Ukrainian Premier League

Countries	Ukraine
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1991/2008
Number of teams	16
Relegation to	Ukrainian First League
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Domestic cup(s)	Ukrainian Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League Europa League
Current champions	Dynamo Kyiv (2008–09)
Most championships	Dynamo Kyiv (13 titles)
Website	http://www.fpl.ua/
EpiCentre Ukrainian Championship 2009–10

The Ukrainian Premier League (Ukrainian: "Прем'єр-Ліга", Premier-Liga) is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. The league was founded in 1991 after the fold of the Soviet Union's Vysshaya Liga.

The Ukrainian Premier League has risen to be one of the better leagues in Europe and is now 7th in Europe by UEFA

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 2.1 The first decade (1992-2000) 2.2 The decade of Kyiv–Donetsk stand-off (2001–2010). The Ukrainian derby 3 International Relations 4 Calendar 5 Players 6 Presidents 7 Directors 8 Sponsors 8.1 Previous 8.2 Current 9 Ukrainian Premier League 2009–10 10 Broadcasting 11 UEFA Ranking 11.1 Club Seeding 11.2 Country Ranking 12 Champions and top goalscorers 12.1 Performance by club 12.2 Honored Teams 12.3 Top scorers 13 Notable foreign players 14 Notable foreign coaches 15 Top 10 managers 16 All-time participants 17 Stadia 18 League attendance 19 See also 20 References & footnotes 21 External links

[edit] Overview

2009-10 was the league's 2nd season after break away from the Professional Football League (PFL) in 2008 and 19th season from Soviet Vysshaya Liga fold. Until 2007 the league was subsidized by the government and from the economical point of view was not a profitable organization. To fix that issue the League tried to attract few sponsors since 2007 season: Soyuz-Viktan(2007) and Biola^[a](2008). On April 15, 2008 the new Premier-League^[1] was formed. The title sponsor of the League became the national network of the construction supermarkets EpiCentre. The new organization is a completely independent entity and consists of 16 football club organizations under the guidance of the Football Federation of Ukraine. ^[2]

The format of the League will stay the same. The changes that were made are exclusively administrative. The teams that reach the top of the competition table at the end of a season, will gain a chance to represent Ukraine internationally in several prestigious tournaments. Also at the end of the season, the bottom two clubs are relegated to the Persha Liha (organized by the Professional Football League) and replaced by the two top clubs from that league.

As of 2008, FC Shakhtar Donetsk is the reigning Ukrainian Premier League champion. SC Tavriya Simferopol won the first championship, and all subsequent titles have gone to either Dynamo or FC Shakhtar Donetsk except season 2008-2009 when FC Vorskla Poltava became the Cup winner. Only 5 teams, Dynamo, Shakhtar, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Tavria, and Metalurh Zaporizhia have participated in all 16 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 67 Ukrainian professional football clubs, which are represented by 78 teams (a few clubs have more than one team, which play in different divisions)^[3]. The professional league was organized in 1996 and until 2008 was responsible for the competitions at the Top division as well. Before that, Vyscha Liha was governed solely and directly by the Football Federation of Ukraine.
Note a: Biola is the general sposor of Dnipro.

[edit] History

[edit] The first decade (1992-2000)

The independent championship took place hastily at the start of the spring of 1992 after 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 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 that was placed ninth in the same group. The 20 participants were split in two groups with winners playing for the championship title and runners-up for the third place. Three teams from each group were to be relegated. As was expected, the five favorites, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk, Chornomorets Odessa, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, and Metalist Kharkiv were placed 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), 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 championship that 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 going shoulder to shoulder and at the end they finished with the same number of points. The championship title was awarded to Dynamo Kyiv as they had 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 by the total hegemony of Dynamo Kyiv. During this period the Soviet stereotypes had changed as some of the best teams were going into 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.

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

The next decade was marked by fierce competition between Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk. Since 2000, Donetsk club proved to be the real challengers to Kiev's dominance. In 2000 Shakhtar earned their first qualification to the Champions League earning its 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 bring the Donetsk club to its next Ukrainian Cup title as well. Since that time the issue of foreign players became particularly acute and brought a series of court cases (see Players section). The FFU and PFL worked together to solve that issue, coming with the plan to force the transitional limitation of the foreign players over the time.

