2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League
|
Title sponsor logo[1] | |
| Season | 2017–18 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 16 July 2017 – 26 May 2018 |
| Matches played | 24 |
| Goals scored | 53 (2.21 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | 3 – Viktor Tsyhankov (Dynamo) |
| Biggest home win | 5 – Dynamo 5–0 Karpaty (Round 3) |
| Biggest away win | 3 – Vorskla 0–3 Shakhtar (Round 1) |
| Highest scoring | 5 – Dynamo 5–0 Karpaty (Round 3) |
| Longest winning run | 3 – Dynamo (Round 1-3) |
| Longest unbeaten run | 4 – 3 teams (Round 1-4) |
| Longest winless run | 4 – 4 teams (Round 1-4) |
| Longest losing run | 3 – Chornomorets (Round 1-3) |
| Highest attendance | 14,168 – Shakhtar–Dynamo (Round 2) |
| Lowest attendance | 0 – Dynamo–Chornomorets (Round 1) |
|
← 2016–17 2018–19 →
All statistics correct as of 6 August 2017. | |
The 2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League season will be the 27th top level football club competitions since the fall of the Soviet Union and the tenth since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League.
The tournament will start on 16 July 2017 with the competition ending on 19 May 2018. The relegation play-offs will take place on 23 May and 26 May 2018.[2]
The defending champion is the 10 times winner FC Shakhtar Donetsk.
The league's last season title sponsor a bookmaker company Pari-Match withdrew from the sponsorship. On 7 July 2017 Pari-March announced that it ended its cooperation with the Ukrainian Premier League.[3]
Before the start of the season a scandal arose around promotion between the First League clubs FC Desna Chernihiv and NK Veres Rivne when Veres that placed lower in tournament table was admitted to the Premier League ahead of Desna. Later it was announced that Desna might be promoted as well due to rumors around a financial situation of FC Stal Kamianske. The final decision of the league's composition was adopted at the FFU Conference on 16 June 2017.[4][5]
With the ongoing War in Donbass, the second round games started with a minute of silence to commemorate the warriors of Ukrainian Armed Forces perished in the ATO zone.[6]
Competition format
On 28 April 2017 the Ukrainian Premier League administration announced that its General Assembly of participants adopted decision about changes to the competition format and calendar for the next 2017–18 season.[7] Before the assembly, the UPL Administration presented to its clubs five variants of competition format.[8]
- For the next season UPL will keep 12 clubs (that fact was confirmed at the conference of coaches few days prior);[9]
- Competition will have two stages, with the first stage having 22 rounds and the second stage after team will split into two six-members groups having 10 more rounds in each group;
- Team that placed the 12th will be relegated directly to Persha Liha, teams that placed 10th and 11th will play two leg play-off with the second and third teams of the Persha Liha.
The format was confirmed by the FFU Executive Committee on 30 May 2017.[2]
Teams
Promotions
Two teams were promoted to the league (instead of the relegated FC Dnipro and FC Volyn Lutsk):
- FC Mariupol (renamed after the previous season)[10][11] – the champion of the 2016–17 Ukrainian First League (returning after two seasons absence)
- NK Veres Rivne[11] – third place of the 2016–17 Ukrainian First League (returning for the first time since 1994–95, 22 seasons absence)
Location map
The following displays the location of teams.
Teams in italics are from a conflict zone of the War in Donbass and are playing their home games in different cities.
Stal Kamianske plays its home games in Dnipro. Veres Rivne plays its home games in Lviv.
