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Ukrainian Premier League

Founded	from 1991 to 2008 (Vyshcha Liha) since 2008 (Premier League)
Country	Ukraine
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Ukrainian First League
Domestic cup(s)	Ukrainian Cup Ukrainian Super Cup
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
Current champions	Shakhtar Donetsk (11th title) (2017–18)
Most championships	Dynamo Kyiv (15 titles)
Website	Official website
2018–19 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 the other 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In 2008^[3][4] it was withdrawn from Professional Football League of Ukraine and reformed into a self governed entity of the Football Federation of Ukraine, officially changing its name to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

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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".

As the old emblem, the new emblem also contains 16 stars. For the 2016-17 season there was added the sponsor's name.

Season's format and 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^{[citation needed]} all advertisement, commercial rights and rights on TV and radio broadcasting of games of championship and cup belong to the club that hosts them (the Super Cup of Ukraine and the "Gold game"). All advertisement, commercial rights and rights on TV and radio broadcasting of the game of Super Cup and the "Gold game". Before 2014 Premier League was also administering some rounds of the Ukrainian Cup (Round of 8, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals). The earlier rounds were administered by the Professional League and the final by the Federation. Since 2014 the organization of Ukrainian Cup competitions in full belongs exclusively to the Federation.

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.

Beside the main championship among senior teams, the Premier League also organizes youth championship which was adopted from the previous Vyshcha Liha championship of doubles (reserves). Since 2012 there was added another competition for junior teams, so the original youth championship was renamed into the Championship of U-21 teams and the new competition was named as the Championship of U-19 teams. Unlike the Championship of U-21 teams, in the Championship of U-19 teams beside all of the Premier League clubs' junior teams, there also compete teams of some lower leagues' clubs.

The league's championship among senior teams is conducted by manner of 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

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)

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)

Starting from 2010 and until 2015, FC Shakhtar led by Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu obtained five national league titles in a row and making Lucescu the most successful coach in the league. In the 2013-14 season FC Dynamo for the first time since Ukrainian independence placed fourth in league's season ranking and led to dismissal of former national team coach and the legend of Soviet football Oleh Blokhin as the club's manager.

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

• 
  Vitaliy Danilov (president of FC Kharkiv), 27 May 2008 – 1 July 2009 (temporary acting president)


• 
  Vitaliy Danilov (president of FC Kharkiv), 1 July 2009 – 9 December 2011^[8]
  


• 
  Vitaliy Danilov, 9 December 2011 – 29 February 2016^[9]
  


• 
  Volodymyr Heninson, 29 February 2016 – 6 April 2018^[10]
  


• 
  Thomas Grimm, 6 April 2018 – present

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 2018–19 season. Note, in parenthesis shown the actual home cities and stadiums.

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity	Position in 2017–18	First season in PL	Seasons in PL
Arsenal Kyiv	Kyiv	Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium	16,873	FL:1st	1995-96	19
Chornomorets Odesa	Odesa	Chornomorets Stadium	34,164	11th	1992	24
Desna Chernihiv	Chernihiv	Chernihiv Stadium	12,060	FL:3rd	2018-19	0
Dynamo Kyiv	Kyiv	Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex	70,050	2nd	1992	28
Karpaty Lviv	Lviv	Ukraina Stadium	28,051	8th	1992	26
Lviv	Lviv	Arena Lviv	34,915	SL:5th	2008-09	1
Mariupol	Mariupol	Volodymyr Boiko Stadium	12,680	5th	1997-98	19
Oleksandriya	Oleksandria	CSC Nika Stadium	7,000	7th	2001-02	6
Olimpik Donetsk	Donetsk (Kyiv)	Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium	16,873	10th	2014-15	5
Shakhtar Donetsk	Donetsk (Kharkiv)	Metalist Stadium	40,003	1st	1992	28
Vorskla Poltava	Poltava	Oleksiy Butovsky Vorskla Stadium	24,795	3rd	1996-97	23
Zorya Luhansk	Luhansk (Zaporizhia)	Slavutych-Arena	12,000	4th	1992	18

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

The main international broadcaster of the league in west Europe and some countries of Africa is the French Ma Chaîne Sport providing coverage for such countries like France, and satellite communities in Andorra, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia. Another broadcaster Sport Klub provides coverage in all countries of former Yugoslavia including Bosnia/Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. National broadcasters of some other counties include 12 TV (Armenia), CBC Sport (Azerbaijan), Polsat Futbol (Poland), Futbol (Russia), and Dolce Sport (Romania).

