Ukrainian Premier League

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Ukrainian Premier League
Founded1991 (Vyshcha Liha)
2008 (Premier League)
CountryUkraine
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toUkrainian First League
Domestic cup(s)Ukrainian Cup
Ukrainian Super Cup
International cup(s)UEFA Champions League
UEFA Europa League
Current championsShakhtar Donetsk (10th title)
(2016–17)
Most championshipsDynamo Kyiv (15 titles)
WebsiteOfficial website
Current: 2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League

The Ukrainian Premier League (Ukrainian: "Прем'єр-ліга") or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha (Top League) it was formed in 1991 as part of the 1992[1] Ukrainian football championship upon discontinuation of the 1991 Soviet football championship and included the Ukraine-based clubs that competed previously in the Soviet competitions. In 1996 along with other the professional football leagues of Ukraine, the Top League became a member of the Professional Football League of Ukraine.[1][2]

In 2008[3][4] it was withdrawn from Professional Football League of Ukraine and reformed into a self governed entity of the Football Federation of Ukraine, officially changing its name to the current one. Its rank was 8th highest in Europe as rated by UEFA as of 2017.

Among Ukrainian fans the most popular Ukrainian clubs are Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk.[5] Other popular clubs include FC Dnipro, Karpaty Lviv and Chornomorets Odesa.[5]

General overview and format

The 2017–18 season is the league's tenth after the restructuring of professional club football in 2008 and the 27th season since establishing of professional club's competition independent from the Soviet Union. As of 2017, Shakhtar Donetsk is the reigning Ukrainian Premier League champion. To summarise, Tavriya Simferopol won the first championship, while all the subsequent titles have gone to either Dynamo Kyiv or Shakhtar Donetsk. Only 3 teams, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk have participated in all previous 26 Ukrainian Top League competitions. The central feature of the league is a game between Dynamo and Shakhtar which is developed into the Klasychne (Classic).

On 15 April 2008 the new Premier-Liha (Premier League) was formed. The new sports organization consists of 12 football club organizations that take control of the league's operations under the statues of Football Federation of Ukraine, UEFA, and FIFA. With the new reorganization the format of the League was preserved, while the changes that were made were exclusively administrative. Competitions continued to be conducted in a double round robin format among 16 clubs. There were couple seasons when the 14-clubs league's composition was experimented. Since the 2014 Russian aggression, the league was reduced to 12 members, while its format also has changed. The season is still being played in a double round robin in the first half of a season, after which the league splits in half into two groups of six (6) teams. Both the top six and the bottom six play another a double round robin tournament with the clubs of own group.

The teams that reach the top ranks 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 clubs (usually two) are relegated to the First League (part of the lower Professional Football League) and replaced by the top clubs from that league. All the participants of the Premier League enter the National Cup competition and enter it at the round of 32 (1/16th of the final) or Round of 16 stage. Also the winner of the League at the beginning of every next season plays against the winner of the National Cup for the Ukrainian Super Cup (under administration of the Premier League).

Emblem

Old emblem

The old emblem depicts a football 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 (although in 2014 the league was shortened up to 14 teams the emblem was not changed). On the bottom the script says "Premier-League - Union of Professional Football Clubs of Ukraine".

Season regulations

Season regulations is one of the two most important documents (other being the competition calendar) that are adopted by the Premier League prior to each season.

Premier League directly organizes and conducts competitions among member clubs. Competitions are conducted on principle of "Fair play" and according to competitions calendar which is approved by the Premier League General Assembly and the FFU Executive Committee 30 days before start of competitions. Until 2019 all advertisement, commercial rights and rights on TV and radio broadcasting of games of championship and cup belong to the club that hosts them (except for the Ukrainian Cup final, the Super Cup of Ukraine, and the "Gold game"). All advertisement, commercial rights and rights on TV and radio broadcasting of the Ukrainian Cup final belong to the Football Federation of Ukraine, while the game of Super Cup and the "Gold game" - to the Premier League.

There are currently 12 club members of the league. All participants get approved by the Premier League General Assembly. Each club fields each team for senior competitions, and competitions for under 21 and under 19 teams (three teams). A club is required to have a stadium (registered with FFU) and an education and training facility (or center). A club is also obligated to finance its own youth sports institution and a complex scientific-methodical group as well as to own and finance a number of youth teams. A Premier League club needs to ensure participation of at least four youth teams (ages groups between 14 and 17) in the Youth Football League of Ukraine. A club cannot field more than one team for a certain competition.

All club's staff members (coaches, physicians, massage specialists) have to be contracted and be UEFA licensed. All coaches should have A-diploma, while head coaches - PRO-diploma. Football players are listed in "A" and "B" rosters. "A" roster contains no more than 25 players, while "B" roster has unlimited number of players no older than 21 who have professional contracts or agreements for sports training. The 25-players "A" roster includes the number of slots allotted for players developed by the club.

During breaks in competitions in summer and winter there are two periods for registering players.

