from such details that careers, routes, and connections between countries are later formed.
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