Season: | 2022–23 |
Dates: | |
Relegated: | none |
League Topscorer: | Pylyp Budkivskyi (14 goals) |
Biggest Home Win: | |
Biggest Away Win: | |
Highest Scoring: | |
Longest Wins: | Polissia |
Longest Unbeaten: | Polissia |
Longest Winless: | Mariupol |
Longest Losses: | Mariupol |
Updated: | 8 May 2023 |
The 2022–23 Ukrainian First League is the 32nd since its establishment. The league competition consisted of 16 teams.[1] The competition is conducting during the ongoing war with the Russia since late February 2022. It was decided to conduct competitions in two groups.[2]
Due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the league competitions changed its usual format. The Professional Football League of Ukraine (PFL) Conference adopted changes to the 2022–23 season after some 24 PFL teams were forced to suspend their activities or dissolve. It was decided to keep the same number of participants at 16 but split them in two groups of 8. Previously the split group competition in the second tier were only conducted once back in 1992.
The competitions are scheduled to consist of two stages. At the first stage two groups of 8 would conduct a usual double round-robin tournament. At the second stage, the top four from each group form the promotion group, while the bottom four from each group – the relegation group. Points earned at the first stage will be kept for the second, while teams would only be playing with participants of the group. So, in total each team is expected to play 28 games. The top two teams of the promotion group receive direct promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League (UPL), while the 3rd and the 4th would play promotion relegation play-off with the 14th and the 13th teams of UPL, respectfully. In case if Desna and Mariupol would decide to return, play-off games will be canceled and the UPL will be expanded. The bottom team of the relegation group will be relegated directly, while the second to the last will contest its place in the second tier with the 2022–23 Ukrainian Second League runner-up.
This season, Ukrainian First League consisted of 16 teams.
Ten teams have been promoted from the 2021–22 Ukrainian Second League.[3] While originally it had been expected that MFA Mukachevo would be promoted, in less than a month it was confirmed that the club will not participate in the season. Later along with VPK-Ahro, it was replaced with Bukovyna and Chernihiv.
Eight clubs withdrew from the league due to the Russian aggression.
The following displays the location of teams. Group A teams marked in red. Group B teams marked in green.
See also: List of football stadiums in Ukraine. The following stadiums were used as home grounds for the teams in the competition. The minimum capacity for stadiums of the First League clubs is set at 1,500 spectators.
Rank | Stadium | Location | Capacity | Club | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | align=left | Lviv | 27,925 | Karpaty Lviv | |||
2 | align=left | Ternopil | 15,150 | Nyva Ternopil | |||
3 | align=left | Chernivtsi | 12,076 | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | |||
4 | align=left | Zaporizhzhia | 11,883 | Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | |||
5 | align=left | Cherkasy | 10,321 | LNZ Cherkasy | |||
6 | align=left | Ivano-Frankivsk | 6,500 | Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk | |||
7 | align=left | Zhytomyr | 5,928 | Polissya Zhytomyr | |||
8 | align=left | Kyiv | 5,100 | Obolon Kyiv | |||
9 | align=left | Poltava | 3,700 | SC Poltava | |||
10 | align=left | Chernihiv | 3,000 | FC Chernihiv | [7] [8] [9] [10] | ||
11 | align=left | Kamianets-Podilskyi | 2,587 | Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi | [11] | ||