A championship is conducted after the round robin system in two cycles "fall-spring" with one game at home and another at opponent's field with each participant. A competition calendar is formed after a draw that is conducted based on the Premier League club rankings. The calendar of the second cycle repeats the first, while hosting teams are switched. There should be no less than two calendar days between official games of a club. All games take place between 12:00 and 22:00 local time. Any game postponement is allowed only in emergencies and on decision of the Premier League Administration (Dyrektsiya). Game forfeitures are controlled by technical win/loss nominations and fines, followed by additional sanctions of the FFU Control-Disciplinary Committee, and possible elimination from the league.

Competition calendar

Clubs play each other twice (once at home and once away) in the 26-match season. The league begins in mid-July and ends in mid-June. After 13 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 Simferopol surprised the pre-season favorite Dynamo Kyiv.

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 since 2002–03 season 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 Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk had earned the same number of points and Shakhtar won the championship by winning the golden match (2–1 after extra time).

History

See also: Football in Ukraine, Soviet Top League, Championship of the Ukrainian SSR, and Football Federation of the Ukrainian SSR

Vyshcha Liha and Professional Football League (1992–1999)

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the inaugural independent championship took place hastily at the start of spring 1992 after the creation of the Ukrainian Higher League (Ukrainian: Вища Ліга, Vyshcha 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 First League 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 Higher League along with the winner of the 1991 Ukrainian Cup which finished ninth in the same group (Soviet Second League B).

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, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Shakhtar Donetsk, Chornomorets Odesa, 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 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 Dnipropetrovsk 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 First League. In the 1995–96 season Shakhtar Donetsk had the worst year in the club's history, coming tenth. Chornomorets Odesa were relegated twice during that first decade after which manager Leonid Buryak was sacked. A few newly created teams have since emerged such as Arsenal Kyiv and Metalurh Donetsk, as well as Vorskla Poltava, who surprisingly came third in the club's first season at the Top Level in the 1997.

Dynamo–Shakhtar rivalry and Premier League (2000–2010)

See also: Ukrainian derby

The next decade was marked by fierce competition between Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk. Since 2000, Shakhtar Donetsk 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 Kyiv 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. 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 Dnipropetrovsk and Chornomorets Odesa, who were recent contenders for the title, had to put up a fierce fight against the newly established contenders Metalurh Donetsk and Metalist Kharkiv to qualify for the European competitions. Metalist Kharkiv shone brightly in the late 2000s (decade) by consistently finishing right behind Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk 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 2008–09 UEFA Cup, but lost on the away goals rule. That same 2008–09 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 2008–09 season the league earned the highest UEFA league coefficient in Europe for that season.

On 15 November 2007 clubs' presidents of the Vyshcha Liha adopted a decision to create the Premier League (Premier Liha).[6] At the same meeting session there was created a supervisory board that consisted of Ravil Safiullin (Professional Football League), Vitaliy Danilov (FC Kharkiv), Petro Dyminskyi (FC Karpaty), and Vadym Rabinovych (FC Arsenal).[6] During the next three months that body curated a process on creation of the Premier League's regulation and statute as well as a procedure of launching the championship starting from the 2008-09 season.[6] On 15 April 2008 at one of the meetings among the presidents of clubs there was signed a protocol about establishing the Association of Professional Football Clubs of Ukraine "Premier-Liha"[6] as 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 2009–10 season and moving it to the spring half, while having the 14th round still playing in the fall. The representatives of five clubs: Arsenal Kyiv, Dynamo Kyiv, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, and Metalist Kharkiv 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 Vadim Rabinovich.

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 was absent. This time most club presidents of the Premier League of Ukraine acknowledged Vitaliy Danilov legality. In the subsequent elections on 9 December 2011 Vitaliy Danilov was challenged by Andriy Kurhanskyi (through the proposal of 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. Vitaliy Danilov managed to retain his seat with nine votes for him.

New challenges of the Premier League (2011–present)

Because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and cleaning of the league from the financially unreliable clubs (Metalist, Hoverla, Dnipro), the number of teams participating in the league was cut from 16 in the 2013–14 season to 14 in the following seasons.[7] With the continuation of the military conflict in the eastern oblasts (regions) of Ukraine since 2014, the league was forced to change its format again and will now be contested by 12 teams after being cut from 14 in the 2015–16 season.