Stadiums
Five teams play their matches outside of home towns. The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:
| Rank | Stadium | Place | Club | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NSC Olimpiyskiy | Kyiv | Dynamo Kyiv | 70,050 | |
| 2 | OSC Metalist | Kharkiv | Shakhtar Donetsk | 40,003 | Will be used as home ground during the season. |
| 3 | Arena Lviv | Lviv | Veres Rivne | 34,915 | Will be used as home ground during the season. |
| 4 | Chornomorets Stadium | Odesa | Chornomorets Odesa | 34,164 | |
| 5 | Ukraina Stadium | Lviv | Karpaty Lviv | 28,051 | |
| 6 | Vorskla Stadium | Poltava | Vorskla Poltava | 24,795 | |
| 7 | Meteor Stadium | Dnipro | Stal Kamianske | 24,381 | Will be used as home ground during the season. |
| 8 | Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium[lower-alpha 1] | Kyiv | Olimpik Donetsk | 16,873 | Will be used as home ground during the season. |
| 9 | Zirka Stadium | Kropyvnytskyi | Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 13,667 | |
| 10 | Illichivets Stadium | Mariupol | Mariupol | 12,680 | |
| 11 | Slavutych-Arena | Zaporizhia | Zorya Luhansk | 12,000 | Will be used as home ground during the season. |
| 12 | CSC Nika Stadium | Oleksandriya | Oleksandriya | 7,000 |
Notes:
- ↑ The reconstruction is intended to be finished mainly by the beginning of next season, while finishing touches might be applied until August 1, 2017.[12] The renovations are conducted in preparation to the 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League for which the Dynamo Stadium is chosen to be a venue of the final game.[13]
Personnel and sponsorship
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamo Kyiv |  Serhiy Rebrov |
End of contract | 31 May 2017[14] | Pre-season |  Alyaksandr Khatskevich |
2 June 2017[15] |
| NK Veres Rivne | Yuriy Virt (acting) |
Change of contract | 6 June 2017[16] | Yuriy Virt |
6 June 2017[16] | |
| Stal Kamianske | Leonid Kuchuk |
End of contract | 6 June 2017[17] |  Yegishe Melikyan (caretaker) |
25 June 2017[18] | |
| Karpaty Lviv | Oleg Dulub |
Resigned | 11 June 2017[19] |  Sergio Navarro |
16 June 2017[20] |
Notes:
Regular season
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dynamo Kyiv | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 10 | Qualification to Championship round |
| 2 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 9 | |
| 3 | Olimpik Donetsk | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 8 | |
| 4 | Vorskla Poltava | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | |
| 5 | Veres Rivne | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 6 | |
| 6 | Stal Kamianske | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 6 | |
| 7 | Mariupol | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 | Qualification to Relegation round |
| 8 | Karpaty Lviv | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 4 | |
| 9 | FC Oleksandriya | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 3 | |
| 10 | Zorya Luhansk | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 2 | |
| 11 | Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 2 | |
| 12 | Chornomorets Odesa | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 1 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goals scored; 7) Draw.
Results
| Home \ Away | CHO | DYK | KAR | MAR | OLK | OLD | SHA | STK | VER | VOR | ZIR | ZOR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chornomorets Odesa | — | 2–2 | 0–1 | |||||||||
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2–1 | — | 5–0 | a | ||||||||
| Karpaty Lviv | — | 3–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | ||||||||
| Mariupol | 3–0 | — | 0–0 | |||||||||
| FC Oleksandriya | — | 0–2 | 1–1 | |||||||||
| Olimpik Donetsk | — | 0–0 | ||||||||||
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 0–1 | 3–1 | — | |||||||||
| Stal Kamianske | 1–2 | — | ||||||||||
| Veres Rivne | 0–0 | — | ||||||||||
| Vorskla Poltava | 0–0 | 0–3 | — | 2–1 | ||||||||
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 0–0 | 1–3 | — | |||||||||
| Zorya Luhansk | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | — |
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.
Positions by round
The following table represents the teams position after each round in the competition played chronologically.
| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamo Kyiv | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Olimpik Donetsk | 2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Vorskla Poltava | 12 | 5 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Veres Rivne | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stal Kamianske | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| FC Mariupol | 8 | 7 | 5 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Karpaty Lviv | 6 | 10 | 11 | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| FC Oleksandriya | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Zorya Luhansk | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chornomorets Odesa | 9 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Source:
Notes:
- After the second round, places of Zirka Kropyvnytskyi (6th) and FC Mariupol (7th) are defined by undisclosed criterion.
