Ukrainian Premier League

Ukrainian Premier League

Countries	Ukraine
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Founded	1991/2008
Number of teams	16
Levels on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Ukrainian First League
Domestic cup(s)	Ukrainian Cup Ukrainian Super Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League Europa League
Current champions	Shakhtar Donetsk (2010-11)
Most championships	Dynamo Kyiv (13)
Website	Official Site
2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League

The Ukrainian Premier League (Ukrainian: "Прем'єр-Ліга", Premyer-Liha) is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Supreme League (Ukrainian: Вища ліга Vyshcha Liha) it was founded in 1991 after the fold of the Soviet Union's Vysshaya Liga. In 2008 it was reformed into a more autonomous entity of the Football Federation of Ukraine and changed its name to the current one. Its rank is 8th highest in Europe as rated by UEFA as of August 2010.

Overview

The season 2010–11 is the league's fourth after the break-away from the Professional Football League (PFL) in 2008 and 20th season from the break-up of the Soviet Top League. Until 2007 the league was subsidized by the government and from an economical point of view was not a profitable organization. To solve that issue, the League have tried to attract a few sponsors since the 2007 season: Soyuz-Viktan(2007) and Biola(2008). On April 15, 2008 the new Premier-League was formed. Since its formation the title sponsor of the League became the national network of the construction supermarkets EpiCentre K. The new sports organization is a completely independent entity and consists of 16 football club organizations under the guidance of the Football Federation of Ukraine.

With the new reorganization the format of the League was preserved, while the changes that were made were exclusively administrative. The teams that reach the top of the competition table at the end of each season as always gain the chance to represent Ukraine internationally in several prestigious tournaments (continental club tournaments). Also at the end of the season, the bottom two clubs are relegated to the Persha Liha (supervised by the Professional Football League) and replaced by the two top clubs from that league. All the participants of the Premier League enter the National Cup competition at the round of 32 (1/16th of the final)stage. Also the winner of the League at the beginning of every next season plays against the winner of the National Cup for the Super Cup of Ukraine.

As of 2011, FC Shakhtar Donetsk is the reigning Ukrainian Premier League champion. To summarise, SC Tavriya Simferopol won the first championship, while all the subsequent titles have gone to either Dynamo or FC Shakhtar Donetsk. Only 4 teams, Dynamo, Shakhtar, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Tavria have participated in all 21 Ukrainian Vyscha Liha competitions.

The league cooperates with the Professional Football League of Ukraine which governs the lower divisions. The PFL is an association that represents 55 Ukrainian professional football clubs, which are represented by 62 teams (a few clubs have more than one team, which play in different divisions). The professional league was organized in 1996 and until 2008 was responsible for the competitions in the Top division as well. Before that, Vyscha Liha was governed solely and directly by the Football Federation of Ukraine.
^a). Note: Biola is a beverage making and bottling company and is the general sposor of Dnipro.

Emblem

The emblem depicts a soccer ball that is wrapped around by the blue-yellow stripe (the national colors of Ukraine) on the blue background. Across the top and around the ball there are 16 stars that represent the league's participants. On the bottom the script says "Premier-League - Union of Professional Football Clubs of Ukraine".

History

See also: Football in Ukraine

The first decade (1992–2000)

The inaugural independent championship took place hastily at the start of spring 1992 after the creation of the Ukrainian Vyscha Liha. The League was created out of the six teams that took part in the Soviet Top League, two teams from the Soviet First League, and nine out of the eleven Ukrainian teams from the Soviet Second League. The other two of that eleven were placed in the Ukrainian Persha Liha as they were to be relegated anyway. The two best teams of the Soviet Second League B of the Ukrainian Zone were also placed in the Vyscha Liha along with the winner of the 1991 Ukrainian Cup which finished ninth in the same group. The 20 participants were split into two groups with the winners playing for the championship title and the runners-up playing for third place. Three teams from each group were to be relegated. As expected, the five favorites, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk, Chornomorets Odessa, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, and Metalist Kharkiv finished at the top of each group. In the championship play-off game in Lviv, a sensation took place as Tavriya Simferopol beat Dynamo Kyiv 1–0. The Crimeans earned the first Ukrainian title (thus far their only one), losing only once to FC Temp Shepetivka. After being stunned in the first championship by the tragedy in Lviv, Dynamo Kyiv were anxious to earn their first title at the second opportunity. In the second Ukrainian championship, which had a regular League format of 16 teams, the main rivals of the Kyivians were Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, who were top after the first half of the season. By the end of the season both teams were neck and neck and at the end they finished with the same number of points. The championship title was awarded to Dynamo Kyiv as they had a better goal difference. Neither the Golden match, nor the fact that Dnipro had a better head-to-head record was considered. The next seven years were known as the total domination of Dynamo Kyiv. During this period 'the main Soviet protagonists' had changed as some of the best teams were facing a crisis. After the 1993–94 season Metalist Kharkiv were surprisingly relegated to the Persha Liha. In the 1995–96 season Shakhtar Donetsk had the worst year in the club's history, coming tenth. Chornomorets Odessa were relegated twice during that first decade after which manager Leonid Buriak was sacked. A few newly created teams have since emerged such as Arsenal Kyiv and Metalurh Donetsk, as well as FC Vorskla Poltava, who surprisingly came third in the club's first season at the Top Level in the 1997.