Officials

Presidents

Directors

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

Clubs

Current clubs

The following teams are competing in the 2017–18 season:

Team Home city Stadium Capacity Position in
2016–17 		Position in
2015–16 		Position in
2014–15
Chornomorets Odesa Odesa Chornomorets Stadium 34,164 6th 11th 11th
Dynamo Kyiv Kiev Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex 70,050 2nd 1st 1st
Karpaty Lviv Lviv Ukraina Stadium 28,051 10th 7th 13th
Mariupol Mariupol Illichivets Stadium 12,680 FL:1st FL:4th 14th
FC Oleksandriya Oleksandria CSC Nika Stadium 7,000 5th 6th FL:1st
Olimpik Donetsk Donetsk Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium 16,873 4th 9th 8th
Shakhtar Donetsk Donetsk Metalist Stadium 40,003 1st 2nd 2nd
FC Stal Kamianske Kamianske Meteor Stadium 24,381 8th 8th FL:2nd
Veres Rivne Rivne Arena Lviv 34,915 FL:3rd SL:2nd —
Vorskla Poltava Poltava Oleksiy Butovsky Vorskla Stadium 24,795 7th 5th 5th
Zorya Luhansk Luhansk Slavutych-Arena 12,000 3rd 4th 4th
Zirka Kropyvnytskyi Kropyvnytskyi Zirka Stadium 13,667 9th FL:1st FL:4th

Competitions

Ukrainian Premier League (UPL) conducts several annual round-robin like competitions. Its main event is the UPL Championship. The UPL also conducts the U-21 and the U-19 championships. The U-21 championship includes youth teams of the UPL clubs, while the U-19 championship also includes teams of the Professional Football League of Ukraine (PFL) clubs.

In addition, the UPL also conducts the Super Cup game among the top 2 teams of previous season.

In past, the UPL was administering the Ukrainian Cup, particularly its latest stages including the final.

Broadcasting

Free-to-air live matches from the Ukrainian Premier League will be broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays on satellite channel 2+2 (Sirius 5E). This is a list of television broadcasters which provide coverage of the Ukrainian Premier League, which is Ukrainian football's top level of competition.

International broadcasters

Europe (UEFA)

Country Language Broadcasters
Andorra French Ma Chaine Sport
Armenia Armenian 12 TV
Azerbaijan Azerbaijani CBC Sport
Belgium French Ma Chaine Sport
Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbian SportKlub
Croatia Croatia SportKlub
France French Ma Chaine Sport
Greece Greek Action 24
Luxembourg French Ma Chaine Sport
Macedonia Macedonian SportKlub
Monaco French Ma Chaine Sport
Montenegro Serbian SportKlub
Poland Polish Polsat Futbol
Romania Romanian Dolce Sport
Russia Russian Futbol
Serbia Serbian SportKlub
Slovenia Slovenian SportKlub
Switzerland French Ma Chaine Sport
Turkey Turkish -
Ukraine Ukrainian Kanal Futbol,2+2

Africa (CAF)

Country Language Broadcasters
Algeria French Ma Chaine Sport
Morocco French Ma Chaine Sport
Tunisia French Ma Chaine Sport

UEFA ranking and European competitions

See also: Ukrainian football clubs in European competitions

Ukrainian clubs being part of the Soviet Union competed in European competitions since 1960s when the Soviet clubs started to participate in continental competitions. In fact the very first Soviet club that took part in European competitions was Ukrainian club, FC Dynamo Kyiv, that took in the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, the following Ukrainian clubs participated in European competitions: FC Dynamo Kyiv (1965), FC Karpaty Lviv (1970), FC Zorya Luhansk (1973), FC Chornomorets Odessa (1975), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (1977), FC Dnipro (1984), and FC Metalist Kharkiv (1988).

At least four clubs participated in top continental competitions the European Cup and the UEFA Champions League among which are FC Dynamo Kyiv, FC Dnipro, FC Shakhtar Donetsk, and FC Metalist Kharkiv.

Two teams (Dynamo and Shakhtar) were able to obtain trophies of European competitions including two Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Supercup, and one UEFA Cup. One more team (Dnipro) came just short to join their company losing in the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final.

Club seeding

UEFA Club Ranking for club seeding in 2017–18 European football season.

Current
ranking 		Movement Last season
ranking 		Teams Coefficient
15 upward-facing green arrow (17) Shakhtar Donetsk 66.000
24 Steady (24) Dynamo Kyiv 51.500
38 downward-facing red arrow (35) Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 34.000
119 downward-facing red arrow (108) Chornomorets Odesa 9.000
141 downward-facing red arrow (136) Zorya Luhansk 7.000
143 upward-facing green arrow (164) Oleksandriya 2.000
143 upward-facing green arrow (153) Vorskla Poltava 2.000
143 downward-facing red arrow (98) Metalist Kharkiv 2.000
143 upward-facing green arrow (153) Metalurh Donetsk 1.000
143 upward-facing green arrow (new) Olimpik Donetsk 1.000

Note: Since 1999 the country index (coefficient) indicates the lowest possible value any team of that country will get in the ranking. Currently it's 6.866 for Ukraine. Teams ranked below their country's ranking are positioned by the ranking of their country rather its own. Teams in bold will be participating in the 2017–18 European football season.[11]Last Updated:27 July 2017.

