Ukrainian First League

Ukrainian First League
Countries  Ukraine
Founded 1991
Number of teams 18
Levels on pyramid 2
Promotion to Ukrainian Premier League
Relegation to Ukrainian Second League
Domestic cup(s) Ukrainian Cup
Current champions PFC Oleksandria
(2011–12)
Website Official site
2011–12 Ukrainian First League

The Persha Liha (Ukrainian: Перша ліга) or Ukrainian First League is a football league in Ukraine and the second tier of national football competitions. Members of the league also participate in the Ukrainian Cup. Unlike the Ukrainian Premier League, Persha Liha does not conduct a parallel tournament for junior teams of its clubs.

Contents

History

The very first round of games that took place for this league was on March 14, 1992. The league itself was organized just a few months before that and consisted mostly of those clubs that previously competed in the Soviet Second League (see Ukrainian Soviet competitions). To the league were also added some second squads of the Vyshcha Liha clubs and the best performers of the Soviet amateur level of competition, KFK (Fitness clubs). The Persha Liha (First League) is lower than the Vyscha Liha (Supreme League) (currently known as the Ukrainian Premier League) and is the second division of the Ukrainian professional football league system.

The First League was incorporated into the PFL organization that combined all the football leagues of non-amateur clubs (Supreme, First, and Second). On May 26, 1996 the Constituent Conference of non-amateur clubs took place which created the professional league, and confirmed its statute as well as its administration. Most of the clubs that had previously participated in the Ukrainian football league competitions were reorganized as professional, a process that actually started in the late 1980s. On July 17 the professional league signed an agreement with several other national football organizations to organize competitions among the professional clubs (its members). According to the newspaper Halychyna (Ivano-Frankivsk) the annual budget of league's clubs varied between 6 mln to 30 mln hryvnias in 2010.[1][2]

The League officially became the top league of the Professional Football League (PFL) from April 15, 2008 when the Ukrainian Premier League reorganized itself into a self-governed entity. Usually the top two teams from the First League are promoted to the Premier League, while the two lowest teams from the Premier League are demoted to the First League. Because each club is only allowed to be represented with a single squad per each league, the second squad's promotion often is voided, thus, allowing the promotion of the third placed club during a season. One of the most successful second squads is of Dynamo Kyiv (FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv).

Format of competition

During its short history the number of members in the league has fluctuated. However, in recent years it has more or less stabilized at 18. In its first years the league consisted of 20 or more participants. Later there was an idea to decrease the number of members in all leagues in order to improve the quality of competition. The amount of relegated clubs was changing also almost annually and several times reaching up to five. Since the latest reorganization of the Second League it has remained at two clubs being demoted. For the 2010-11 season it was decided to return to the three club relegation principal involving relegation play-offs. The relegation or promotion play-offs were previously usually organized under unforeseen circumstances such as a team's withdrawal from the league and often were not scheduled until after the season had concluded. Since the turn of the millennium the frequency of withdrawals in the First League has increased among the competing clubs. Concurrently with this, the league now applies a stricter approach to every club's financial situation and support in order to participate at this level and avoid those withdrawals during the season. Since the 2009-10 season the First League has started to broadcast select matches over the internet in order to increase its popularity.

The most successful club in the league is the second squad of Dynamo Kyiv. Out of non-second squads the most successful are Zakarpattya Uzhhorod (two 1st place and two 2nds) and Zirka Kirovohrad (two 1st places). Zirka, however, went through some reorganizations in the 2000s after going into bankruptcy. A couple of seasons afterwards it returned to the competitions. Pointswise over the whole history the other two teams that follow Dynamo-2 Kyiv are Naftovyk Okhtyrka and Stal Alchevsk. The second squad of the militiamen (Dynamo) is the only team that has participated in every single season in the Ukrainian First League. Naftovyk Okhtyrka and Stal Alchevsk have missed two and three seasons respectfully.

Ukrainian First League 2010–11 Teams

In the 2010–11 season, the Ukrainian First League consisted of the following teams:


Top 3 Finishers

Promoted teams are in bold.