The decade of Kyiv–Donetsk stand-off (2001–2010). The Ukrainian derby

Main article: Ukrainian derby

The next decade was marked by fierce competition between Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk. Since 2000, Donetsk club has proved to be the real challengers to Kiev's dominance. In 2000 Shakhtar earned their first qualification to the Champions League earning a place in the Group stage. Nonetheless, Dynamo is still considered to be the benchmark of excellence in the country and the primary feeder to the Ukrainian national football team. 2002 became the real cornerstone in the miners history when they earned their first national title under the management of the newly appointed Italian specialist, Nevio Scala, who managed to secure the Ukrainian Cup title as well. Since that time the issue of foreign players has become particularly acute and brought a series of court cases (see Players section). The FFU and PFL worked together to solve that issue, coming up with a plan to force the transitional limitation of foreign players over time. The clubs such as Dnipro and Chornomorets, who were recent contenders for the title, had to put up a fierce fight against the newly-established contenders Metalurh from Donetsk and Metalist from Kharkiv to qualify for the European competitions. FC Metalist Kharkiv shone brightly in the late 2000s by consistently finishing right behind Dynamo and Shakhtar in third place. Their most remarkable feat was their participation in the 2009 European season when they had to face Dynamo Kyiv to earn a place in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup 2009, but unfortunately lost by the away goals rule. That same 2009 UEFA Cup competition was won for the first time by Shakhtar Donetsk, the first club of independent Ukraine to win the title. It was also the last UEFA cup title before it changed its name to the Europa league. In the 2008-2009 season the league earned the highest UEFA league coefficient in Europe for that season. On the political side of the League it was transformed on April 15, 2008 into an autonomous entity, parting away from the PFL. The Premier League has been split since the moment it was created in regards to its president. The dispute went as far as even canceling the 13th round of 2009–2010 season and moving it to the spring half, while having the 14th round still playing in the fall. The representatives of five clubs: Arsenal, Dynamo, Dnipro, Kryvbas, and Metalist have been boycotting most of the League meetings, not complying with its financial obligations and giving the broadcasting rights to TV-channels other than the League official supplier. They justified their actions due to what they deem to be the illegal election of the Premier League president. The representatives of the above-mentioned clubs did not recognize the election in 2008 of Vitaliy Danilov as the president and believed that the elections should have been won by Vadym Rabynovych.

To resolve this conflict Vitaliy Danilov instigated the re-election of the Premier League president in September 2009, and on 1 December 2009 won the election again with 11 clubs voting for his candidature, 3 were against, 1 abstained, and 1 (Dnipro) was absent. This time most club presidents of the Premier League of Ukraine acknowledged Vitaliy Danilov legality. In the subsequent elections on December 9, 2011 Vitaliy Danilov was challenged by Andriy Kurhanskyi (on proposition of FC Karpaty Lviv). The other available candidates, Miletiy Balchos (president of the Professional Football League of Ukraine) and Yuriy Kindzerskyi, were not picked by any members of the Premier League. Danilov managed to retain his seat with nine votes for him from Shakhtar, Metalist, Illichivets, Zorya, Metalurh, Tavria, Vorskla, Chornomorets, and Obolon.

International Relations

In 2009 The Ukrainian Premier League joined the European Professional Football Leagues. Along with the Premier League the Ukrainian Professional Football League joined the EPFL as an associate member. Also in 2009 the league signed a partnership with IMG of which during the first month of cooperation sold broadcasting rights for the Ukrainian Cup to Poland and Armenia. On its own initiative the Ukrainian Premier League sold broadcasting rights to Romania and Russia as well.

Calendar

Clubs play each other twice (once at home and once away) to make up the 30-match season. The league begins in mid-July and ends in mid-June. After 15 rounds of fixtures, there is a winter break that lasts for three months (from early December to early March). Thus, the winter break is significantly longer than the interval between seasons. This schedule accounts for climatic conditions and matches that of most European leagues in terms of the beginning and the end of the season. The first season of the League in 1992 was an exception, as it lasted only half a year. This was because the last Soviet league season ended in the autumn of 1991, and the Football Federation of Ukraine decided to shift the calendar from “spring-fall” to “fall-spring” football seasons. In the inaugural season, 20 clubs were divided into two 10-team groups. In both groups, each club played each other twice, and the championship was decided by a play-off match between the group winners, in which Tavriya surprised the pre-season favorite Dynamo. After the first season, in each of the following seasons each team played each other team in the League twice. The number of participating teams fluctuated between 14 and 18, stabilizing for the last five seasons at 16. As of the 2005–06 season, the golden match rule was introduced. According to the rule, if the first two teams obtain the same number of points, the championship is to be decided by an additional "golden" match between the two teams. In fact, in that season Dynamo and Shakhtar had earned the same number of points and Shakhtar won the championship by winning the golden match (2:1 after extra time).