Country ranking

UEFA Country Ranking for league participation in 2017–18 European football season

Current
ranking 		Movement Last season
ranking 		League Coefficient
6 upward-facing green arrow (7) Russia Russian Premier League 50.532
7 downward-facing red arrow (5) Portugal Primeira Liga 49.332
8 Steady (8) Ukraine Ukrainian Premier League 42.633
9 Steady (9) Belgium Belgian Pro League 42.400
10 upward-facing green arrow (11) Turkey Süper Lig 39.200

Last Updated: 27 July 2017.[12]

International relations

In 2009 The Ukrainian Premier League joined the European Professional Football Leagues.[13] 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.

Champions and top goalscorers

Main article: List of Ukrainian football champions

Top League (Vyshcha Liha)

Season Champion Runner-up Third Place Top Goalscorer Rank
1992 Tavriya Simferopol Dynamo Kyiv Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine Yuriy Hudymenko (Tavriya Simferopol, 12 goals) N/A[14]
1992–93 Dynamo Kyiv Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Chornomorets Odesa Ukraine Serhiy Husyev (Chornomorets Odesa, 17 goals) 28/39
1993–94 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Chornomorets Odesa Ukraine Tymerlan Huseinov (Chornomorets Odesa, 18 goals) 24/44
1994–95 Dynamo Kyiv Chornomorets Odesa Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Tajikistan Arsen Avakov (Torpedo Zaporizhya, 21 goals) 24/47
1995–96 Dynamo Kyiv Chornomorets Odesa Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine Tymerlan Huseinov (Chornomorets Odesa, 20 goals) 19/48
1996–97 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Vorskla Poltava Ukraine Oleh Matveyev (Shakhtar Donetsk, 21 goals) 22/48
1997–98 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Karpaty Lviv Ukraine Serhiy Rebrov (Dynamo Kyiv, 22 goals) 17/49
1998–99 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Ukraine Andriy Shevchenko (Dynamo Kyiv, 18 goals) 15/50
1999–00 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Uzbekistan Maksim Shatskikh (Dynamo Kyiv, 20 goals) 12/50
2000–01 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Ukraine Andriy Vorobey (Shakhtar Donetsk, 21 goals) 13/51
2001–02 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Metalurh Donetsk Ukraine Serhiy Shyshchenko (Metalurh Donetsk, 12 goals) 13/51
2002–03 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Metalurh Donetsk Uzbekistan Maksim Shatskikh (Dynamo Kyiv, 22 goals) 14/52
2003–04 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Georgia (country) Giorgi Demetradze (Metalurh Donetsk, 18 goals) 14/52
2004–05 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Metalurh Donetsk Ukraine Oleksandr Kosyrin (Chornomorets Odesa, 14 goals) 15/52
2005–06 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Chornomorets Odesa Brazil Brandão (Shakhtar Donetsk, 15 goals)
Nigeria Emmanuel Okoduwa (Arsenal Kyiv, 15 goals) 		13/52
2006–07 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Metalist Kharkiv Ukraine Oleksandr Hladkyi (FC Kharkiv, 13 goals) 11/52
2007–08 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Bronze stripped * Serbia Marko Dević* (Metalist Kharkiv, 19 goals) 12/53

Premier League

Season Champion Runner-up Third Place Top Goalscorer Rank
2008–09 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Metalist Kharkiv Ukraine Oleksandr Kovpak (Tavriya Simferopol, 17 goals) 7/53
2009–10 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Metalist Kharkiv Ukraine Artem Milevsky (Dynamo Kyiv, 17 goals) 7/53
2010–11 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Metalist Kharkiv Ukraine Yevhen Seleznyov (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, 17 goals) 8/53
2011–12 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Metalist Kharkiv Ukraine Yevhen Seleznyov (Shakhtar Donetsk, 14 goals)
Brazil Maicon (Volyn Lutsk, 14 goals) 		9/53
2012–13 Shakhtar Donetsk Metalist Kharkiv Dynamo Kyiv Armenia Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk, 25 goals) 7/53
2013–14 Shakhtar Donetsk Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Metalist Kharkiv Brazil Luiz Adriano (Shakhtar Donetsk, 20 goals) 9/53
2014–15 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Brazil Alex Teixeira (Shakhtar Donetsk, 17 goals)
Romania Eric Bicfalvi (Volyn Lutsk, 17 goals) 		8/54
2015–16 Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Brazil Alex Teixeira (Shakhtar Donetsk, 22 goals)
 8/54
2016–17 Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Zorya Luhansk Ukraine Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kyiv, 15 goals) 8/55

Notes:

Performance by club

Club Winners Runners-up Winning years
Dynamo Kyiv 15 9 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2014–15, 2015–16
Shakhtar Donetsk 10 12 2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17
Tavriya Simferopol 1 – 1992
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk – 2
Chornomorets Odesa – 2
Metalist Kharkiv – 1
Total 26 26
Notes
  • Italics identifies either defunct or teams that lost professional status.

Honored teams

A representative star is placed above the team's badge to indicate 10 league titles.[17] Dynamo Kyiv became the first Ukrainian team to achieve the prestigious honor of winning the Soviet Top 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. The two stars, however, were only added to the club's logo in 2007.[18] No other club in Ukraine has come close to such an honour yet.