UEFA ranking and 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

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: 21 May 2018

Country ranking

UEFA Country Ranking

Last Updated: 21 May 2018.^[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.

Results by season

Top League (Vyshcha Liha)

• 
  Professional Football League of Ukraine was the governing body of the Top League (Vyshcha Liha) since 1996 till 2008.

Season	Champion	Runner-up	Third place	Top goalscorer	Rank
1992	Tavriya Simferopol	Dynamo Kyiv	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Yuriy Hudymenko (Tavriya Simferopol, 12 goals)	N/A[14]
1992–93	Dynamo Kyiv	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Chornomorets Odesa	Serhiy Husyev (Chornomorets Odesa, 17 goals)	28/39
1993–94	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Chornomorets Odesa	Tymerlan Huseinov (Chornomorets Odesa, 18 goals)	24/44
1994–95	Dynamo Kyiv	Chornomorets Odesa	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Arsen Avakov (Torpedo Zaporizhya, 21 goals)	24/47
1995–96	Dynamo Kyiv	Chornomorets Odesa	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Tymerlan Huseinov (Chornomorets Odesa, 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 Vorobey (Shakhtar Donetsk, 21 goals)	13/51
2001–02	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalurh Donetsk	Serhiy Shyshchenko (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	Giorgi Demetradze (Metalurh Donetsk, 18 goals)	14/52
2004–05	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalurh Donetsk	Oleksandr Kosyrin (Chornomorets Odesa, 14 goals)	15/52
2005–06	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Chornomorets Odesa	Brandão (Shakhtar Donetsk, 15 goals) Emmanuel Okoduwa (Arsenal Kyiv, 15 goals)	13/52
2006–07	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Metalist Kharkiv	Oleksandr Hladkyi (FC Kharkiv, 13 goals)	11/52
2007–08	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Bronze stripped *	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	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)	8/53
2011–12	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Metalist Kharkiv	Yevhen Seleznyov (Shakhtar Donetsk, 14 goals) Maicon (Volyn Lutsk, 14 goals)	9/53
2012–13	Shakhtar Donetsk	Metalist Kharkiv	Dynamo Kyiv	Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Shakhtar Donetsk, 25 goals)	7/53
2013–14	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Metalist Kharkiv	Luiz Adriano (Shakhtar Donetsk, 20 goals)	9/53
2014–15	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Alex Teixeira (Shakhtar Donetsk, 17 goals) Eric Bicfalvi (Volyn Lutsk, 17 goals)	8/54
2015–16	Dynamo Kyiv	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Alex Teixeira (Shakhtar Donetsk, 22 goals)	8/54
2016–17	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Zorya Luhansk	Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kyiv, 15 goals)	8/55
2017–18	Shakhtar Donetsk	Dynamo Kyiv	Vorskla Poltava	Facundo Ferreyra (Shakhtar Donetsk, 21 goal)	8/55

Notes:

• 
  Rank column shows the ranking of the league amongst members of UEFA.


• In bold are the league winners that also won the Ukrainian Cup (season double).


• In italics are the league runners-up or third-placed teams that also won the Ukrainian Cup in the same season.


• 
  Metalist Kharkiv had been stripped of their bronze award for 2007–08 season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne ruled against the game Karpaty – Metalist (April 19, 2008).^[15][16]
  


• A citizen of Serbia, Marko Devich was granted the Ukrainian citizenship after the 2007–08 season.

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Third place	Winning years
Dynamo Kyiv	15	10	1	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	11	12	–	2001–02, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18
Tavriya Simferopol	1	–	–	1992
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	–	2	7
Chornomorets Odesa	–	2	3
Metalist Kharkiv	–	1	6
Metalurh Donetsk	–	–	3
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	–	–	2
Vorskla Poltava	–	–	2
Karpaty Lviv	–	–	1
Zorya Luhansk	–	–	1
Total	27	27	26

Notes

• Italics identifies either defunct or teams that lost professional status.


• Dissolved due to the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, in 2015 SC Tavriya Simferopol was reestablished in Beryslav, Kherson Oblast (neighboring region).

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] Earning its 10th national title in 2017, Shakhtar Donetsk has not yet adopted a star on its crest.