12 | align=left | Horishni Plavni | 2,500 | Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni | |||
13 | align=left | Kolos Stadium | Dunaivtsi | 2,500 | Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi | used as home ground in Round 2 | |
14 | align=left | Petrove | 1,869 | Kremin Kremenchuk | used as home ground in Round 2 | ||
15 | align=left | Kremenchuk | 1,500 | Kremin Kremenchuk | |||
16 | align=left | Demydiv | 500 | Dinaz Vyshhorod FSC Mariupol | used as home ground during the season[12] |
Team | Outgoing head coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming head coach | Date of appointment | Table | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bukovyna Chernivtsi | Yuriy Kyslytsia (acting) | End of interim | 31 July 2022[13] | Pre-season | Andriy Melnychuk | 31 July 2022 | Pre-season | |
Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi | Oleh Naduda | Change of role | 2 September 2022[14] | 3rd | Serhiy Nahornyak | 2 September 2022 | 3rd | |
LNZ Cherkasy | Yuriy Bakalov | Dismissed | 6 September 2022[15] | 5th | Oleksandr Kovpak (acting) | 6 September 2022 | 5th | |
Nyva Ternopil | Andriy Kuptsov | Resigned | 14 September 2022[16] | 6th | Serhiy Zadorozhnyi (acting) | 14 September 2022 | 6th | |
LNZ Cherkasy | Oleksandr Kovpak (acting) | Change of role | 2 December 2022[17] | 1st | Oleksandr Kovpak | 2 December 2022 | 1st | |
Hirnyk-Sport | Ihor Zhabchenko | End of contract | 25 December 2022[18] [19] | 16th | Serhiy Diryavka | 30 January 2023[20] | 16th | |
Nyva Ternopil | Serhiy Zadorozhnyi | Change of role | 20 April 2023[21] | 7th | Serhii Atlasiuk (acting) | 20 April 2023 | 7th | |
Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni | Serhiy Diryavka | Fired | 30 May 2023[22] | 16th | Valeriy Kutsenko | 19 June 2023[23] | 16 | |
Karpaty Lviv | Andriy Tlumak | Resigned | 1 June 2023[24] | 5th | Myron Markevych | 1 June 2023 | 5th |
Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Oleh Kudryk | Polissia Zhytomyr | 8 |
2 | Maksym Mekhaniv | Nyva Ternopil | 7 |
3 | Serhiy Chernobay | Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi | 5 |
Roman Lyopka | Karpaty Lviv | ||
5 | 2 players | 3 | |
3 | Ivan Pitsan | Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk | 3 |
Vadym Soldatenko | Dinaz Vyshhorod | ||
7 | 1 players | 2 | |
7 | Roman Zhmurko | Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi | 2 |
8 | 5 players | 1 | |
8 | Bohdan Stepanenko | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | 1 |
Roman Herych | Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk | ||
Vitaliy Chebotaryov | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | ||
Artem Pospyelov | Polissia Zhytomyr | ||
Anton Zadereiko | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | ||
Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kirill Samoylenko | LNZ Cherkasy | 9 |
2 | Nazariy Fedorivskyi | Obolon Kyiv | 7 |
3 | Nazar Baida | Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | 4 |
Oleksandr Shyray | Chernihiv | ||
Yan Vichnyi | SC Poltava | ||
6 | 2 players | 2 | |
Maksym Kovalenko | Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni | ||
Danylo Yermolov | Kremin Kremenchuk | ||
8 | 5 players | 1 | |
Andriy Popovych | LNZ Cherkasy | ||
Ivan Muzychka | Kremin Kremenchuk | ||
Anton Osadchuk | Skoruk Tomakivka | ||
Denys Shelikhov | LNZ Cherkasy | ||
Ihor Vartsaba | Skoruk Tomakivka | ||
Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kirill Samoylenko | LNZ Cherkasy | 11 |
2 | Oleh Kudryk | Polissia Zhytomyr | 10 |
3 | Nazariy Fedorivskyi | Obolon Kyiv | 9 |
4 | 1 players | 7 | |
Maksym Mekhaniv | Nyva Ternopil | ||
5 | 1 players | 6 | |
Nazar Baida | Metalurh Zaporizhia | ||
6 | 2 players | 5 | |