The current (as of 2017) officially sanctioned Premier League stars are:

Premier League players

All-time Premier League appearance leaders
Rank Player Games
1 Ukraine Oleksandr Shovkovskiy 426
2 Ukraine Oleh Shelayev 412
3 Ukraine Oleksandr Chizhevskiy 400
4 Ukraine Oleksandr Horyainov 391
5 Ukraine Vyacheslav Checher 390
6 Ukraine Serhiy Nazarenko 373
7 Ukraine Ruslan Rotan 365
8 Ukraine Serhiy Shyshchenko 363
9 Ukraine Ruslan Kostyshyn 359
10 Ukraine Serhiy Zakarlyuka 356
Players in bold are still playing in Premier League
Data as of 30 August 2017[19]
All-time Premier League scorers
Rank Player Goals Games
1 Ukraine Serhiy Rebrov 123 261
Uzbekistan Maksim Shatskikh 123[a] 341
3 Ukraine Yevhen Seleznyov 111 230
4 Ukraine Andriy Vorobey 105 315
5 Ukraine Andriy Yarmolenko 99 228
6 Ukraine Oleksandr Haydash 95[b] 258
7 Ukraine Serbia Marko Dević 90 219
Ukraine Serhiy Mizin 90 342
9 Ukraine Tymerlan Huseynov 85 215
10 Ukraine Oleksandr Kosyrin 84 240
Players in bold are still playing in Premier League
Data as of 30 August 2017[21]
Further information: Football records in Ukraine

Ex-Dynamo Kyiv strikers Maksim Shatskikh and Serhiy Rebrov hold the record for most Ukrainian Premier League goals with 123, with Shatskikh winning the top single season scorer title twice in 1999–2000 and 2002–03, Rebrov once in 1997-98. Since the first Ukrainian Premier League season in 1992, 22 different players have won or shared the top scorer's title. Only four players have won the title more than once, Tymerlan Huseynov, Maksim Shatskikh, Yevhen Seleznyov and Alex Teixeira. Henrikh Mkhitaryan holds the record for most goals in a season (25), Serhiy Rebrov and Maksim Shatskikh are the only two players to score at least 20 goals twice. The most prolific all-time scorers are Ivan Hetsko and Viktor Leonenko, respectively attaining 0.59 and 0.56 goals per game.

Premier League managers

All-time League games
Rank Coach Games
1 Ukraine Myron Markevych 620
2 Ukraine Mykola Pavlov 546
3 Romania Mircea Lucescu 355
4 Ukraine Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi 340
5 Ukraine Valeriy Yaremchenko 297
6 Ukraine Mykhailo Fomenko 294
7 Ukraine Oleh Taran 273
8 Ukraine Semen Altman 249
9 Ukraine Vyacheslav Hrozny 214
10 Ukraine Oleksandr Ishchenko 204
Coaches in bold are still active in the League
Data as of 31 May 2017[22]
Winning managers
Rank Name Club(s)
1 Romania Mircea Lucescu Shakhtar 8 4 —
2 Ukraine Valery Lobanovsky† Dynamo 5 1 —
3 Ukraine Yozhef Sabo Dynamo 2 1 —
Ukraine Serhiy Rebrov Dynamo 2 1 —
5 Ukraine Oleksiy Mykhailychenko Dynamo 2 — —
6 Russia Yuri Semin Dynamo 1 3 —
7 Ukraine Mykola Pavlov Dynamo(1)
Dnipro 		1 1 1
8 Ukraine Anatoliy Demyanenko Dynamo 1 1 —
9 Ukraine Anatoliy Zayaev† Tavria 1 — —
Ukraine Mykhailo Fomenko Dynamo 1 — —
Italy Nevio Scala Shakhtar 1 — —
Portugal Paulo Fonseca Shakhtar 1 — —
Data as of 31 May 2017

The league's record holder for winnings is Mircea Lucescu.

The league's record holder for games that the coach led a team in the league is Myron Markevych. Among other coaches who stayed in the league the longest, there are Volodymyr Bezsonov (197), Anatoliy Zayaev† (191), Ihor Nadein† (184), Leonid Buryak (180), and Yevhen Kucherevsky† (176).

† – Managers that have retired out of sport. In bold are managers that are still active in the current season.

Premier League referees

All-time League games
Rank Coach City Games
1 Serhiy Shebek Kiev 226
2 Vitaliy Hodulian Odessa 202
3 Vasyl Melnychuk Simferopol 190
4 Ihor Ishchenko Khmelnytskyi / Kiev 186
5 Ihor Yarmenchuk Kiev 168
6 Andriy Shandor Lviv 149
7 Valeriy Onufer Uzhhorod 141
8 Serhiy Tatulian Kiev 137
9 Serhiy Dzyuba Kiev 136
10 Anatoliy Zhosan Kherson 134
Ihor Khiblin Khmelnytskyi
Referees in bold are still active in the League
Data as of 19 May 2014[23]

All-time participants

The table lists the place each team took in each of the seasons.