Season Group Champion Runner-Up 3rd Position
1992 A Veres Rivne Pryladyst Mukacheve Polihraftekhnika Oleksandria
B Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Metalurh Nikopol Artania Ochakiv
1992–93 Nyva Vinnytsia Temp Shepetivka Naftovyk Okhtyrka
1993–94 Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk Evis Mykolaiv Polihraftekhnika Oleksandria
1994–95 Zirka-NIBAS Kirovohrad CSKA-Borysfen Boryspil Metalurh Nikopol
1995–96 Vorskla Poltava Bukovyna Chernivtsi Stal Alchevsk
1996–97 Metalurh Donetsk Dynamo-2 Kyiv Metalurh Mariupol
1997–98 SC Mykolaiv Dynamo-2 Kyiv Metalist Kharkiv
1998–99 Dynamo-2 Kyiv Chornomorets Odessa Torpedo Zaporizhia
1999-00 Dynamo-2 Kyiv Stal Alchevsk FC Cherkasy
2000–01 Dynamo-2 Kyiv Zakarpattia Uzhhorod Polihraftekhnika Oleksandria
2001–02 SC Volyn-1 Lutsk Chornomorets Odessa Obolon Kyiv
2002–03 Zirka Kirovohrad Borysfen Boryspil Dynamo-2 Kyiv
2003–04 Zakarpattia Uzhhorod Metalist Kharkiv Naftovyk Okhtyrka
2004–05 Stal Alchevsk Arsenal Kharkiv Zorya Luhansk
2005–06 Zorya Luhansk Karpaty Lviv Obolon Kyiv
2006–07 Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka Zakarpattia Uzhhorod Obolon Kyiv
2007–08 Illichivets Mariupol FC Lviv Obolon Kyiv
2008–09 Zakarpattia Uzhhorod Obolon Kyiv PFC Oleksandria
2009–10 PFC Sevastopol Volyn Lutsk Stal Alchevsk
2010–11 PFC Oleksandria Chornomorets Odessa Stal Alchevsk

The accumulated table of the Ukrainian First League.

Note: In 1992 there were two groups out of which each winner gained promotion. In the consolidated standing Metalurh Nikopol achieved a higher number of points than Veres Rivne. However, as they were set in different groups only the group winners gained promotion.

Top 10 clubs

Only the top 10 clubs that placed the most often among the top three in every season are listed.

Club Winner Runners-Up 3rd Position Seasons Won
Dynamo-2 Kyiv 3 2 1 1998–99, 1999-00, 2000–01
Zakarpattia Uzhhorod 2 2 0 2003–04, 2008–09
Zirka Kirovohrad 2 0 0 1994–95, 2002–03
Stal Alchevsk 1 1 3 2004–05
Illichivets Mariupol 1 1 1 2007–08
Mykolaiv 1 1 0 1997–98
Volyn Lutsk 1 1 0 2001–02
PFC Oleksandriya 1 0 4 2010-11
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka 1 0 2 2006–07
Zorya Luhansk 1 0 1 2005–06

The following clubs have won the league at some point in time: FC Spartak Ivano-Frankivsk (disbanded), FC Veres Rivne (disbanded), FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, FC Vorskla Poltava, PFC Nyva Vinnytsia (reinstated), FC Metalurh Donetsk, PFC Sevastopol (reinstated).

All-time table

Included all clubs that played over five seasons

Team Seasons GP W D L GS GA Pts Achievement
Dynamo-2 Kyiv 20 728 350 182 196 1151 694 897 champion
Stal Alchevsk 17 624 306 138 180 916 640 768 champion
Naftovyk Okhtyrka 17 630 295 142 193 866 644 742 champion
Olexandria 15 558 259 139 160 755 517 678 champion
Zakarpattia Uzhhorod 13 482 203 96 183 560 610 502 champion
Mykolaiv 12 532 196 147 189 601 606 539 champion
Elektrometalurh Nikopol 19 574 180 160 234 575 707 520 3rd
Volyn Lutsk 16 480 201 107 172 582 530 509 vice-champion
Nyva Vinnytsia 15 434 189 98 147 535 500 476 3rd
Polissya Zhytomyr 16 476 160 133 183 550 551 453 4th
Lviv 14 412 159 112 141 503 474 430 3rd
CSKA Kyiv 15 442 145 116 181 459 518 406 3rd
Dnipro Cherkasy 13 382 123 93 166 441 549 339 4th
Karpaty-2 Lviv 10 300 96 63 141 306 440 255 6th
Spartak Sumy 10 296 93 62 141 319 388 248 6th
Spartak Ivano-Frankivsk 10 300 80 58 162 251 483 218 11th
Desna Chernihiv 7 210 64 42 104 214 315 170 7th
Bukovyna Chernivtsi 7 206 55 52 99 215 315 162 11th
Shakhtar-2 Donetsk 6 180 54 40 86 182 269 148 9th
Podillya Khmelnytskyi 6 184 46 41 97 158 285 133 6th
Obolon Kyiv 5 150 42 32 76 140 213 116 10th
Krymteplytsia Molodizhne 5 150 40 35 75 136 211 115 6th
Zirka Kirovohrad 5 120 25 33 62 94 156 83 12th
Khimik Severodonetsk 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Vorskla Poltava 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Metalist Kharkiv 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Chornomorets Odessa 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Helios Kharkiv 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Zorya Luhansk 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Krystal Chortkiv 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Enerhetyk Burshtyn 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
SK Odessa 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Shakhtar Makiivka 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Illichivets Mariupol 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th
Borysfen Boryspil 5 146 23 35 88 96 230 81 12th

References

  1. ^ Last one and half months worth several years (Ukrainian)
  2. ^ Original source on August 19, 2010 by Bohdan Biletsky (Ukrainian)

External links