Players

Prior to 2000, only a handful of foreign players represented Ukrainian clubs, and even those players were mostly from countries that were once a part of the Soviet Union. However, in 2000–01, the number of foreign players participating in the Vyscha Liha tallied more than 30 players and by 2003–04 season, the figure had increased to 37% of the league's players. Only 2 players from Ukraine's domestic leagues competed in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan, while at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the Vyscha Liha was the 6th-most represented league with 25 players in the competition, including 17 of the 23 players in Ukraine's squad. As a result of this increase in foreign-born players, clubs in the Vyscha Liha are allowed to field no more than seven foreigners at one time from this season and this limit is expected to be lowered to six foreigners. In addition, clubs are subject to a $15,000 fine upon acquiring a foreign player. One of the biggest proponents of the foreigner limit was the ex-national team coach Oleg Blokhin (2003–2007), who threatened to quit the national team if the limit was not made stricter. The clubs mainly affected by this rule include the few clubs that participate annually in European competitions. They argue that the foreigner limit is detrimental to the development of Ukrainian football in general. However, as a result of this limit, these clubs have had to increase their efforts in finding and training Ukrainian talent that is good enough to represent these teams. The foreigner limit itself has also been recently contested by several cases, but primarily by one filed by a Georgian national Georgi Demetradze, who argued that the limit impeded his working rights and is illegal under the Constitution of Ukraine. The courts however argued that no case exists due to the fact that players are not guaranteed first-team football, and subsequently the limit is not considered a violation of trade.

Status regulations and transfers

Status and transfer policy of football players and staff in Ukraine is regulated by the Football Federation of Ukraine which primarily follows Article 5 of the FIFA statute, other respective regulations of FIFA, and the laws of Ukraine (see FFU regulations of player's status and transfer, 2010 edition).

Player status

Any footballer that takes part in FFU competition has either the status of amateur or professional. A professional footballer is considered to be a player that has a written contract with a club and receives a salary for his services that surpasses his virtual expenditures. The professional status of footballer prevents him from competing at amateur level. The footballer receives a professional status and the respective rights and obligations according to the following conditions:

• conclusion of a contract with a professional club,
• registration with FFU, receiving a "Passport of a footballer",
• including the footballer to the application list of the team that takes part in the competition of professional club teams.

The footballer who does not receive the above-mentioned salary and does not have a contract with a professional club is considered an amateur. A player that is registered as a professional cannot obtain an amateur status within 30 days of his last official game as a professional. A club cannot request compensation for a player from the club where the player obtained amateur status. However, each professional player after the expiration of his contract with a certain professional club is still registered for 30 months with that club which may apply for compensation. The 30 month term is defined from the time of his last official game for that club.

Each coach of a professional club team is required to receive a respective attestation organized by FFU. Each sports doctor and masseur of a professional club are required to receive a certificate from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health with the specialization "Sport doctor" and "Specialist in sport massage".

Contracts

A player is allowed to sign his first contract at 15 years of age with parental consent of no more than three years. A regular contract cannot be for more than five years.

Transfers

A football player that is registered with other associations than FFU cannot take part in any competitions in Ukraine until he is registered with the Football Federation of Ukraine. A football player of a foreign association and aged 12 years or older is required to submit an International transfer certificate in order to be registered with FFU. Registration and transfers are conducted during one of the two "registration periods" (transfer window): one is after the conclusion of a season and start of the next not exceeding a twelve-week period, and another in mid-season of no more than a four-week period. There are no set dates for the registration periods.

Presidents

• Vitaliy Danilov (president of FC Kharkiv) May 27, 2008 – July 1, 2009 (temporary acting president)
• Vitaliy Danilov (president of FC Kharkiv) July 1, 2009 – December 9, 2011
  • Vadym Rabinovych (alternative candidate)
• Vitaliy Danilov December 9, 2011 - present
  • Andriy Kurhanskyi (acting president of FC Metalurh Zaporizhia)(alternative candidate)

Directors

• General director: Olexandr Efremov
• Executive director: Maksym Bondarev
• Sport director: Petro Ivanov
• Development director: Vadym Halahan

Sponsors

The following list is of the official sponsors of the League, unless otherwise noted.

Previous

• Chernihivske 2008–2009
• Morskie (TV sposor) 2008–2009
• Sport-Express (in Ukraine) (media partner) 2008–2010
• Dalnie ostrova 2009–2010
• football.ua (Internet sponsor) 2009–2010 (part of the Ukrainian media holding)

Current

• Umbro (technical partner) 2008–present
• SportMarket+ (marketing partner) 2010–2011
• Obolon 2009–2010 (partner), 2010-2011 (primary sponsor)
• Inter+ (TV partner) 2008–present (for international broadcasting)
• Futbol (official TV sponsor) 2009–2011
• tochka.net (Internet sponsor) 2010–2011 (part of the System Capital Management Group (SCM))

Ukrainian Premier League 2011–12

In the 2011–12 season, the Ukrainian Premier League consists of the following teams:

Arsenal Kyiv Chornomorets Odesa Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Dynamo Kyiv Illichivets Mariupol Karpaty Lviv Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Metalist Kharkiv

Metalurh Donetsk Obolon Kyiv Oleksandria Shakhtar Donetsk Tavriya Simferopol Volyn Lutsk Vorskla Poltava Zorya Luhansk

Sevastopol and Metalurh Zaporizhzhya, the two least successful teams in the league in 2010–11, were relegated to the Ukrainian First League. Oleksandria and Chornomorets Odesa were promoted to take their place.