Currently (as of 2018) the following clubs earned the star element to be added to their crest.

• 
  Dynamo Kyiv (13, Soviet Union; 15, Ukraine).


• 
  Shakhtar Donetsk (11, Ukraine)


• 
  Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2, Soviet Union)


• 
  Zorya Luhansk (1, Soviet Union)


• 
  Tavriya Simferopol (1, Ukraine)

Premier League players

All-time Premier League appearance leaders

Rank	Player	Games
1	Oleksandr Shovkovskiy	426
2	Oleh Shelayev	412
3	Vyacheslav Checher	407
4	Oleksandr Chizhevskiy	400
5	Oleksandr Horyainov	391
6	Ruslan Rotan	375
7	Serhiy Nazarenko	373
8	Serhiy Shyshchenko	363
9	Ruslan Kostyshyn	359
10	Serhiy Zakarlyuka	356
Players in bold are still playing in Premier League Data as of 14 October 2018[19]

All-time Premier League scorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Games
1	Serhiy Rebrov	123	261
	Maksim Shatskikh	123[a]	341
3	Yevhen Seleznyov	111	230
4	Andriy Vorobey	105	315
5	Andriy Yarmolenko	99	228
6	Oleksandr Haydash	95[b]	258
7	Marko Dević	90	219
	Serhiy Mizin	90	342
9	Tymerlan Huseynov	85	215
10	Oleksandr Kosyrin	84	240
	Oleksandr Hladkyy	84	300
Players in bold are still playing in Premier League Data as of 14 October 2018[21]

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	Myron Markevych	620
2	Mykola Pavlov	546
3	Mircea Lucescu	355
4	Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi	340
5	Valeriy Yaremchenko	297
6	Mykhailo Fomenko	294
7	Oleh Taran	273
8	Semen Altman	249
9	Vyacheslav Hrozny	214
10	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	Mircea Lucescu	Shakhtar	8	4	—
2	Valery Lobanovsky†	Dynamo	5	1	—
3	Yozhef Sabo	Dynamo	2	1	—
	Serhiy Rebrov	Dynamo	2	1	—
5	Oleksiy Mykhailychenko	Dynamo	2	—	—
	Paulo Fonseca	Shakhtar	2	—	—
7	Yuri Semin	Dynamo	1	3	—
8	Mykola Pavlov	Dynamo(1) Dnipro	1	1	1
9	Anatoliy Demyanenko	Dynamo	1	1	—
10	Anatoliy Zayaev†	Tavria	1	—	—
	Mykhailo Fomenko	Dynamo	1	—	—
	Nevio Scala	Shakhtar	1	—	—
	Data as of 13 May 2018

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), Yuriy Vernydub (187), Ihor Nadein^† (184), and Leonid Buryak (180).

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

Current managers

Nat.	Name	Club	Appointed	Time as manager
	Yuriy Vernydub	Zorya Luhansk	27 November 2011	7003260700000000000♠7 years, 50 days
	Oleksandr Ryabokon	Desna Chernihiv	16 March 2012	7003249700000000000♠6 years, 306 days
	Volodymyr Sharan	Oleksandriya	8 June 2013	7003204800000000000♠5 years, 222 days
	Vasyl Sachko	Vorskla Poltava	10 June 2014	7003168100000000000♠4 years, 220 days
	Paulo Fonseca	Shakhtar Donetsk	1 June 2016	7002959000000000000♠2 years, 229 days
	Alyaksandr Khatskevich	Dynamo Kyiv	2 June 2017	7002593000000000000♠1 year, 228 days
	Oleksandr Babych	Mariupol	22 September 2017	7002481000000000000♠1 year, 116 days
	Angel Chervenkov	Chornomorets Odesa	13 June 2018	7002217000000000000♠217 days
	José Morais	Karpaty Lviv	16 August 2018	7002153000000000000♠153 days
	Yuriy Bakalov	FC Lviv	16 August 2018	7002153000000000000♠153 days
	Vyacheslav Hroznyi	Arsenal Kyiv	1 October 2018	7002107000000000000♠107 days
	Vyacheslav Shevchuk	Olimpik Donetsk	3 October 2018	7002105000000000000♠105 days

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.