- After the third round, places of Zirka Kropyvnytskyi (8th) and Zorya Luhansk (9th) are defined by undisclosed criterion.
Season statistics
Top goalscorers
As of 6 August 2017[21]
| Rank | Scorer | Team | Goals (Pen.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viktor Tsyhankov |
Dynamo Kyiv | 3 |
| 2 | Oleksiy Khoblenko |
Chornomorets Odesa | 2 |
| Orest Kuzyk |
Stal Kamianske | 2 | |
 Marlos |
Shakhtar Donetsk | 2 | |
 Dieumerci Mbokani |
Dynamo Kyiv | 2 | |
| Serhiy Vakulenko |
FC Mariupol | 2(1) | |
| Ihor Zahalskyi |
Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 2 (1) | |
Notes:
Hat-tricks (pokers)
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viktor Tsyhankov |
Dynamo Kyiv | Karpaty | |
29 July 2017[22] |
(number) Player scored (number) goals if more than 3
Awards
Monthly awards
| Month | Player of the Month | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Reference | |
Round awards
| Round | Player | Coach | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Reference | Coach | Club | Reference | |
| Round 1 | Marlos |
Shakhtar Donetsk | [23] | Yegishe Melikyan (caretaker) |
Stal Kamianske | [24] |
| Round 2 | Dieumerci Mbokani |
Dynamo Kyiv | [25] | Aliaksandr Khatskevich |
Dynamo Kyiv | [26] |
| Round 3 | Viktor Tsyhankov |
Dynamo Kyiv | [27] | Oleksandr Sevidov |
FC Mariupol | [28] |
| Round 4 | Oleksandr Tkachenko |
Vorskla Poltava | [29] | Yuriy Virt |
Veres Rivne | [30] |
Season's incidents
Desna vs Veres promotion
On 1 June 2017, it was announced that second-placed club FC Desna Chernihiv was denied in receiving license to play in the top division. The argument was that the club is not able to provide guarantees for an adequate financing of infrastructure.[31] The license was received by NK Veres Rivne, the third-placed team during the last season in the second-tier division.[32]
Both clubs FC Desna Chernihiv and NK Veres Rivne did not play at their home stadiums in the 2016–17 Ukrainian First League. The first one played in Kiev at the Obolon Arena, while the other one played in Varash, at the Izotop Stadium of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. The administration of Desna released a letter of protest before a meeting of FFU representative.[33] In protest the Desna administration announced that the club won't play its last game of the season against FC Illichivets Mariupol, but later reconsidered it.[34] Nonetheless, during the game players of both teams expressed their protest on the field in a special form when a whistle was blown the players, instead of initiating a game, were demonstratively standing around yet kicking a ball.[35]
On 2 June 2017, upon conclusion of its conference the UPL administration announced about the final composition of the league and calendar for the upcoming season.[36] The conference confirmed the admission of Veres to the league and the only club that voted against was FC Dynamo Kyiv, while six votes were for decision and three (including FC Zorya Luhansk) abstained.[37] On 2 June 2017, the Desna fans were picketing the House of Football in Kiev after they arrived on four buses from Chernihiv.[38]
On 7 June 2017, sports media UA-Football requested from Football Federation of Ukraine and FC Desna Chernihiv to publish related documents to have better understanding over the situation and come to some kind of closure on the subject.[39]
Number of football experts negatively commented on the situation,[40][41][42][43] while the PFC Sumy head coach Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi stated that tomorrow these sports functionaries in such way will make Veres the national champions.[44] The former PFL president Svyatoslav Syrota said that the FFU vice-president is lying about Desna problems.[45] President of FC Inhulets Petrove, Oleksandr Porovoznyuk, called on other clubs to withdraw their teams from the league in support for FC Desna Chernihiv.[46] President of FC Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni Petro Kaplun stated that it makes him laugh when the president of Veres Oleksiy Khakhlev asks to follow the regulations. He points out that last season Veres was admitted to the Second League with complete disregard to the season's regulations. Kaplun also called on the FFU authorities to pay attention to what owners of professional clubs have to say as they have a right to express their vote of confindance for the FFU leadership.[47]
See also
- 2017–18 Ukrainian First League
- 2017–18 Ukrainian Second League
- 2017–18 Ukrainian Cup
- List of Ukrainian football transfers summer 2017
Notes
References
- ↑ Emblem. Ukrainian Premier League website.