Broadcasting

Free-to-air live matches from the Ukrainian Premier League will be broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays on satellite channel Inter+ (Sirius 5E).

UEFA Ranking

Club Seeding

UEFA Club Ranking for club seeding in 2011–12 European football season.

Current Ranking	Movement	Last Season Ranking	Teams	Coefficient
12		(14)	Shakhtar Donetsk	83.826
29		(30)	Dynamo Kyiv	61.826
43		(59)	Metalist Kharkiv	46.326
118		(128)	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	13.826
130		(152)	Vorskla Poltava	12.326
130		(145)	Karpaty Lviv	12.326

Note: Since 1999 country index (coefficient) indicates the lowest possible value for any team of that country to qualify for ranking. Currently it's no less than 8.826 for Ukraine. Teams in italics have either been eliminated or will not be participating in the 2011–12 European football season. February 17, 2012.

Country Ranking

UEFA Country Ranking for league participation in 2011–12 European football season

Current Ranking	Movement	Last Season Ranking	League	Coefficient
5		(5)	French League	53.678
6		(9)	Portuguese League	51.596
7		(6)	Russian League	44.707
8		(7)	Ukrainian League	43.883
9		(10)	Dutch League	40.129
10		(11)	Turkish League	35.050
11		(12)	Greek League	34.166

Last Updated: May 30, 2011. In bold are the leagues which clubs are still in competitions.

Champions and top goalscorers

Season	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Position	Top Goalscorer	Rank
1992	Tavriya Simferopol	Dynamo Kyiv	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Yuri Hudymenko (Tavriya Simferopol, 12 goals)	N/A
1992–93	Dynamo Kyiv	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Chornomorets Odessa	Serhiy Husyev (Chornomorets Odessa, 17 goals)	28/39
1993–94	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Chornomorets Odessa	Timerlan Huseinov (Chornomorets Odessa, 18 goals)	24/44
1994–95	Dynamo Kyiv	Chornomorets Odessa	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Arsen Avakov (Torpedo Zaporizhzhya, 21 goals)	24/47
1995–96	Dynamo Kyiv	Chornomorets Odessa	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Timerlan Huseinov (Chornomorets Odessa, 20 goals)	19/48
1996–97	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Vorskla Poltava	Oleh Matveyev (Shakhtar Donetsk, 21 goals)	22/48
1997–98	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Karpaty Lviv	Serhiy Rebrov (Dynamo Kyiv, 22 goals)	17/49
1998–99	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	Andriy Shevchenko (Dynamo Kyiv, 18 goals)	15/50
1999-00	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	Maksim Shatskikh (Dynamo Kyiv, 20 goals)	12/50
2000–01	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Andriy Vorobei (Shakhtar Donetsk, 21 goals)	13/51
2001–02	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalurh Donetsk	Serhiy Shyschenko (Metalurh Donetsk, 12 goals)	13/51
2002–03	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Metalurh Donetsk	Maksim Shatskikh (Dynamo Kyiv, 22 goals)	14/52
2003–04	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Georgi Demetradze (Metalurh Donetsk, 18 goals)	14/52
2004–05	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalurh Donetsk	Oleksandr Kosyrin (Chornomorets Odessa, 14 goals)	15/52
2005–06	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Chornomorets Odessa	Brandão (Shakhtar Donetsk, 15 goals) Emmanuel Okoduwa (Arsenal Kyiv, 15 goals)	13/52
2006–07	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Metalist Kharkiv	Oleksandr Hladky (FC Kharkiv 13 goals)	11/52
2007–08	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalist Kharkiv	Marko Dević (Metalist Kharkiv 19 goals)	12/53
2008–09	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Metalist Kharkiv	Oleksandr Kovpak (Tavriya Simferopol 17 goals)	7/53
2009–10	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalist Kharkiv	Artem Milevsky (Dynamo Kyiv 17 goals)	7/53
2010–11	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalist Kharkiv	Yevhen Seleznyov (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 17 goals)	7/53

Note: the Rank column shows the ranking of the league amongst members of UEFA.
Note: in bold are the winners that also won the Ukrainian Cup, in italic are the other champions of the Cup competition.

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-Up	Third Place	Winning Years
Dynamo Kyiv	13	7	0	1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999-00, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2008–09
Shakhtar Donetsk	6	10	0	2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11
Tavriya Simferopol	1	0	0	1992
Chornomorets Odessa	0	2	3
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	0	1	5
Metalist Kharkiv	0	0	5
Metalurh Donetsk	0	0	3
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	0	0	2
Vorskla Poltava	0	0	1
Karpaty Lviv	0	0	1

Honored Teams

In European Football teams are especially honored for winning multiple league titles, after 10 league titles a representative star is placed above the teams badge to indicate 10 league titles. Dynamo Kyiv became the first Ukrainian team to achieve the prestigious honor of winning the Soviet league for the 10th time in 1981. Dynamo Kyiv after having entered the Ukrainian championship has become the same dominant leader as during the Soviet times by earning its 20th national title at the top level in 1999. No other club in Ukraine has come close to such an honour as of yet. Only four other clubs have ever been national champions: Shakhtar Donetsk (6, all Ukrainian titles), Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2, all Soviet), and once Zorya Luhansk (Soviet Union) and Tavriya Simferopol (Ukraine).

