The CIES Football Observatory published its list of the top U-22 centre forwards in the 2026/27 season for players in the top-70 world leagues on 28 September 2026. Sport.ua reports that Dynamo Kyiv striker Matviy Ponomarenko, age 20, appears third on that list with a CIES index score of 79.5.
CIES placed Francesco Pio Esposito of Inter first with 84.2 and Paris Brunner of Monaco second with 81.3. The Sport.ua item reproduces the full top-10, which also includes names such as George Ilenikhena and Daniel Mikolajewski among others tracked by the observatory.
For Kyiv supporters, the ranking provides an external measure of Ponomarenko’s season relative to Europe’s best young centre forwards and records the international attention his performances have drawn this year.