- 1 2 http://www.upl.ua/news/view/963
- ↑ Premier-liha and TM Parimatch ended their cooperation (Прем'єр-ліга і TM Parimatch завершили співпрацю). UA-Football. 7 July 2017
- ↑ Volkov, A. Stal might withdraw out of the Ukrainian football championship (Сталь может сняться с чемпионата Украины). Football.ua. 14 June 2017
- ↑ Fesun, A. FFU: Stal obtained the license (ФФУ: "Сталь" получила аттестат ). Footboom.com. 15 June 2017
- ↑ All games of the UPL championship round 2 will start with a minute of silence (Усі матчі 2 туру Чемпіонату УПЛ почнуться хвилиною мовчання). Ukrainian Premier League. 21 July 2017
- ↑ (in Ukrainian) Season 2017-18: 12 clubs, play-off (Сезон-2017/18: 12 клубів, плей-оф!). Ukrainian Premier League. 28 April 2017
- ↑ Hot subject. Clubs were offered five variants of the championship (Горячая тема. Клубам предложили пять вариантов чемпионата). zbirna.com. 15 April 2017
- ↑ In the next season the UPL will have 12 clubs, but its competition format may change (В следующем сезоне в УПЛ будут играть 12 команд, но формат может измениться). football.ua. 24 April 2017
- ↑ Volkov, A. Sevidov: If borrow 10-12 players from Shakhtar, then who will play against the same Shakhtar? (Севидов: Если арендовать у Шахтера 10-12 футболистов, кто будет играть против самого Шахтера?). Football.ua (interview). 29 May 2017
- 1 2 With a common position to the successful future! (Через спільну позицію – до успішного майбутнього!). Ukrainian Premier League. 2 June 2017
- ↑ New turf, 15 thousands seats and even toilets. What kind of a global reconstruction of the Dynamo Stadium will be (Новый газон, 15 тысяч сидений и даже туалеты. Каким будет глобальный ремонт стадиона «Динамо»). Xsport. 31 May 2017
- ↑ At the Dynamo Stadium has started a reconstruction (На стадионе Динамо началась реконструкция). UA-Football. 31 May 2017
- ↑ http://football.sport.ua/news/346113
- ↑ http://football.ua/ukraine/336599-khackevich-novyjj-trener-dinamo.html
- 1 2 https://football24.ua/ru/virt__novyj_glavnyj_trener_nk_veres_n388443/
- ↑ http://pfcstal.com/news/klub/stal-blagodarit-kuchuka-za-rabotu
- ↑ https://xsport.ua/football_s/news/israelyan-zaveril-chto-stal-ostanetsya-v-premer-lige_307112/
- ↑ http://www.fckarpaty.lviv.ua/ua/news/17978/page.html
- ↑ http://www.fckarpaty.lviv.ua/ua/news/17989/page.html
- ↑ Top scorers. Ukrainian Premier League.