The clubs such as Dnipro and Chornomorets recent contenders for the title had to put up a fierce competition against the newly established contenders Metalurh from Donetsk and Metalist from Kharkiv to qualify for the European competitions. Especially brightly recommended itself FC Metalist Kharkiv which in the late 2000s consistently was placing right behind Dynamo and Shakhtar. The remarkable was their participation in their 2009 European season when they had to contest against Dynamo Kyiv to earn their advancement to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup 2009. Later that UEFA Cup edition was won for the first time by the Shakhtar Donetsk, the first club of the independent Ukraine.

On the political side of the League it split since the moment it was created in 2008 regards of its president. The dispute went as far as even canceling the XIII round of 2009-2010 season and moving it to the spring half, while having the XIV 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-channel other than League official contractor. They justified their actions because of what they see to be as the illegal elections of the League's president. The representatives of the above mentioned clubs did not recognize elected in 2008 Vitaliy Danilov as the president and believed that the elections should have been won by Vadym Rabynovych. To resolve this conflict Vitaliy Danilov initiated in September 2009 re-election of the League's presindent and on the 1st December 2009 won the election again with 11 clubs voted for his candidature, 3 - against, 1 abstain, and 1 (Dnipro) - absent. This time most presidents of the Premier League of Ukraine acknowledged Vitaliy Danilov legality.

[edit] International Relations

In 2009 Ukrainian Premier League joined European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL).

Also in 2009 league signed partnership with IMG who during the first month of cooperation sold broadcasting rights for Ukrainian Cup to Poland and Armenia.

By itself Ukrainian Premier League sold broadcasting rights to Romania and Russia.

[edit] 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. Such organization 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 exceptional as it lasted for only half a year. This was because the last Soviet league season ended in autumn of 1991, and the Football Federation of Ukraine decided to shift the calendar from “spring-fall” to “fall-spring” football seasons. In the premiere 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).

[edit] Players

Prior to 2000, only a handful 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 had tallied more than 30 players and by 2003-04 season, the figure had increased to 37% of the league's players.^[4] 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.^[5]

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 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 on his working rights and is illegal under the Ukrainian constitution. The courts however argued that no case exists, such that players are not guaranteed first-team football, and subsequently the limit is not considered a violation of trade.^[6]

[edit] Presidents

• Vitaliy Danilov May 27, 2008 - July 1, 2009 (temporary acting president)
• Vitaliy Danilov July 1, 2009 - present^[7]

[edit] Directors

• General director: Olexandr Efremov
• Executive director: Maksym Bondarev
• Sport director: Serhiy Mokhnyk
• Development director: Vadym Halahan

[edit] Sponsors

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

[edit] Previous

• Chernihivske 2008 - 2009
• MorskiE (TV sposor) 2008 - 2009

[edit] Current

• Umbro (technical partner) 2008 - present
• Sport-Express (in Ukraine) (media partner) 2008 - present
• Dalnie ostrova 2009 - present
• Futbol (official TV sposor) 2009 - 2011^[8]
• Obolon 2009 - present
• Inter + (TV partner) 2008 - present (for international broadcasting)
• football.ua (Internet sposor) 2009 - present (part of the Ukrainian media holding)

[edit] Ukrainian Premier League 2009–10

Arsenal
Dynamo
Obolon

Chornomorets

Dnipro

Illіchivets

Karpaty

Metalist

Kryvbas

Metalurh D.
Shakhtar

Metalurh Za.

Tavriya

Vorskla

Zakarpattia

Zorya

Locations of team home grounds in Ukrainian Premier League 2009–10

Map shows the locations of Ukrainian Premier League 2009–10 teams.