The current (as of December 2010) officially sanctioned Premier League stars are:

• Dynamo Kyiv (26, the second received in 1999).

Premier League Players

All-time League scorers

Rank	Player	Games	Goals
1	Serhiy Rebrov	261	123
2	Maksim Shatskikh	256	111
3	Andriy Vorobei	309	105
4	Oleksandr Haidash	263	95
5	Serhiy Mizin	344	90
6	Timerlan Huseinov	215	85
7	Oleksandr Kosyrin	230	83
8	Andriy Shevchenko	164	81
9	Oleh Matveyev	213	81
10	Oleksandr Palyanytsia	260	79
(Italics denotes players still playing in Premier League) Data through the mid 2010–11 season.

All-time League appearance leaders

Rank	Player	Games	Goals
1	Oleksandr Chizhevskiy	400	4
2	Oleh Shelayev	392	34
3	Serhiy Shyshchenko	363	54
4	Oleksandr Shovkovsky	360	0
5	Serhiy Zakarlyuka	356	75
5	Ruslan Kostyshyn	356
7	Oleksandr Zotov	351	31
8	Ihor Shukhovtsev	348	0
9	Oleksandr Horyainov	344	0
10	Vladyslav Vaschuk	343
(Italics denotes players still playing in Premier League) Data through the mid 2010–11 season.

All-time League foreign scorers

Rank	Country/Player	Games	Goals
1	Maksim Shatskikh	256	111
2	Brandão	140	65
3	Vasil Gigiadze	234	61
4	Avtandil Kapanadze	189	58
5	Georgi Demetradze	130	52
6	Valiantsin Bialkevich	224	51
7	Lucky Idahor	189	48
8	Diogo Rincón	129	47
9	Jadson	126	41
10	Mikhail Potskhveria	126	40
(Italics denotes players still playing in Premier League) Data through the mid 2010–11 season.

Further information: UPL Individual Records

Ex-Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv striker Serhiy Rebrov holds the record for most UPL goals with 123, despite winning the top single season scorer title only once. Since the first UPL season in 1992, 17 different players have won or shared the top scorer's title. No player has won the title in consecutive seasons and only two players have won the title more than once, Timerlan Huseinov and Maksim Shatskikh. Serhiy Rebrov and Maksim Shatskikh hold the record for most goals in a season (22) and are the only two players to score at least 20 goals twice. The most prolific single season scorers are Ivan Hetsko and Andriy Shevchenko, respectively attaining 0.59 and 0.51 goals per game. Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk are the only teams to have scored 1,000 goals in the UPL having achieved the feat in the 2006–07 season and 2007–08 season, respectively.

Notable foreign players

Americas Jonathan Maidana (2007 Copa Libertadores winner) Aílton da Silva (2004 German Footballer of the Year) Brandão (Ukrainian Premier League Top Scorer) Diogo Rincón (Three times Ukrainian champion) Douglas Costa (Two times Ukrainian champion) Edmar (First Brazilian accepting Ukrainian citizenship) Elano (2007 Copa América winner) Fernandinho (Ukrainian Premier League MVP) Jádson (Five times Ukrainian champion) Jajá Coelho (Ukrainian Premier League MVP) Kléber (Two times Ukrainian champion) Luiz Adriano (Three times Ukrainian champion) Matuzalém (The biggest runaway story) Willian (Three times Ukrainian champion) Marcelo Moreno (2011 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Nery Castillo (2009 UEFA Cup winner) Pedro Benítez (2002 Copa Libertadores winner) Europe Georgi Peev (Three times Ukrainian champion) Eduardo (2006 Croatian Footballer of the Year) Jerko Leko (Two times Ukrainian champion) Stipe Pletikosa (2002 Croatian Footballer of the Year) Goran Sablić (Two times Ukrainian champion) Darijo Srna (Five times Ukrainian champion) Ognjen Vukojević (2009 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Tomáš Hübschman (Four times Ukrainian champion) Jan Laštůvka (2005 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Roman Eremenko (2009 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Malkhaz Asatiani (2009 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Giorgi Demetradze (Ukrainian Premier League Top Scorer) Vasil Gigiadze (Top-5 All-time League's Foreign Scorers) Kakha Kaladze (Three times Ukrainian champion) László Bodnár (Two times Ukrainian champion) Māris Verpakovskis (Latvian Footballer of the Year) Jordi Cruyff (1999 Intercontinental Cup winner) Wojciech Kowalewski (2002 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Mariusz Lewandowski (2009 Polish Footballer of the Year) Ricardo Fernandes (2004 UEFA Champions League winner) Marian Aliuţă (2002 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Cosmin Bărcăuan (Two times Ukrainian champion) Florin Cernat (Three times Ukrainian champion) Daniel Florea (Two times Ukrainian champion) Tiberiu Ghioane (Four times Ukrainian champion) Ciprian Marica (Two times Ukrainian champion) Răzvan Raţ (Five times Ukrainian champion) Marko Dević (Ukrainian Premier League Top Scorer) Igor Duljaj (Four times Ukrainian champion) Goran Gavrančić (Four times Ukrainian champion) Miloš Ninković (Two times Ukrainian champion) Zvonimir Vukić (Two times Ukrainian champion) Tolga Seyhan (2006 Ukrainian Premier League champion)