Vyshcha Liha era (1992–2008)

	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
Teams	20	16	18	18	18	16	16	16	16	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	16
Arsenal Kyiv[c]					4	11	10	7	10	6	12	5	9	9	12	14	6
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
Dnipro	3	2	4	3	3	4	4	12	11	3	6	4	3	4	6	4	4
Dynamo Kyiv	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	2
Hoverla Uzhhorod											14			12	16		16
Karpaty Lviv	13	6	5	8	8	5	3	4	9	10	8	7	15			8	10
Kharkiv															13	12	14
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
Mariupol							14	5	8	4	10	10	8	5	4	15
Metalist Kharkiv	6	5	18					6	5	9	5	16		11	5	3	(3)*
Metalurh Donetsk							7	14	7	5	3	3	4	3	9	9	12
Metalurh Zaporizhya	11	7	16	9	5	8	9	8	6	8	4	15	11	10	8	7	9
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
Odesa	20
Oleksandriya											13	13
Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk	17			11	11	13	13	15	14
Shakhtar Donetsk	4	4	2	4	10	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	1	2	1
Stal Alchevsk										13					11	16
Tavriya Simferopol	1	10	8	5	12	6	12	9	13	7	7	9	12	7	7	5	5
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
Vorskla Poltava						3	5	10	4	12	11	11	14	14	10	13	8
Zirka Kropyvnytskyi					6	10	11	11	16				16
Zorya Luhansk	12	15	14	16	18											11	11

Premier League era (2008–present)

	08/09	09/10	10/11	11/12	12/13	13/14	14/15	15/16	16/17	17/18	18/19
Teams	16	16	16	16	16	16	14	14	12	12	12
Arsenal Kyiv	11	7	9	5	8	16					•
Chornomorets Odesa	10	15		9	6	5	11	11	6	11	•
Desna Chernihiv											•
Dnipro	6	4	4	4	4	2	3	3	11
Dynamo Kyiv	1	2	2	2	3	4	1	1	2	2	•
Hoverla Uzhhorod		16			15	12	12	13
Karpaty Lviv	9	5	5	14	14	11	13	7	10	8	•
Kharkiv	16
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	12	14	13	10	7
Lviv	15										•
Mariupol	14	12	14	11	9	10	14			5	•
Metalist Kharkiv	3	3	3	3	2	3	6	10
Metalurh Donetsk	4	8	8	7	5	6	10
Metalurh Zaporizhya	7	9	16		16	14	7	14
Obolon Kyiv		11	10	15
Oleksandriya				16				6	5	7	•
Olimpik Donetsk						8	9	5	4	9	•
Sevastopol			15			9
Shakhtar Donetsk	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	•
Stal Kamianske								8	8	12
Tavriya Simferopol	8	6	7	6	11	15
Veres Rivne										6
Volyn Lutsk			11	12	13	13	9	12	12
Vorskla Poltava	5	10	6	8	12	8	5	5	7	3	•
Zirka Kropyvnytskyi									9	10
Zorya Luhansk	13	13	12	13	10	7	4	4	3	4	•

Teams marking:

Competing in UPL (1st tier)

Competing in PFL (2nd tier)

Competing in PFL (3nd tier)

Competing in AAFU (4nd tier)

Competing in regional championships (below 4rd tier)

Defunct clubs

All-time table

All figures are correct through the 2017–18 season.^[24][25][26] Promotion/relegation playoff games are not included.