In the 2009–10 season, the Ukrainian Premier League consisted of the following teams:

Arsenal Kyiv Chornomorets Odessa Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Dynamo Kyiv Illichivets Mariupol Karpaty Lviv Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Obolon Kyiv

Metalist Kharkiv Metalurh Donetsk Metalurh Zaporizhzhya Shakhtar Donetsk Tavriya Simferopol Vorskla Poltava Zakarpattia Uzhhorod Zorya Luhansk

FC Kharkiv and FC Lviv, the two least successful teams in the league in 2008-09, were relegated to the Ukrainian First League. Zakarpattia Uzhhorod and Obolon Kyiv were promoted to take their place.

[edit] Broadcasting

Free-to-air live matches from the Ukrainian Premier League will be broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays on satellite channel Inter+ (Sirius 5E).^[9]

[edit] UEFA Ranking

[edit] Club Seeding

UEFA Club Ranking for club seeding in 2009–10 European football season.

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 7.350 for Ukraine. Teams in italics have either been eliminated or will not be participating in the 2009–10 European football season. Last Updated: October 22, 2009.^[10]

[edit] Country Ranking

UEFA Country Ranking for league participation in 2009-10 European football season

Last Updated: September 26, 2009.^[11]

[edit] Champions and top goalscorers

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.

[edit] Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-Up	3rd Position	Seasons Won
Dynamo Kyiv	13	5	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	4	10	0	2001-02, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08
Tavriya Simferopol	1	0	0	1992
Chornomorets Odessa	0	2	3
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	0	1	5
Metalist Kharkiv	0	0	3
Metalurh Donetsk	0	0	3
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	0	0	2
Vorskla Poltava	0	0	1
Karpaty Lviv	0	0	1

[edit] 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 this prestigious honor of winning the Soviet league for the 10th time in 1981. Dynamo Kyiv once entered the Ukrainian championship has established to become the same leader as during the Soviet times earning its 20th national title at the top level in 1999. No other club in Ukraine came close to such honor as of yet. Only four other clubs has ever been the national champions: Shakhtar Donetsk (4), Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2), and once Zorya Luhansk and Tavriya Simferopol.

The current (as of December 2008) officially-sanctioned the Premier League stars are:

• Dynamo Kyiv (25, received in 1999).

[edit] Top scorers

All-time Vyscha Liha scorers

Player		Games	Goals
1	Serhiy Rebrov	261	123
2	Maksim Shatskikh	214	97
3	Oleksandr Haidash	259	95
4	Andriy Vorobei [13]	265	92
5	Serhiy Mizin	344	90
6	Timerlan Huseinov	215	85
7	Oleksandr Kosyrin [13]	224	84
8	Oleh Matveyev	213	81
9	Oleksandr Palyanytsia	260	79
9	Valentyn Poltavets	322	77
Data through 2008-09 season[14].

Active Vyscha Liha scorers

Player		Games	Goals
1	Andriy Vorobei	265	92
2	Oleksandr Kosyrin	224	84
3	Serhiy Zakarlyuka	320	70
4	Andriy Shevchenko	117	60
5	Oleksiy Byelik	162	55
6	Vasil Gigiadze	184	54
=	Vasyl Sachko	198	54
8	Serhiy Shyschenko	353	53
9	Oleksandr Rykun	270	47
10	Oleksandr Melashchenko	220	46
Data through 2008-09 season.[14]

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 Vorobei, respectively attaining 0.59 and 0.88 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.

[edit] Notable foreign players

In italic are the players that were born in Ukraine, but chose to represent other countries.

Debatik Curri Armend Dallku Elvin Beqiri Ara Hakobyan Arman Karamyan Artavazd Karamyan Yegishe Melikyan Samir Aliyev Tarlan Akhmedov Mahmud Gurbanov Valiantsin Bialkevich Artem Chelyadzinsky Aliaksandr Danilow Siargei Karnilenka Vladzimir Karytska Nikolai Kasheusky Aliaksandr Khatskevich Pavel Kirilchik William Batista Brandão Corrêa Edmar Elano Fernandinho Jádson Junior Kléber Matuzalem Anderson Ribeiro Diogo Rincón