- ↑ Dynamo-Karpaty game report at Official UPL Site
- ↑ http://www.upl.ua/news/view/1090
- ↑ http://uafc.org.ua/2017/07/trenerskij-rakurs-yegishe-melikyan-najkrashhij-trener-1-go-turu-upl/
- ↑ http://www.upl.ua/news/view/1103
- ↑ http://uafc.org.ua/2017/07/trenerskij-rakurs-oleksandr-hatskevich-najkrashhij-trener-2-go-turu-upl/
- ↑ http://www.upl.ua/news/view/1118
- ↑ http://uafc.org.ua/2017/07/trenerskij-rakurs-oleksandr-sevidov-najkrashhij-trener-3-go-turu-upl/
- ↑ https://www.ua-football.com/ukrainian/high/1502114313-vratar-vorskly-tkachenko-luchshiy-igrok-4-go-tura-upl.html
- ↑ https://www.ua-football.com/ukrainian/high/1502123469-virt-priznan-luchshim-trenerom-4-go-tura-upl.html
- ↑ Veres passed an attestation and will be playing in the UPL along with a coach Kvartsianyi (Верес получил аттестат и сыграет в УПЛ с тренером Кварцяным). Sport Arena. 1 June 2017
- ↑ Desna was not allowed in UPL, out of the First League there will be promoted Veres (Десну не пустили в УПЛ, из Первой лиги выйдет Верес). Football.ua. 1 June 2017
- ↑ Desna's administration: if there won't be the Premier Liha, there won't be financing (Руководство Десны: не будет Премьер-лиги — не будет финансирования). Football.ua. 1 June 2017
- ↑ The Illichivets-Desna game will take place (Матч Ильичевец - Десна состоится). UA-Football. 2 June 2017
- ↑ The Illichivets-Desna game started with a protest of players (Матч Ильичевец - Десна начался с акции протеста футболистов). UA-Football. 4 June 2017
- ↑ http://football.ua/ukraine/336638-upl-predstavila-kalendar-igr-pervogo-ehtapa-chempionata-ukrainy-201718.html
- ↑ Rafailov: I would like that UPL was forming based exclusively on a sports principles (Рафаилов: Хотелось бы, чтобы УПЛ формировалась исключительно по спортивному принципу). UA-Football. 7 June 2017
- ↑ "500 thousands for a place in the UPL?!" How the Desna fans were picketing FFU and UPL ("500 тисяч за місце в УПЛ?!" Як фанати Десни пікетували ФФУ та УПЛ). Football24.ua. 2 June 2017
- ↑ Open letter of the UA-Football site administration to the Football Federation of Ukraine and FC Desna (Открытое письмо редакции сайта UA-Футбол к ФФУ и ФК Десна). UA-Football. 7 June 2017
- ↑ Surkis: That what is happening with Desna is a delirium and a shame for our Federation (Суркис: То, что происходит с Десной - это бред и позор нашей Федерации). UA-Football. 7 June 2017
- ↑ The lawlessness should not be in place, this a sport and we play for spectators (Khatskevych: (Хацкевич: Беcпредел не должен твориться, это спорт - мы играем для зрителей). UA-Football. 7 June 2017
- ↑ Verbytskyi, I. In the realm of gloom, or Why Veres and Desna are the same evil (У царстві мороку, або Чому Верес і Десна – однакове зло). Football 24. 2 June 2017
- ↑ Haponenko, O. Veres won over Desna in the final of the Cabinet's Football Cup (Верес обыграл Десну в финале Кубка Кабинетного футбола). Football 24. 2 June 2017
- ↑ Bezsmertnyi: Tomorrow they will make this Veres yet a champion (Бессмертный: Завтра они этот Верес еще и чемпионом сделают). UA-Football. 7 June 2017
- ↑ Syrota: Bandurko lied about Desna problems on all 5 criteria (Сирота: Бандурко збрехав про проблеми Десни за всіма 5 критеріями). Football24.ua. 4 June 2017
- ↑ President of Inhulets calls on all clubs' leaders of the First League to withdraw their teams from competitions (Президент Ингульца призывает всех глав клубов Первой лиги снять команды с соревнований). Football.ua. 7 June 2017
- ↑ (Каплун: Во второй лиге Верес оказался не по регламенту, а благодаря ручному голосованию исполкома ФФУ). UA-Football. 12 June 2017
External links
- Official website of the Ukrainian Premier League
- News, stats, updates. campeones.ua.