| Season: | 2001–02 |
| Winners: | Shakhtar Donetsk 1st title |
| League Topscorer: | (12) Serhiy Shyschenko (Metalurh Donetsk) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Dynamo - Metalist 6:0 |
| Biggest Away Win: | Kryvbas - Dynamo 0:7 |
| Highest Scoring: | Zakarpattia - Metalist 3:5 Polihraftekhnika - Dnipro 2:6 |
| Nextseason: | 2002–03 |
The 2001–02 Vyshcha Liha season was the 11th since its establishment. FC Dynamo Kyiv were the defending champions.
Note: the 2000–01 Ukrainian First League was won by the second team of Dynamo Kyiv, FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv, which could not be promoted.
| Club | Coach | Replaced coach | Home stadium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC Shakhtar Donetsk |  Nevio Scala |  Viktor Prokopenko | Shakhtar Stadium | |
| FC Dynamo Kyiv | Oleksiy Mykhailychenko | Valery Lobanovsky | Dynamo Stadium | |
| FC Metalurh Donetsk | Semen Altman | Metalurh Stadium | ||
| FC Metalurh Zaporizhia | Oleh Taran | Volodymyr Atamanyuk | Metalurh Stadium AvtoZAZ Stadium | |
| FC Metalist Kharkiv | Mykhailo Fomenko | Metalist Stadium | ||
| FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | Yevhen Kucherevsky | Mykola Fedorenko | Meteor Stadium | |
| SC Tavriya Simferopol | Anatoliy Zayayev | Valeriy Petrov | Lokomotyv Stadium | |
| FC Karpaty Lviv | Lev Brovarskyi | Myron Markevych | Ukraina Stadium | |
| FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | Ihor Nadein | Hennadiy Lytovchenko | Metalurh Stadium | |
| FC Metalurh Mariupol | Mykola Pavlov | Illichivets Stadium | ||
| FC Vorskla Poltava | Andriy Bal | Vorskla Stadium | ||
| FC Arsenal Kyiv | Oleh Kuznetsov | (co-coach Volodymyr Bezsonov) | CKS ZSU Stadium | |
| FC Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya | Roman Pokora | Nika Stadium | ||
| FC Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | Yuriy Kalitvintsev | Avanhard Stadium |
Due to the fact that both finalists of the 2002 Ukrainian Cup Final Dynamo and Shakhtar qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the fourth European competition berth was to be awarded to the best fourth placed team in the league competition. The fourth place with 40 points earned was Metalist Kharkiv, however there were two more teams with the same number of points Metalurh Zaporizhia and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. According to the 2001-02 season regulations the first tie breaker in case of even points were the head-to-head points among the teams that tied. Therefore originally Metalist Kharkiv was the main contender to qualify for the European competitions. However, the administration of FC Metalurh Zaporizhia argued the fact that their team head better head-to-head record with both Metalist Kharkiv (2 1-0-1 2-2 with an away goal) and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2 1-1-0 2-1). On 16 June 2002 the FFU Executive Committee came up with its final decision awarding Metalurh Zaporizhia with qualification to European competitions.