Velizar Dimitrov Predrag Pažin Georgi Peev Abdoulaye Djire Yaya Touré Venance Zézé Constantinos Makrides Mladen Bartulović Jerko Leko Ivica Pirić Stipe Pletikosa Goran Sablić Darijo Srna Tomáš Hübschman Taavi Rähn Shalva Apkhazava Malkhaz Asatiani Georgi Demetradze Vasil Gigiadze Lasha Jakobia Gocha Jamarauli Kakha Kaladze Jaba Kankava Dato Kvirkvelia Irakli Modebadze Ismaël Bangoura Māris Verpakovskis Mindaugas Kalonas Saulius Mikoliūnas Serghei Lascencov

Badr El Kaddouri / Sendley Sidney Bito Julius Aghahowa Tony Alegbe Michael Chidi Alozi Samson Godwin Lucky Idahor Emmanuel Okoduwa Isaac Okoronkwo Harrison Omoko Ayila Yussuf Paolo de la Haza Andrés Mendoza Seweryn Gancarczyk Mariusz Lewandowski Maciej Nalepa Marian Aliuţă Florin Cernat Daniel Florea Tiberiu Ghioane Ciprian Marica Răzvan Raţ Flavius Stoican

Andrei Fedkov Rolan Gusev Andrei Karyaka Yuri Nikiforov Gennadiy Nizhegorodov Viktor Onopko Oleg Salenko Sergey Samodin Ilia Tsymbalar Papa Gueye Assane N'Diaye Marko Dević[15] Vladimir Dišljenković Igor Duljaj Goran Gavrančić Jovan Markoski Miloš Ninković Milan Obradović Aleksandar Trišović Zvonimir Vukić Arsen Avakov Tolga Seyhan / Erol Bulut Vitaliy Denisov Maksim Shatskikh

[edit] Notable foreign coaches

Oleh Kononov Jos Daerden Nikolay Kostov Bernd Stange Bernd Schuster Nevio Scala Jannis Skredelis Wim Vrosch Co Adriaanse Ton Kaanen

Mircea Lucescu Vitaliy Shevchenko Yuri Semin Anatoly Byshovets Oleg Dolmatov Vladimir Salkov Ivan Golac Slavoljub Muslin Ángel Alonso

[edit] Top 10 managers

Managers in bold are active. ^† - Managers that have past away. Updated through 2008/2009 season.

Rating	Name	Club(s)	Points	1st	2nd	3rd
1	Valery Lobanovsky†	FC Dynamo Kyiv	28	5	1	-
2	Mircea Lucescu	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	21	3	2	-
3	Yozhef Sabo	FC Dynamo Kyiv	13	2	1	-
4	Valery Yaremchenko	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	12	-	4	-
5	Oleksiy Mykhailychenko	FC Dynamo Kyiv	10	2	-	-
6	Mykola Pavlov	FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk FC Dynamo Kyiv	9	1	1	1
7	Anatoliy Demyanenko	FC Dynamo Kyiv	8	1	1	-
=	Yuri Semin	FC Dynamo Kyiv	8	1	1	-
=	Viktor Prokopenko†	FC Chornomorets Odessa FC Shakhtar Donetsk	8	-	2	2
10	Leonid Buriak	FC Chornomorets Odessa	6	-	2	-

This rating is of the best managers in the League since its foundation in 1991. It is based on the following factors:
1st place - 5 points,
2nd place - 3 points,
3rd place - 1 point.
There are over 20 managers who brought their teams to the top of the League over its history.^[16] Other notable coaches are Mykhailo Fomenko (Dynamo) - a gold medal, Anatoliy Zayaev(Tavriya) - a gold medal, Nevio Scala (Shakhtar) - a gold medal, and Myron Markevych (Karpaty \1\, Metalist \3\) - four bronze medals.
Note 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 lead the first team in 21 games of the 2001-02 season.
Note 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 lead the first team in 23 games in the 2003-04 season.

