| Competition: | VBet Liha |
| Pixels: | 280px |
| Season: | 2022–23 |
| Winners: | Shakhtar Donetsk 14th Ukrainian league title |
| Relegated: | Lviv Metalist Kharkiv Inhulets Petrove |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Shakhtar Donetsk Dnipro-1 |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Zorya Luhansk |
| Continentalcup3: | Europa Conference League |
| Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Dynamo Kyiv Vorskla Poltava |
| League Topscorer: | Artem Dovbyk (24 goals) |
| Longest Wins: | Dnipro-1 Shakhtar (6 matches) |
| Longest Unbeaten: | Dnipro-1 (13 matches) |
| Longest Winless: | Metalist (17 matches) |
| Longest Losses: | Lviv (6 matches) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Dnipro-1 5–0 Metalist (3 May 2023) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Metalist 1925 0–7 Shakhtar (5 March 2023) |
| Highest Scoring: | Metalist 5–5 Veres (15 April 2023) |
| Prevseason: | 2021–22 |
| Nextseason: | 2023–24 |
| Updated: | 4 June 2022 |
The 2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League season, referred to as the VBet Liha for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd top-level football club competition since the fall of the Soviet Union and the 15th since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League.
The defending champions are the 16-time winners Dynamo Kyiv. The previous 2021–22 season was abandoned due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[1] Although Shakhtar Donetsk were at the top of the table when the league was abandoned, no title was officially awarded ("The handing out of awards to the league's medalists will not take place").[2]
The current season began on 23 August 2022 and ended on 3 June 2023.[3] Shakhtar Donetsk were crowned champions for the 14th time in their history.
Due to the full-scale invasion of Russia, teams were discussing the possibility of playing in western Ukraine as well as Poland. On 27 May 2022, a conference was held in the House of Football involving participants of the Ukrainian Premier League along with the UAF presidium. Topics discussed at the conference included the continuation of the league, possible places and dates of conducting it as well as its format for the future season.[4] On 25 June, the league's executive director, Yevhen Dykyi, explained that the season was expected to start on 20 August in the usual format with 16 participants.[5] [6] Later, the president of the Ukrainian Association of Football clarified that the only teams allowed to play abroad would be those still in continental competitions, subject to their opponents' agreement.[7]
Some football functionaries criticised conducting the competitions due to risks of deliberate Russian missile attacks.[8]
PUMA Orbita Ball is official football ball of the 2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League, and the Puma brand became an official technical sponsor.[9] It is the leading ball model, certified by FIFA, designed specifically for professional football.[9]
This season the Ukrainian Premier League has kept 16 teams, which includes 14 teams from the previous season and the top two teams from the 2021–22 Ukrainian First League. Two teams had their status suspended due to the Russian occupation and/or destruction of their sports infrastructure.
In case if one or both Desna and Mariupol decide to return to the league competitions next season, it is predetermined that the league team pool would be increased to 18 teams.
The minimum threshold for the stadium's capacity in the UPL is 4,500 (Article 10, paragraph 8.3).[10] With the ongoing Russian aggression clubs were forced to relocate to western parts of the country with the Ukrainian Association of Football listed its certified stadiums for the season competitions.[11] It was decided that the main regions in which permitted to conduct competitions are Kyiv city, Kyiv Oblast, Lviv Oblast and Zakarpattia Oblast.[12] A match could take place in other regions on permission of a regional military administration and agreement from the opposing club.