Soviet Commonwealth Henrikh Mkhitaryan (2009 Armenian Player of the Year) Tarlan Akhmedov (1999 Azeri Player of the Year) Samir Aliyev (2002 Azeri Player of the Year) Valiantsin Bialkevich (Ukrainian Premier League MVP) Siargei Karnilenka (2004 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Aliaksandr Khatskevich (Belarusian Player of the Year) Vitaliy Bordiyan (2008 Moldovan Footballer of the Year) Rolan Gusev (2005 UEFA Cup winner) Arsen Avakov (Ukrainian Premier League Top Scorer) Vitaliy Denisov (2005 UEFA Cup winner) Maksim Shatskikh (All-time League's Top Foreign Scorer) Africa Bernard Tchoutang (2000 Africa Cup of Nations winner) Ismaël Bangoura (2009 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Badr El Kaddouri (Two times Ukrainian champion) Dele Adeleye (2008 Olympics finalist) Julius Aghahowa (Four times Ukrainian champion) Lucky Idahor (Two times Ukrainian champion) Emmanuel Okoduwa (Ukrainian Premier League Top Scorer) Isaac Okoronkwo (2002 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Ayila Yussuf (Three times Ukrainian champion) Pape Diakhaté (2009 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Assane N'Diaye (2002 Ukrainian Premier League champion) Asia and Oceania

Top managers

Managers in bold are active. Mark (^†) – identifies managers that have left the sport (retired, passed away, or other). Updated through 2009/2010 season.

Rating	Name	Club(s)	1st	2nd	3rd
1	Mircea Lucescu	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	5	2	-
2	Valery Lobanovsky†	FC Dynamo Kyiv	5	1	-
3	Yozhef Sabo	FC Dynamo Kyiv	2	1	-
4	Oleksiy Mykhailychenko	FC Dynamo Kyiv	2	-	-
5	Yuri Semin	FC Dynamo Kyiv	1	2	-
6	Mykola Pavlov	FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk FC Dynamo Kyiv	1	1	1
7	Anatoliy Demyanenko	FC Dynamo Kyiv	1	1	-
8-10	Mykhailo Fomenko	FC Dynamo Kyiv	1	-	-
	Nevio Scala	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	1	-	-
	Anatoliy Zayaev	SC Tavriya Simferopol	1	-	-
11	Valery Yaremchenko	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	-	4	-
12	Viktor Prokopenko†	FC Chornomorets Odessa FC Shakhtar Donetsk	-	2	2
13	Leonid Buriak	FC Chornomorets Odessa	-	2	-
14-17	Anatoliy Byshovets	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	-	1	-
	Valery Gazzayev	FC Dynamo Kyiv	-	1	-
	Anatoliy Puzach†	FC Dynamo Kyiv	-	1	-
	Bernd Schuster	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	-	1	-

This is a rating of the best managers in the League since its foundation in 1991. If during a season any club had multiple coach appointments then the club's achievement at the end of that season is assigned to the coach who spent at least one third of the season with the club and/or was the most recently appointed. There are over 20 managers who brought their teams to the top of the League over its history.
^1 Mykhailychenko became the club manager at the end of the season for only five (5) games. Therefore the silver really belongs to Lobanovsky who led the first team in 21 games of the 2001–02 season.
^2 Lucescu became the club manager at the end of the season for only five (5) games. Therefore the silver really belongs to Schuster who led the first team in 23 games in the 2003–04 season.

Rating	Name	Games	Remarks
1	Myron Markevych	478
2	Mykola Pavlov	418
3	Mykhailo Fomenko	294
4	Valeriy Yaremchenko	274
5	Semen Altman	227
6	Oleh Taran	220
7	Oleksandr Ishchenko	205
8	Mircea Lucescu	200
9	Volodymyr Bezsonov	198
10	Anatoliy Zayaev	190

Other coaches that participated in over 150 league games are: Ihor Nadein (184), Yevhen Kucherevsky (176), Leonid Buriak (174), Vitaliy Kvartsiany (166), and Valeriy Lobanovsky (152). Two more coaches, Vyacheslav Hrozny and Oleksandr Zavarov, have the chance to join these ranks in the near future.

Mykhailychenko, Demyanenko, Taran, Bezsonov, and Zavarov are the only former annual national MVP holders that have become successful coaches in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Mircea Lucescu is by far the most successful foreign coach in Ukraine and the only foreign coach with over 100 games at the top level. His closest rivals Nikola Kostov (Bulgaria) and Aleh Kononov (Belarus) are yet to hit the 100 games mark.

Information for games played table is used from ua-football.com (Oct. 23, 2010) while the rest is from uafootball.net (May 9, 2010)

All-time participants

The table lists the place each team took in each of the seasons. All figures are correct through the 2011–12 season. For the all-time table click here. Teams marked pink are no longer members of PFL, in green are member of the Premier League.