Teams marking: green – member of the Premier League, blue – member of the First League, gray – member of the Second League, pink – no longer member of UPL or PFL.

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 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17
Teams 20 16 18 18 18 16 16 16 16 14 14 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 14 14 12
Arsenal Kyiv[24]         4 11 10 7 10 6 12 5 9 9 12 14 6 11 7 9 5 8 16      
Borysfen Boryspil                         7 16                        
Bukovyna Chernivtsi 10 12 17                                              
Chornomorets Odesa 5 3 3 2 2 7 15   15     8 5 6 3 6 7 10 15   9 6 5 11 11 6
Dnipro 3 2 4 3 3 4 4 12 11 3 6 4 3 4 6 4 4 6 4 4 4 4 2 3 3 11
Dynamo Kyiv 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 3 4 1 1 2
Hoverla Uzhhorod                     14     12 16   16   16     15 12 12 13  
Karpaty Lviv 13 6 5 8 8 5 3 4 9 10 8 7 15     8 10 9 5 5 14 14 11 13 7 10
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 10 7        
Lviv                                   15                
Mariupol             14 5 8 4 10 10 8 5 4 15   14 12 14 11 9 10 14    
Metalist Kharkiv 6 5 18         6 5 9 5 16   11 5 3 (3)* 3 3 3 3 2 3 6 10  
Metalurh Donetsk             7 14 7 5 3 3 4 3 9 9 12 4 8 8 7 5 6 10    
Metalurh Zaporizhya 11 7 16 9 5 8 9 8 6 8 4 15 11 10 8 7 9 7 9 16   16 14 7 14  
Mykolaiv 18     13 16     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 15          
Odesa 20                                                  
Oleksandriya                     13 13                 16       6 5
Olimpik Donetsk                                             8 9 5 4
Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk 17     11 11 13 13 15 14                                  
Sevastopol                                       15     9      
Shakhtar Donetsk 4 4 2 4 10 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1
Stal Alchevsk                   13         11 16                    
Stal Kamianske                                                 8 8
Tavriya Simferopol 1 10 8 5 12 6 12 9 13 7 7 9 12 7 7 5 5 8 6 7 6 11 15      
Temp Shepetivka 19   9 17                                            
Torpedo Zaporizhya 8 13 13 7 7 14 16                                      
Veres Rivne   16 11 18                                            
Volyn Lutsk 9 11 12 15 17             6 13 8 15         11 12 13 13 9 12 12
Vorskla Poltava           3 5 10 4 12 11 11 14 14 10 13 8 5 10 6 8 12 8 5 5 7
Zirka Kropyvnytskyi         6 10 11 11 16       16                         9
Zorya Luhansk 12 15 14 16 18                     11 11 13 13 12 13 10 7 4 4 3

All-time table

All figures are correct through the 2016–17 season.[25][26]

  clubs that lost professional status or were dissolved
Rank Team Seasons P W D L GF GA Pts Achievement Other names used
1 Dynamo Kyiv 26 766 566 127 73 1661 494 1825 champions (15)
2 Shakhtar Donetsk 26 766 527 135 104 1603 574 1716 champions (10)
3 FC Dnipro 26 765 379 199 187 1127 718 1336 runners-up (2)
4 Chornomorets Odesa 22 651 252 160 239 738 737 916 runners-up (2)
5 Karpaty Lviv 24 704 237 196 271 781 857 907 3rd (1)
6 Metalist Kharkiv[c] 20 573 254 144 175 755 664 906 runners-up (1)
7 Tavriya Simferopol[d] 23 681 237 170 274 795 873 881 champions (1)
8 Metalurh Zaporizhya[e] 24 702 206 173 323 699 949 791 5th (2)[f]
9 Vorskla Poltava 21 614 205 170 239 663 715 785 3rd (1) Vorskla-Naftogaz
10 Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih[g] 21 634 201 173 260 633 786 776 3rd (2)
11 Metalurh Donetsk[h] 18 526 203 142 181 655 623 751 3rd (3)
12 Arsenal Kyiv[i] 18 536 184 151 201 628 619 703 4th (1)[j] CSKA, CSKA-Borysfen
13 FC Mariupol 17 496 154 118 224 551 711 580 4th (2) Illichivets, Metalurh
14 Zorya Luhansk 16 472 150 100 222 488 702 550 3rd (1) Zorya-MALS
15 Volyn Lutsk 16 472 140 102 230 473 710 519 6th (1)
16 Nyva Ternopil[k] 10 296 93 62 141 319 388 341 7th (3)
17 Torpedo Zaporizhya[l] 7 210 64 42 104 214 315 234 7th (2)
18 Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk[m] 7 206 55 52 99 215 315 217 10th (1)
19 Zirka Kropyvnytskyi[n] 7 216 55 48 113 187 328 213 6th (1) Zirka-NIBAS
20 Kremin Kremenchuk[o] 6 180 54 40 86 182 269 202 9th (2)
21 Hoverla Uzhhorod[p] 9 256 41 64 151 186 421 187 12th (3) Zakarpattia
22 Obolon Kyiv[q] 6 180 44 44 92 153 253 176 6th (1)
23 Nyva Vinnytsia[r] 5 150 42 32 76 140 213 158 10th (1)
24 FC Oleksandriya[s] 5 144 36 43 65 142 212 151 5th (1) Polihraftekhnika, PFC Oleksandriya
25 FC Kharkiv[t] 4 120 25 33 62 94 156 108 12th (1)
26 Veres Rivne[u] 3 98 27 25 46 89 141 106 12th (1)
27 SC Mykolaiv 4 116 26 23 67 100 208 101 13th (1) Evis
28 Olimpik Donetsk 3 84 24 23 37 80 143 95 4th (1)
29 Temp Shepetivka[v] 3 86 24 16 46 79 113 88 9th (1)
30 Bukovyna Chernivtsi 3 82 23 18 41 69 99 87 11th (1)
31 Stal Alchevsk[w] 3 86 17 21 48 67 126 72 11th (1)
32 Stal Kamianske 2 58 18 16 24 49 62 70 8th (2)
33 FC Sevastopol[x] 2 58 17 11 30 58 91 62 9th (1) PFC Sevastopol
32 Borysfen Boryspil 2 60 14 19 27 40 60 61 7th (1)
34 Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka 2 48 11 11 26 30 66 44 15th (1) Naftovyk
36 FC Lviv 1 30 6 8 16 24 39 26 15th
37 SC Odesa[y] 1 18 3 1 14 15 32 10 10th SKA Odesa


