Ukrainian Premier League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ukrainian Premier League | |
|---|---|
 Ukrainian Premier League 2006-07 |
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 |
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| Sport | Football |
| Founded | 1991 |
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Country |  Ukraine |
| Current champions | FC Shakhtar Donetsk |
The Ukrainian Premier League (Ukrainian: "Вища Ліга", Vyscha Liha) is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. The league was founded in 1991, and 2006-07 is the league's 16th season.
There are 16 clubs in the competition. At the end of the season, the bottom two clubs are relegated to the Ukrainian First Division and replaced by the two top First Division clubs.
Currently, FC Shakhtar Donetsk is the reigning Ukrainian Premier League champion. On the other hand, FC Dynamo Kyiv has the most titles, having won 11 in 15 years. SC Tavriya Simferopol won the first championship, and all subsequent titles have gone to either Dynamo or Shakhtar. Only 5 teams, Dynamo, Shakhtar, Dnipro, Tavria, and Metalurh Zaporizhzhya participated in all 15 Ukrainian Vyscha Liha competitions.
The league, as well as the lower divisions, is governed by the Professional Football League (PFL) of Ukraine. 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). The professional league was organized in 1996; before that, Vyscha Liha was governed by the Football Federation of Ukraine.
Contents |
[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 most European leagues in terms of beginning and 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 even 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 beat 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.
The last season of the Ukrainian Premier League had a slightly nonstandard calendar. The last round of fixtures was played on 14 May to give the national team time to prepare for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Also in 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] Ukrainian Premier League 2006-07
In the 2006-07 season, the Ukrainian Premier League consists of the following teams:
FC Volyn Lutsk and FC Zakarpattia Uzhgorod, the two worst teams in the league in 2005-06, were relegated to Ukrainian First Division. FC Zorya Luhansk and FC Karpaty Lviv were promoted to take their place. Both teams had previously participated in the Vyscha Liha.
As FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih was facing significant financial problems, the team was initially relegated from the Ukrainian Premier League, and a place in the top division was given to FC Volyn Lutsk. After a week of negotiations, FC Kryvbas has found a new financial sponsor, and the team was reinstated to the UPL, and FC Volyn Lutsk was demoted as it was initially prescribed.
The first round took place on July 21-July 26, 2006.
[edit] UEFA Ranking
UEFA Club Ranking for 2006/2007 Euro Season (Previous year rank in italics, UEFA Club Coefficients in parentheses), full list
- 63
(51) 
Dynamo Kyiv (36.777) - 69
(80) 
Shakhtar Donetsk (33.777) - 83 (91)
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (29.777) - 156 (182)
Metalurh Donetsk (12.777) - 167 (174)
Arsenal Kyiv (11.777) - 182 (188)
Metalurh Zaporizhzhya (9.777) - New
(new) 
Chornomorets Odessa (8.777)
UEFA Country Ranking for 2006/2007 Euro Season (Previous year rank in italics), full list
- 11 (10)
Scottish League - 12 (9)
Belgian League - 13 (15) Ukrainian League
- 14 (12)
Czech Republic League - 15 (11)
Turkish League
[edit] Champions and top goalscorers
[edit] Performance by club
| Club | Winners | Runners-Up | 3rd Position | Seasons Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamo Kyiv |
11 | 4 | 0 | 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2003-04 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk |
3 | 8 | 0 | 2001-02, 2004-05, 2005-06 |
 Tavriya Simferopol |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1992 |
| Chornomorets Odessa |
0 | 2 | 3 | |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk |
0 | 1 | 5 | |
| Metalurh Donetsk |
0 | 0 | 3 | |
 Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih |
0 | 0 | 2 | |
 Vorskla Poltava |
0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Karpaty Lviv |
0 | 0 | 1 |
[edit] All-time top scorers
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serhiy Rebrov [1] | 116 |
| 2 | Oleksandr Haidash | 95 |
| 3= | Timerlan Huseinov | 85 |
| 3= | Serhiy Mizin [1] | 85 |
| 5 | Oleh Matviiv | 81 |
| 6 | Oleksandr Palyanytsia | 79 |
| 7= | Andriy Vorobei [1] | 78 |
| 7= | Maksim Shatskikh [1] | 78 |
| 8 | Valentyn Poltavets [1] | 68 |
| 10= | Serhiy Atelkin | 67 |
| 10= | Ivan Hetsko | 67 |
| 10= | Victor Leonenko | 67 |
| Data thru 2005-2006 season. | ||
[edit] All-time Participants
The table lists the place each team took in each of the seasons. All figures are correct through the 2005-06 season.[2]
| 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 20 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Arsenal Kyiv [3] |
4 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 12 | √ | ||||
 Borysfen Boryspil |
7 | 16 | ||||||||||||||
 Bukovyna Chernivtsi |
10 | 12 | 17 | |||||||||||||
| Chornomorets Odessa |
5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 3 | √ | |||
| Dynamo Kyiv |
2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | √ |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk |
3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 6 | √ |
 Illychivets Mariupol |
14 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 4 | √ | ||||||
| Karpaty Lviv |
13 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 15 | √ | ||
 FC Kharkiv |
13 | √ | ||||||||||||||
 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 | √ | |
 Metalist Kharkiv |
6 | 5 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 11 | 5 | √ | |||||
| Metalurh Donetsk |
7 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | √ | ||||||
| Metalurh Zaporizhzhya |
11 | 7 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 8 | √ |
| FC Naftovyk Okhtyrka | 16 | |||||||||||||||
 Nyva Ternopil |
7 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 13 | 12 | 14 | ||||||
 Nyva Vinnytsia |
15 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 16 | |||||||||||
 Obolon Kyiv |
14 | 6 | 15 | |||||||||||||
| PFC Oleksandriia | 13 | 13 | ||||||||||||||
| FC 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 | √ |
 Stal Alchevsk |
13 | 11 | √ | |||||||||||||
| Tavriya Simferopol |
1 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 7 | √ |
| FC Temp Shepetivka | 19 | 9 | 17 | |||||||||||||
| FC Torpedo Zaporizhzhya | 8 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 16 | |||||||||
| FC 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 | √ | |||||
 Zakarpattia Uzhgorod |
14 | 12 | 16 | |||||||||||||
 Zirka Kirovohrad |
6 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 16 | ||||||||||
 Zorya Luhansk |
12 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 18 | √ |
[edit] League attendance
All attendance figures are correct through 05/06 season.[4]
| 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 (8,631) |
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) |
FC Veres Rivne (11,059) |
| 1994-95 | 5,557 | 1,694,980 | Dynamo Kyiv (8,009) |
SC Mykolaiv (9,600) |
| 1995-96 | 5,926 | 1,789,650 | ? | ? |
| 1996-97 | 5,800 | 1,390,700 | ? | ? |
| 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 (18,689) |
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 (19,957) |
| 2005-06 | 7,919 | 1,908,424 | Shakhtar Donetsk (15,875) |
Shakhtar Donetsk (19,358) |
| 2006-07 |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Currently active in Premier league team's roster
- ^ Ukrsoccerhistory.com
- ^ FC Arsenal Kyiv was renamed from FC CSKA Kyiv in 2001, a new club named FC CSKA Kyiv was created in the Ukrainian First Division
- ^ UkrSoccerNet
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (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
- (Ukrainian) Views of Ukrainian football fans (football-online.com.ua) - amateur's site