Rank	Team	Seasons	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Achievement	Other names used
1	Dynamo Kyiv	27	798	588	134	76	1724	519	1898	champions (15)
2	Shakhtar Donetsk	27	798	551	138	109	1674	598	1791	champions (11)
3	FC Dnipro	26	765	379	199	187	1127	718	1336	runners-up (2)
4	Chornomorets Odesa	23	683	258	171	254	762	786	945	runners-up (2)
5	Karpaty Lviv	25	735	245	209	281	809	898	944	3rd (1)
6	Metalist Kharkiv[d]	20	573	254	144	175	755	664	906	runners-up (1)
7	Tavriya Simferopol[e]	23	681	237	170	274	795	873	881	champions (1)
8	Vorskla Poltava	22	646	219	177	250	700	753	834	3rd (2)	Vorskla-Naftogaz
9	Metalurh Zaporizhya[f]	24	702	206	173	323	699	949	791	5th (2)[g]
10	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih[h]	21	634	201	173	260	633	786	776	3rd (2)
11	Metalurh Donetsk[i]	18	526	203	142	181	655	623	751	3rd (3)
12	Arsenal Kyiv[j]	18	536	184	151	201	628	619	703	4th (1)[k]	CSKA, CSKA-Borysfen
13	FC Mariupol	18	528	164	127	237	589	752	619	4th (2)	Illichivets, Metalurh
14	Zorya Luhansk	17	504	161	110	233	535	746	593	3rd (1)	Zorya-MALS
15	Volyn Lutsk	16	472	140	102	230	473	710	519	6th (1)
16	Nyva Ternopil[l]	10	296	93	62	141	319	388	341	7th (3)
17	Zirka Kropyvnytskyi[m]	8	248	62	58	128	209	368	244	6th (1)	Zirka-NIBAS
18	Torpedo Zaporizhya[n]	7	210	64	42	104	214	315	234	7th (2)
19	Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk[o]	7	206	55	52	99	215	315	217	10th (1)
20	Kremin Kremenchuk[p]	6	180	54	40	86	182	269	202	9th (2)
21	FC Oleksandriya[q]	6	176	46	58	72	174	239	196	5th (1)	Polihraftekhnika, PFC Oleksandriya
22	Hoverla Uzhhorod[r]	9	256	41	64	151	186	421	187	12th (3)	Zakarpattia
23	Obolon Kyiv[s]	6	180	44	44	92	153	253	176	6th (1)
24	Nyva Vinnytsia[t]	5	150	42	32	76	140	213	158	10th (1)
25	Veres Rivne[u]	4	130	34	39	57	117	171	141	6th (1)
26	Olimpik Donetsk	4	116	33	32	51	108	181	131	4th (1)
27	FC Kharkiv[v]	4	120	25	33	62	94	156	108	12th (1)
28	SC Mykolaiv	4	116	26	23	67	100	208	101	13th (1)	Evis
29	Stal Kamianske	3	90	24	24	42	72	106	96	8th (2)
30	Temp Shepetivka[w]	3	86	24	16	46	79	113	88	9th (1)
31	Bukovyna Chernivtsi	3	82	23	18	41	69	99	87	11th (1)
32	Stal Alchevsk[x]	3	86	17	21	48	67	126	72	11th (1)
33	FC Sevastopol[y]	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[z]	1	18	3	1	14	15	32	10	10th	SKA Odesa
38	Desna Chernihiv	recently promoted

List of major penalized clubs

• 
  FC Dnipro (formerly Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk); soon after playing at the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final, the club was relegated to amateur competitions mainly due to debts to former manager Juande Ramos as well as other players and staff


• 
  FC Metalist Kharkiv; denied license due to heavy debts^[27]
  


• 
  FC Hoverla Uzhhorod; denied license due to heavy debts^[28]
  


• 
  FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih; denied license for failure to provide evidence of stable financial support^[29]
  


• 
  FC Kharkiv; denied license for giving false documentation about financial condition in the club^[30]
  

Post-season play-offs

Golden matches

• 
  1992 – Ukraina Stadium (Lviv), 21 June 1992


• 
  2006 – Metalurh Stadium (Kryvyi Rih), 14 May 2006

Third place matches

• 
  1992 – Metalurh Central Stadium (Zaporizhia), 20 June 1992

Relegation play-offs

• 
  1999 – Dynamo Stadium (Kiev), 4 July 1999


• 
  2002 – CSK ZSU Stadium (Kiev), 16 June 2002


• 
  2018 – two play-off pairs (four teams), 23 and 27 May 2018

Rivalries and city derbies

Klasychne derby

The central feature of the league is a rivalry between Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv which has adopted its name as Klasychne derby. 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.

Other championship contenders

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 two-time Soviet champions FC Dnipro were also among the main contenders. The 1972 Soviet 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 were no running city derbies in the league for the 2017–18 season. Among the most notable previously there were Zaporizhia derby between Metalurh and Torpedo, Kyiv derby between Dynamo and Arsenal (CSKA), Donetsk derby between Shakhtar and Metalurh. Other derbies existed in Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, West Ukrainian football derby and others.

Stadiums

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

• Ukrainian First League


• Ukrainian Second League


• Ukrainian derby


• Football records in Ukraine


• List of foreign Ukrainian Premier League players

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ukrainian Premier League.

• Official website


• Soccerway


• 
  Ukraine - List of Champions, RSSSF.com