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Rising Ukrainian secures Barcelona's triumph at youth club World Cup

Rising Ukrainian secures Barcelona's triumph at youth club World Cup Barcelona wins the youth club World Cup (photo: instagram.com/fcbmasia)

15-year-old Ukrainian midfielder Artem Rybak scored the winning goal in the final of the U18 youth club World Cup, bringing Barcelona the world champion title.

Final and tournament progress

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup was held for the first time in six years. It brought together 12 teams from six countries, divided into three groups.

Four clubs reached the semifinals: Real faced Argentina's Racing, while Barcelona played against the defending champion, Brazil's Palmeiras. The finalists were Barcelona (2:2, 4:2 on pens) and Racing (2:1).

Rybak becomes the hero of the final

In the decisive game, the score remained tied until the 69th minute, when Artem Rybak went one-on-one with the opponent's goalkeeper and scored the winning goal.

The match ended 1:0 in favor of the Catalans.

Ukrainian footballer's career

Artem Rybak was born in Chernivtsi. He took his first football steps at the local Bukovyna academy and later moved to the Shakhtar Donetsk academy.

After the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, he moved to Spain and joined Barcelona. Rybak has nine appearances for the Ukrainian U15 and U16 national teams, scoring one goal.