The call-up to the Ukraine U-19 national team has once again raised a big question
Israeli football may lose one of the most prominent young goalkeepers of recent years. Mark Golenkov, the goalkeeper of the youth team “Maccabi Haifa”, received a call-up to the Ukraine U-19 national team ahead of the upcoming tournament. For the player himself, this is an important sporting step, and for the Israeli football system, it is a worrying signal: a talent that grew and developed in Israel may choose the Ukrainian path at the international level.
Golenkov has long been considered one of the strong projects of the “Maccabi Haifa” academy.
But he truly made headlines after the match against “Barcelona” in the UEFA Youth League. He became the hero of the penalty shootout, saving three shots and helping the “greens” advance further. Israeli sports media wrote about him as a 17-year-old Ukrainian-Israeli goalkeeper who came to the country after the start of the war in Ukraine and quickly reached a high youth level.
At first glance, it seems to be just a youth call-up. But in football, such decisions often become the first step towards a future choice. A player can live, train, and grow in one country for a long time but remain emotionally, family-wise, and biographically connected to another. In Golenkov’s case, this connection with Ukraine is not formal but very personal.
From Kyiv and the war — to Haifa and a big football opportunity
Mark Golenkov was born and raised in Ukraine and played football in the Kyiv “Dynamo” system as a child. After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, his family was forced to leave the country. Thus, Golenkov ended up in Israel, where he first continued his path through “Hapoel Be’er Sheva” and then moved to “Maccabi Haifa”.
This route is important not only as a sports biography. It shows the fate of an entire generation of Ukrainian children and teenagers whose lives were abruptly changed by the war. Some lost their homes, others their usual school, team, city, environment. Golenkov was among those who managed not to stop and transfer his football path to a new country.
In Haifa, he was quickly noticed. “Maccabi” saw in him not just a promising goalkeeper for the youth team but a player with the potential for a European level. According to Israeli sports publications, in December 2024, he signed a three-year contract with the club, which in itself speaks of trust from the system.
For Israel, such stories are especially important. The country has been accepting people from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and other former USSR countries for many years. But when a young athlete not only adapts but becomes one of the best in his age group, it is not just a personal victory. It is a question for the entire football infrastructure: can Israel not only develop talents but also retain them?
Why the match with “Barcelona” changed perceptions
Before the game with “Barcelona”, Golenkov was a promising goalkeeper within the “Maccabi Haifa” system. After it, he became a name that began to be discussed more widely. Three saved penalties in a match of this level are not just beautiful statistics. For a young goalkeeper, it is a rare moment when character, reaction, and psychological resilience become visible to everyone at once.
Goalkeepers mature differently than outfield players. They often need more time, more trust, and more high-pressure matches. But it is precisely such penalty shootouts that show whether a player can withstand the moment when the entire team depends on one move.
For “Maccabi Haifa”, it was a signal: the club has a goalkeeper who can be developed not only for the local youth league but also for a more serious career. For Ukraine, it was also a signal: the country has a young goalkeeper who grew up in the Ukrainian football school but received a new impulse already in Israel.
That is why the call-up to the Ukraine U-19 national team seems logical. Ukraine closely monitors its young players abroad, especially now, when the war has scattered thousands of families and athletes across different countries.
Personal tragedy and the choice between two football paths
Golenkov’s story became even heavier after the death of his brother Vladislav in the war in Ukraine. In April 2026, “Maccabi Haifa” announced that Vladislav Golenkov, Mark’s brother, died in battles against the Russian army. The club expressed condolences to the family and emphasized that it stands by the young goalkeeper in this difficult moment.
This detail changes the perception of the entire story. The call-up to the Ukraine national team for Golenkov is not only a sporting opportunity. It can also be a connection to home, memory, family, a country that continues to fight. For a young player, such a choice is rarely a cold calculation.
In Israel, they also understand the value of such stories. Here, it is well known that sports are often linked with war, mobilization, losses, and personal pain. Therefore, the question “who will he choose?” should not sound like a simple struggle of federations for a passport and application.
For the Israeli audience, there is a deeper layer here. Golenkov has become part of Israeli football, lives in the Israeli environment, trains in one of the strongest clubs in the country, and is already associated with the future of “Maccabi Haifa”. But his Ukrainian biography has not disappeared. On the contrary, after his brother’s death, it became even more personal and heavy.
In this sense, NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency views Golenkov’s story not only as a sports news. It is an example of how the war in Ukraine continues to affect Israel through the fates of specific people: athletes, families, teenagers who are building their lives anew but do not lose connection with the country they left.
What the Israeli football system should do
If Israel truly sees Golenkov as a future national-level goalkeeper, action is needed not when he is already established in the Ukrainian system, but now. Not through pressure, but through a clear sports path: attention from national team coaches, respectful dialogue, growth prospects, and the feeling that he is not just being used here, but a future is truly being built around him.
But Ukraine has the strongest argument in this story — origin, memory, emotional connection, and national identity. Especially after everything that happened to his family.
Therefore, the future of Mark Golenkov cannot yet be reduced to a simple formula: Israel versus Ukraine. It is much more accurate to say otherwise: he is a young goalkeeper between two football worlds, and both worlds have already become part of his life.
For “Maccabi Haifa”, he remains a promising asset. For Israel, a potential goalkeeper of the future. For Ukraine, his own player who went through war, emigration, and personal tragedy but did not lose his path in football.
And the main question now is not only: for which national team will he play next? The question is broader: who will be able to give him not just a jersey, but a sense of a true football home.
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