	1992	92/93	93/94	94/95	95/96	96/97	97/98	98/99	99/00	00/01	01/02	02/03	03/04	04/05	05/06	06/07	07/08	08/09	09/10	10/11	11/12
Teams	20	16	18	18	18	16	16	16	16	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
Arsenal Kyiv					4	11	10	7	10	6	12	5	9	9	12	14	6	11	7	9	V
Borysfen Boryspil													7	16
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	10	12	17
Chornomorets Odessa	5	3	3	2	2	7	15		15			8	5	6	3	6	7	10	15		V
Dynamo Kyiv	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	2	2	V
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	3	2	4	3	3	4	4	12	11	3	6	4	3	4	6	4	4	6	4	4	V
Illichivets Mariupol							14	5	8	4	10	10	8	5	4	15		14	12	14	V
Karpaty Lviv	13	6	5	8	8	5	3	4	9	10	8	7	15			8	10	9	5	5	V
Kharkiv															13	12	14	16
Kremin Kremenchuk	14	9	15	10	9	15
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		8	6	6	14	12	8	3	3	11	9	12	10	13	14	10	13	12	14	13	V
Lviv																		15
Metalist Kharkiv	6	5	18					6	5	9	5	16		11	5	3	3	3	3	3	V
Metalurh Donetsk							7	14	7	5	3	3	4	3	9	9	12	4	8	8	V
Metalurh Zaporizhzhya	11	7	16	9	5	8	9	8	6	8	4	15	11	10	8	7	9	7	9	16
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	16																15
Nyva Ternopil	7	14	7	12	13	9	6	13	12	14
Nyva Vinnytsia	15		10	14	15	16
Obolon Kyiv												14	6	15					11	10	V
Oleksandria											13	13									V
Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk	17			11	11	13	13	15	14
Mykolaiv	18			13	16			16
Odesa	20
Sevastopol																				15
Shakhtar Donetsk	4	4	2	4	10	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	1	2	1	2	1	1	V
Stal Alchevsk										13					11	16
Tavriya Simferopol	1	10	8	5	12	6	12	9	13	7	7	9	12	7	7	5	5	8	6	7	V
Temp Shepetivka	19		9	17
Torpedo Zaporizhzhya	8	13	13	7	7	14	16
Veres Rivne		16	11	18
Volyn Lutsk	9	11	12	15	17							6	13	8	15					11	V
Vorskla Poltava						3	5	10	4	12	11	11	14	14	10	13	8	5	10	6	V
Zakarpattia Uzhhorod											14			12	16		16		16
Zirka Kirovohrad					6	10	11	11	16				16
Zorya Luhansk	12	15	14	16	18											11	11	13	13	12	V

All-time table

Included all clubs that played over five seasons

Team	Seasons	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	Pts	Achievement
Dynamo Kyiv	20	594	443	103	48	1307	370	989	champion
Shakhtar Donetsk	20	594	394	112	88	1166	445	900	champion
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	20	593	290	155	148	837	549	735	vice-champion
Tavriya Simferopol	20	593	213	152	228	710	745	578	champion
Metalurh Zaporizhia	20	592	197	148	247	641	741	542	4th
Karpaty Lviv	18	532	196	147	189	601	606	539	3rd
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	19	574	180	160	234	575	707	520	3rd
Chornomorets Odessa	16	480	201	107	172	582	530	509	vice-champion
Metalist Kharkiv	15	434	189	98	147	535	500	476	3rd
Arsenal Kyiv	16	476	160	133	183	550	551	453	4th
Metalurh Donetsk	14	412	159	112	141	503	474	430	3rd
Vorskla Poltava	15	442	145	116	181	459	518	406	3rd
Illichivets Mariupol	13	382	123	93	166	441	549	339	4th
Volyn Lutsk	10	300	96	63	141	306	440	255	6th
Nyva Ternopil	10	296	93	62	141	319	388	248	6th
Zorya Luhansk	10	300	80	58	162	251	483	218	11th
Torpedo Zaporizhia	7	210	64	42	104	214	315	170	7th
Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk	7	206	55	52	99	215	315	162	11th
Kremin Kremenchuk	6	180	54	40	86	182	269	148	9th
Zirka Kirovohrad	6	184	46	41	97	158	285	133	6th
Nyva Vinnytsia	5	150	42	32	76	140	213	116	10th
Obolon Kyiv	5	150	40	35	75	136	211	115	6th
Kharkiv	5	120	25	33	62	94	156	83	12th
Zakarpattia Uzhhorod	5	146	23	35	88	96	230	81	12th

Stadia

Major renovations

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	NSC Olimpiysky	N/A	None at the moment	Currently undergoing full renovations in preparation for Euro 2012. The central national venue and former home venue of the Ukrainian Cup final.
2	Chornomorets Stadium	N/A	None at the moment	The stadium belongs to Chornomorets, but currently undergoing full renovation. Former annual venue for the Ukrainian Super Cup.