[edit] All-time participants

The table lists the place each team took in each of the seasons. All figures are correct through the 2008-09 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
Teams	20	16	18	18	18	16	16	16	16	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
Arsenal Kyiv [17]					4	11	10	7	10	6	12	5	9	9	12	14	6	11	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	V
Dynamo Kyiv	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	V
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	3	2	4	3	3	4	4	12	11	3	6	4	3	4	6	4	4	6	V
Illychivets Mariupol							14	5	8	4	10	10	8	5	4	15		14	V
Karpaty Lviv	13	6	5	8	8	5	3	4	9	10	8	7	15			8	10	9	V
FC 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	V
FC Lviv																		15
Metalist Kharkiv	6	5	18					6	5	9	5	16		11	5	3	3	3	V
Metalurh Donetsk							7	14	7	5	3	3	4	3	9	9	12	4	V
Metalurh Zaporizhzhya	11	7	16	9	5	8	9	8	6	8	4	15	11	10	8	7	9	7	V
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					V
Oleksandria											13	13
Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk	17			11	11	13	13	15	14
SC Mykolaiv	18			13	16			16
SCA Odessa	20
Shakhtar Donetsk	4	4	2	4	10	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	1	2	1	2	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	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
Vorskla Poltava						3	5	10	4	12	11	11	14	14	10	13	8	5	V
Zakarpattia Uzhhorod											14			12	16		16		V
Zirka Kirovohrad					6	10	11	11	16				16
Zorya Luhansk	12	15	14	16	18											11	11	13	V

[edit] Stadia

Rank	Stadium	Capacity [18]	Club	Notes
1	NSC Olimpiysky	83,450	None at the moment	Currently undergoing renovations in preparation for Euro 2012. Dynamo Kyiv plays its major European matches on this ground, and usually it is the annual venue for the Ukrainian Cup final
2	Donbas Arena	51,504	Shakhtar Donetsk
3	Metalist Stadium	41,411	Metalist Kharkiv
4	Tsentralnyi-Chornomorets Stadium	34,362	Chornomorets Odessa	Currently undergoing renovations in preparation for Euro 2012
5	Shakhtar Stadium	31,718	Metalurh Donetsk	Loaned to Metalurh by Shakhtar for the European competitions.
6	Dnipro Stadium	31,003	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Moved from the old arena. Inauguration's on September 14, 2008.
7	Metalurh Stadium	29,734	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
8	Ukraina Stadium	28,051	Karpaty Lviv FC Lviv[19]	Plans to upgrade to ~40,000 seats in prep for Euro 2012
9	RSK Olimpiyskiy	26,100	Shakhtar Donetsk	Moving to new UEFA 5-star 50,000-seat venue in 2009
10	Yuvileiny Stadium (Sumy)	25,830	Kharkiv	FC Kharkiv are currently leasing this stadium
11	Vorskla Stadium	24,795	Vorskla Poltava
12	Stadium Meteor	24,381	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Moving to new 31,003-seat arena. Inauguration's on September 14, 2008.
13	Avanhard Stadium	22,288	Zorya Luhansk
14	Lokomotiv Stadium	19,978	Tavriya Simferopol
15	Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium	16,873	Dynamo Kyiv Arsenal Kyiv	Arsenal Kyiv is temporarily playing at this stadium
16	Illychivets Stadium	12,460	Illychivets Mariupol
17	Slavutych Arena	11,756	Metalurh Zaporizhia
18	Metalurh Stadium	5,094	Metalurh Donetsk
19	Obolon Stadium	4,300	Arsenal Kyiv	Loaned to Arsenal Kyiv by Obolon
20	Knyazha Arena	3,500	FC Lviv	FC Lviv's home ground in Dobromyl
21	Bannikov Stadium	1,678	Arsenal Kyiv	Arsenal Kyiv is temporarily playing at this stadium

[edit] League attendance

All attendance figures are correct through 08/09 season.^[20]

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)	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (27,000)

[edit] See also

• Soviet Top League
• Vyscha Liha Records
• Channel One Cup (football)
• Commonwealth of Independent States Cup
• Ukrainian Soviet competitions
• Ekstraklasa
• Polish Football League 1927-1939
• Ukrainian derby

[edit] References & footnotes

[edit] 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

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