Post-season play-offs

Golden matches

Third place matches

Relegation play-offs

Rivalries and city derbies

Klasychne and the championship contenders

See also: Klasychne derby

The central feature of the league is a rivalry between Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv which has adopted its name as Klasychne. The rivalry started ever since the end of 1990s when both teams started consistently to place the top two places from season to season. The rivalry became really established when Shakhtar obtained its first national title in 2002.

The surprising win of the first season by SC Tavriya Simferopol has never turned the club into a real contender for another title and the club was not always successful to secure a place among the top five. In the beginning of 1990s FC Chornomorets Odessa and the Soviet champions FC Dnipro were also among the main contenders. The Soviet 1972 champions FC Zorya Luhansk until 2013 really struggled to stay in the top league. Among other contenders there were FC Metalist Kharkiv that were the league's runners-up in 2012-13 and FC Metalurh Donetsk that showed some consistent form in the early 2000s.

Other rivalries

There are few smaller regional rivalries such between Karpaty and Volyn, Metalist and Dnipro, Zorya and Shakhtar.

Among city derbies, there are no running city derbies in the league for the 2017-18 season. Among the most notable previously there were Zaporizhian derby between Metalurh and Torpedo, Kyivan derby – Dynamo and Arsenal (CSKA), Donetsk derby – Shakhtar and Metalurh. Other derbies existed in Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, others.

Stadiums

Further information: List of football stadiums in Ukraine

Ukraine has several big stadiums with capacity of 30,000+ spectators and at least two stadiums with capacity of over 50,000 which also are considered to be by UEFA the elite stadiums. Since the 2014 Russian invasion and partial occupation of Ukraine, the access to some stadiums was restricted. Many stadiums in Ukraine and their surrounding infrastructure were renovated in preparation to the Euro 2012.

UEFA Elite Stadiums

# Stadium Capacity City Club Opened
1 Olimpiysky National Sports Complex 70,050 Kiev Ukraine, Dynamo Kyiv 1923, 2011
2 Donbass Arena 52,518 Donetsk Shakhtar Donetsk 2009