Serhiy Chernobay | Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi | ||
Roman Lyopka | Karpaty Lviv | ||
8 | 1 players | 3 | |
Roman Zhmurko | Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi | ||
9 | 2 players | 2 | |
Danylo Yermolov | Kremin Kremenchuk | ||
Ivan Muzychka | Kremin Kremenchuk | ||
11 | 4 players | 1 | |
Oleksandr Ilyushchenkov | Karpaty Lviv | ||
Andriy Popovych | LNZ Cherkasy | ||
Artem Pospyelov | Polissia Zhytomyr | ||
Denys Shelikhov | LNZ Cherkasy | ||
Note:
Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ihor Vartsaba | Skoruk Tomakivka | 6 |
2 | 3 players | 5 | |
2 | Oleksandr Shyray | Chernihiv | 5 |
Yan Vichnyi | SC Poltava | ||
Roman Herych | Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk | ||
5 | 2 players | 3 | |
Ivan Pitsan | Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk | ||
Vadym Soldatenko | Dinaz Vyshhorod | ||
7 | 2 players | 2 | |
Maksym Kovalenko | Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni | ||
Heorhiy Klimov | Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni | ||
9 | 8 players | 1 | |
8 | Vitaliy Chebotaryov | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | 1 |
Vadym Dmytrochenko | Dinaz Vyshhorod | ||
Maksym Korzhuk | Dinaz Vyshhorod | ||
Pavlo Kravtsov | FSC Mariupol | ||
Mark Medvedyev | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | ||
Bohdan Stepanenko | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | ||
Anton Osadchuk | Skoruk Tomakivka | ||
Anton Zadereiko | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | ||
The relegation–promotion play-off games are scheduled to take place between the 7th placed team in the Relegation group of the First League with the second place of the Second League. On 18 May 2023, there took place a draw of the PFL play-offs in two legs format (each team plays at home and away) with games scheduled to take place on June 3 and 10.[28]
Since 2022 the award is given by PFL together with the website Ukrfootball ("Ukrainian football") switching from another information partner ua-football.com.
Month | Player of the Month | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Club | |||
September 2022 | Oleksandr Batalskyi | Obolon Kyiv | ||
October 2022 | Oleksandr Mishurenko | Skoruk Tomakivka | ||
November 2022 | Denys Halata | Kremin Kremenchuk | ||
April 2023 | Illya Skrypnyk | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | [29] | |
May 2023 | Vasyl Hrytsuk | Polissia Zhytomyr | [30] |
Round | Player | Coach | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Club | Reference | Coach | Club | Reference | |
winter break | ||||||
Round 1 | Oleksiy Sydorov (2) | Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | [45] | Volodymyr Mykytyn | Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | |
Round 2 | Dmytro Shcherbak | SC Poltava | [46] | Andriy Melnychuk | Bukovyna Chernivtsi | |
Round 3 | Semen Datsenko | Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni | [47] | Valeriy Ivashchenko (2) | Obolon Kyiv | |
Round 4 | Bohdan Orynchak | Dinaz Vyshhorod | [48] | Yuriy Kalitvintsev (4) | Polissya Zhytomyr | |
Round 5 | Vasyl Tsyutsyura | Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk | [49] | Yuriy Kalitvintsev (5) | Polissya Zhytomyr | |
Round 6 | Vitaliy Hrusha | Obolon Kyiv | [50] | Oleh Krasnopyorov (2) | FSC Mariupol | |
Round 7 | Artem Perebora | Skoruk Tomakivka | [51] | Oleksandr Kovpak | LNZ Cherkasy | |
Round 8 | Stanislav Morarenko | Dinaz Vyshhorod | [52] | Yuriy Kalitvintsev (6) | Polissya Zhytomyr | |
Number | Region | Team(s) |
---|---|---|
3 | Poltava, Hirnyk-Sport and Kremin | |
1 | LNZ | |
Chernihiv | ||
Bukovyna | ||
Skoruk | ||
Mariupol | ||
Prykarpattia | ||
Epitsentr | ||
Obolon | ||
Dinaz | ||
Karpaty | ||
Nyva | ||
Metalurh | ||
Polissya |