Operational

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Donbas Arena	51,504	Shakhtar Donetsk
2	Metalist Stadium	38,633	Metalist Kharkiv
3	Dnipro Stadium	31,003	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
4	Metalurh Stadium	29,734	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
5	Ukraina Stadium	28,051	Karpaty Lviv	Plans to upgrade to ~40,000 seats in prep for Euro 2012
6	Vorskla Stadium	24,795	Vorskla Poltava
7	Avanhard Stadium	22,288	Zorya Luhansk
8	RSC Lokomotiv	19,978	Tavriya Simferopol
9	Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium	16,873	Dynamo Kyiv
10	Illychivets Stadium	12,460	Illichivets Mariupol
11	Avanhard Stadium	12,000	Zakarpattya Uzhhorod
12	Slavutych Arena	11,756	Metalurh Zaporizhia
13	Avanhard Stadium	10,792	Volyn Lutsk
14	Kolos Stadium	5,654	Arsenal Kyiv
15	Metalurh Stadium	5,094	Metalurh Donetsk
16	Spartak Stadium	5,000	Chornomorets Odessa
17	Obolon Stadium	4,300	Obolon Kyiv
18	Knyazha Arena	3,500	FC Lviv
19	Bannikov Stadium	1,678	Arsenal Kyiv

Major stadiums outside the league

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Shakhtar Stadium	31,718	None at the moment	The stadium belongs to Shakhtar
2	RSK Olimpiyskiy	26,100	None at the moment	The stadium belongs to Shakhtar
3	Yuvileiny Stadium (Sumy)	25,830	PFC Sumy
4	Meteor Stadium	24,381	None at the moment	The stadium belongs to Dnipro
5	Dynamo Stadium (Kharkiv)	9,000	None at the moment	The stadium belonged to FC Kharkiv
6	Dynamo Training Center	750	Dynamo-2 Kyiv

See also: List of football (soccer) stadiums by country#Ukraine

League attendance

All attendance figures are correct through 08/09 season.

Season	Att Per Match	Total Att	Highest Att By Team (Att By Team)	Highest Home Att By Team (Att By Team)
1992	5,650	1,028,270	Dynamo Kyiv (8,630)	Nyva Ternopil (11,133)
1992–93	5,835	1,400,480	Dynamo Kyiv (7,682)	Nyva Ternopil (10,725)
1993–94	5,887	1,801,520	Dynamo Kyiv (8,674)	Veres Rivne (11,059)
1994–95	5,557	1,694,980	Dynamo Kyiv (8,009)	SC Mykolaiv (9,600)
1995–96	5,878	1,787,050	Dynamo Kyiv (8,924)	Zirka Kirovohrad (12,324)
1996–97	6,332	791,550	Vorskla Poltava (9,703)	Vorskla Poltava (12,300)
1997–98	5,879	1,405,050	Karpaty Lviv (9,937)	Karpaty Lviv (13,767)
1998–99	7,588	1,821,100	Dynamo Kyiv (12,040)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (15,960)
1999-00	8,112	1,947,000	Shakhtar Donetsk (13,333)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih (16,233)
2000–01	9,302	1,692,950	Shakhtar Donetsk (20,190)	Shakhtar Donetsk (24,462)
2001–02	9,712	1,767,607	Shakhtar Donetsk (18,688)	Shakhtar Donetsk (25,615)
2002–03	7,415	1,779,525	Shakhtar Donetsk (16,332)	Shakhtar Donetsk (20,833)
2003–04	7,725	1,854,060	Shakhtar Donetsk (14,922)	Shakhtar Donetsk (17,931)
2004–05	7,302	1,737,777	Shakhtar Donetsk (16,555)	Shakhtar Donetsk (19,956)
2005–06	7,919	1,908,424	Shakhtar Donetsk (15,875)	Shakhtar Donetsk (19,358)
2006–07	9,052	2,163,490	Shakhtar Donetsk (16,966)	Shakhtar Donetsk (19,193)
2007–08	8,546	2,042,390	Shakhtar Donetsk (17,372)	Shakhtar Donetsk (20,080)
2008–09	7,574	1,817,760	???	Shakhtar Donetsk (15,387)
2009–10	8,943	2,146,320	???	Shakhtar Donetsk (27,321)

See also

• Soviet Top League
• Championship of the Soviet Ukraine
• Vyscha Liha Records
• List of foreign football players in Vyscha Liha
• Channel One Cup (football)
• Commonwealth of Independent States Cup
• Ukrainian Soviet competitions
• Ukrainian derby

External links

• (Ukrainian) Ukrainian Football Premier League- official site
• (Ukrainian) Professional football league of Ukraine – official site
• (Ukrainian)/(English) Football Federation of Ukraine – official site
• (English) Ukrainian Soccer Fan Club (ukrainiansoccer.net) – amateur's site
• (Ukrainian)/(Russian)/(English) Ukrainian Football – fans page
• (English)/(Ukrainian) History of Ukrainian Football (ukrsoccerhistory.com) – amateur's site
• (Russian) Filled with statistics
• "Ukrainian Football Database Spreadsheet through 2008-09 season (To access, copy link location directly to your URL bar)". http://palffyfan.tripod.com/ukrainespreadsheet.xls. Retrieved July 4, 2007.