Other major stadiums

Among 30,000+ football stadiums or multi-use stadiums adopted for football are Arena Lviv, Chornomorets Stadium, Dnipro Arena, Metalist Stadium and others.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ On 22 July 2017 Ukrainian Premier League announced that Maksim Shatskikh might have scored 123 goals instead of 124 due to one of autogoals (own goals) were counted towards his tally.[20]
  2. ^ Haidash who is recorded with 95 goals in reality did score 96, but the game in which he scored was cancelled along with his record.[20]
  3. ^ the status of the club is disputed due the fact that current the Second League's FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv which features many footballers and coaching staff members of the original Metalist is de jure a different club, while the original Soviet club was denied license for failing to pay salary to its footballers and competes in regional competitions of Kharkiv Oblast
  4. ^ the original Soviet club was forced to be dissolved due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and in its place was created Russian FC TSK–Tavriya in Simferopol and later SC Tavriya in Beryslav
  5. ^ the original Soviet club was dissolved due to bankruptcy and was later revived based on amateur FC Rosso Nero
  6. ^ In 2001-02 Metalurh Zaporizhia placed fifth in the competition according to the season's regulations, however the FFU Executive Committee after reviewing granted the club the fourth place to allow Metalurh to participate in continental competitions.
  7. ^ the original Soviet club was dissolved due to bankruptcy and later was revived competing in regional competitions of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
  8. ^ the club was merged with FC Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk
  9. ^ the original club was dissolved due to bankruptcy and later revived based on its academy as FC Arsenal–Kyiv
  10. ^ Arsenal Kyiv's record includes the record of its predecessor CSKA Kyiv (when the club was sponsored by the Ministry of Defence). It does not include the 14 games that it played in 2013-14 and later annulled.
  11. ^ as the original professional Soviet club, Nyva was relegated to lower leagues then withdrew from professional competitions and later reformed in regional competitions of Ternopil Oblast
  12. ^ the original Soviet club was dissolved due to bankruptcy
  13. ^ the original Soviet club FC Prykarpattia relegated to lower leagues and was dissolved due to bankruptcy, later attempts to revive it so far were not successful
  14. ^ the original Soviet club due to bankruptcy was reformed in amateur competitions, but after unsuccessful season, in 2008 passed its name to a local football school Olimpik
  15. ^ the original Soviet club was dissolved due to bankruptcy and later was revived as municipal club
  16. ^ the original Soviet club was denied license for failing to pay salary to its footballers and later was dissolved
  17. ^ the original club that was established based on the Kyiv sports school was reformed FC Obolon-Brovar as part of the Obolon factory team and restarted from lower leagues
  18. ^ the original Soviet club was dissolved due to bankruptcy and later attempts revived so far are not very successful
  19. ^ the original factory team Polihraftekhnika was dissolved and reformed as a city team which later was reformed based on the merger with lower league team FC UkrAhroKom
  20. ^ an unsuccessful spin-off of FC Arsenal Kharkiv
  21. ^ the original Soviet club was relegated and after spending long time in lower leagues later was dissolved; in 2016 it was revived as a special project "people's team"
  22. ^ the original Soviet club was dissolved due to bankruptcy
  23. ^ the original Soviet club was dissolved due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine
  24. ^ the club was dissolved due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its place was created Russian club SKChF which later changed its name to FC Sevastopol
  25. ^ the original Soviet club was merged with FC Chornomorets

References

  1. ^ a b Hunchenko, O., Kazakov, V., Kulikovska, O. Historic and geographic characteristics of football development in Ukraine (ІСТОРИКО-ГЕОГРАФІЧНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РОЗВИТКУ ФУТБОЛУ В УКРАЇНІ)
  2. ^ Historic profile. Professional Football League of Ukraine
  3. ^ There was adopted a decision on creation of the football Premier League of Ukraine (Прийнято рішення про створення футбольної Прем'єр-ліги України). Electronic Library of Ukraine.
  4. ^ In Ukraine was created Premier League (В Україні створено Прем’єр-лігу). Champion (Ukrayinska Pravda). 27 May 2008
  5. ^ a b Poll: 40% of Ukrainians consider themselves football supporters, most against idea of CIS league, Interfax-Ukraine (27 August 2013)
  6. ^ a b c d At first there was a decision... (Спочатку було рішення…). Ukrainian Premier League. 16 November 2017
  7. ^ Ukraine trying to revive Crimean champion football club, USA Today (19 June 2015)
  8. ^ Danilov re-elected as president of Ukrainian football premier league
  9. ^ Vitaliy Danilov is re-elected as the president of PL
  10. ^ Официально. Владимир Генинсон — новый президент УПЛ
  11. ^ UEFA Team Ranking 2017 (24 November 2016)
  12. ^ UEFA Country Ranking 2017
  13. ^ Profile of the Ukrainian Premier League at EPFL website
  14. ^ part of Soviet Union
  15. ^ Lausanne announced a verdict on the game Karpaty - Metalist (Лозанна озвучила вердикт по матчу "Карпаты" - "Металлист"). ua-football.com. August 2, 2013.
  16. ^ Football - Match Fixing. Court of Arbitration of Sport. Lausanne August 2, 2013.
  17. ^ Will Dynamo have two stars? Television Service of News (TSN). 12 June 2007
  18. ^ FC Dynamo Kyiv has a new emblem. Interfax Ukraine. 4 July 2011
  19. ^ All players
  20. ^ a b ...And on the horizon – Yarmolenko (…А на горизонті — Ярмоленко). Ukrainian Premier League. 22 July 2017
  21. ^ Allplayers.in.ua
  22. ^ All coaches
  23. ^ All referees
  24. ^ Arsenal Kyiv was renamed from CSKA Kyiv in 2001, the original CSKA Kyiv was recreated in the First League in place of CSCA-2 Kyiv.
  25. ^ Grand tournament table of the Ukrainian Championship (1992-2015). ukr-football.org
  26. ^ Summarized table of championships. Ukrainskiy Futbol ot Dmitriya Troshchiya (Ukrainian Football from Dmitriy Troshchiy).

External links

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