Ilya Zabarny, getty images November 14, 2025, 1:38 p.m

Defender of the national team of Ukraine Ilya Zabarnyi set a new record, becoming the youngest player in the history of the national team, who started an official match with the captain’s armband. It happened in the fifth round of World Cup 2026 qualification against France (0:4 defeat).

In the starting line-up of the “blue-yellows”, Ilya formed the center of defense together with Oleksandr Svatko and debutant Taras Mihavko. For the PSG defender, this match was the 19th in a row in the starting lineup of the national team and the 54th in total. It was the second time that Zabarnyi took the field with the captain’s armband.

At the time of the game, the football player was 23 years and 74 days old, surpassing the record of Oleksandr Zinchenko, who at 24 years and 99 days led the team to a game against France in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Top-5 youngest captains of the national team of Ukraine (official matches):

1. Ilya Zabarny — Ukraine vs France, World Cup 2026, 23 years 74 days
2. Oleksandr Zinchenko — Ukraine vs France, World Cup 2022, 24 years 99 days
3. Yevhen Konoplyanka — Ukraine vs Slovenia, Euro-2016, 26 years 46 days
4. Oleg Luzhny — Ukraine vs Slovenia, Euro-1996, 26 years 68 days
5. Andriy Shevchenko — Ukraine vs Spain, Euro-2004, 26 years 180 days

Ukraine’s next match will be against Iceland in the last qualifying round, which will take place on Sunday, November 16, at 19:00 Kyiv time.