The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:
| width=18 | Rank | width=150 | Stadium | width=100 | Place | width=130 | Club | width=70 | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=4 | 1 | NSC Olimpiyskiy | Kyiv | Shakhtar Donetsk | align=center rowspan=4 | 70,050 | used as home ground during the season | |||
| Metalist 1925 Kharkiv | used as home ground during the season | |||||||||
| FC Oleksandriya | used as home ground during the season | |||||||||
| Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | used as home ground during the season | |||||||||
| align=center rowspan=2 | 2 | Arena Lviv | Lviv | Dynamo Kyiv | align=center rowspan=2 | 34,915 | used as home ground in Round 2 and 4 | |||
| Shakhtar Donetsk | used as home ground in Round 4 | |||||||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 3 | Chornomorets Stadium | Odesa | Chornomorets Odesa | align=center rowspan=1 | 34,164 | ||||
| 4 | align=left | Lviv | Rukh Lviv | 27,925 | ||||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 5 | Butovsky Vorskla Stadium | Poltava | Vorskla Poltava | align=center rowspan=1 | 24,795 | ||||
| align=center rowspan=2 | 6 | Dynamo Stadium | Kyiv | Dynamo Kyiv | align=center rowspan=2 | 16,873 | ||||
| Zorya Luhansk | used as home ground during the season[13] | |||||||||
| align=center rowspan=4 | 7 | Avanhard Stadium | Uzhhorod | Metalist Kharkiv | align=center rowspan=4 | 12,000 | used as home ground during the season | |||
| Vorskla Poltava | used as home ground in Round 2 | |||||||||
| Zorya Luhansk | used as home ground in Round 1 | |||||||||
| Dnipro-1 | used as home ground during the season | |||||||||
| 8 | Kolos Stadium | Kovalivka | Kolos Kovalivka | 5,050 | ||||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 9 | Avanhard Stadium | Rivne | Veres Rivne | align=center rowspan=1 | 4,650 | ||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 10 | Skif Stadium | Lviv | FC Lviv | align=center rowspan=1 | 4,033 | ||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 11 | Hirnyk Stadium | Kryvyi Rih | Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | align=center rowspan=1 | 2,500 | ||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 12 | Inhulets Stadium | Petrove | Inhulets Petrove | align=center rowspan=1 | 1,869 | ||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 13 | Bannikov Stadium | Kyiv | Chornomorets Odesa | align=center rowspan=1 | 1,678 | used as home ground in Round 1 | |||
| align=center rowspan=2 | 14 | Mynai Arena | Mynai | FC Mynai | align=center rowspan=2 | 1,312 | ||||
| Vorskla Poltava | used as home ground in Round 4 | |||||||||
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vorskla Poltava | Yuriy Maksymov | Dismissed | 2 June 2022[15] | Pre-season | Viktor Skrypnyk | 1 July 2022[16] | |
| Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | Oleksandr Babych | Mutual agreement | 6 June 2022[17] | Yuriy Vernydub | 21 June 2022[18] | ||
| Zorya Luhansk | Viktor Skrypnyk | Moved to Vorskla Poltava | 28 June 2022[19] | Patrick van Leeuwen | 28 June 2022[20] [21] | ||
| Dnipro-1 | Igor Jovićević | End of contract | 30 June 2022 | Oleksandr Kucher | 29 July 2022[22] | ||
| Shakhtar Donetsk | Roberto De Zerbi | Mutual agreement | 11 July 2022[23] | Igor Jovićević | 14 July 2022[24] | ||
| Metalist Kharkiv | Oleksandr Kucher | Moved to SC Dnipro-1 | 13 July 2022[25] | Oleh Ratiy (caretaker) | 13 July 2022[26] [27] | ||
| Metalist 1925 Kharkiv | Valeriy Kryventsov | Sacked | 22 October 2022 | 10th |  Edmar (caretaker) | 23 October 2022[28] | |
| Inhulets Petrove | Serhiy Lavrynenko | Mutual consent | 13 November 2022 | 15th | Mladen Bartulović (interim) | 13 November 2022[29] [30] | |
| Oleksandriya | Yuriy Hura | Dismissed | 14 December 2022[31] [32] [33] | 5th | Ruslan Rotan | 21 December 2022[34] | |
| Inhulets Petrove | Mladen Bartulović (interim) | End of interim | 29 December 2022 | 14th | Serhiy Kovalets | 29 December 2022[35] [36] | |
| Metalist Kharkiv | Oleh Ratiy (interim) | Change of role | 27 January 2023 | 11th |  Perica Ognjenović (interim) | 27 January 2023[37] | |
| Rukh Lviv | Sacked | 19 March 2023[38] | 14th | Vitaliy Ponomaryov | 20 March 2023[39] | ||
| FC Lviv | Resigned | 21 March 2023[40] | 16th | Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi | 21 March 2023[41] | ||
| FC Lviv | Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi | Resigned | 1 June 2023 | 16th | Roman Handzyn (interim) | 1 June 2023 | |
| Inhulets Petrove | Mutual agreement | 4 June 2023[42] | 14th | Vladyslav Lupashko (interim) | 4 June 2023 |
Teams play each other twice on a home and away basis.
----
LNZ Cherkasy won 3–2 on aggregate and were promoted to the UPL; Inhulets were relegated to the First League----
Veres Rivne won 6–2 on aggregrate and both teams remained in their respective divisions
| Rank | Scorer | Team | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artem Dovbyk | Dnipro-1 | 24 (8) | |
| align=center rowspan="2" | 2 | Nazariy Rusyn | Zorya Luhansk | 13 (0) |
 Taulant Seferi | Vorskla Poltava | 13 (6) | ||
| align=center rowspan="2" | 4 | Vitaliy Buyalskyi | Dynamo Kyiv | 12 (0) |
| Vladyslav Vanat | Dynamo Kyiv | 12 (1) | ||
| align=center rowspan="5" | 6 | Danyil Alefirenko | Zorya / Chornomorets | 9 (0) |
| Maksym Pryadun | Metalist Kharkiv | 9 (0) | ||
| Artem Bondarenko | Shakhtar Donetsk | 9 (1) | ||
| Danylo Sikan | Shakhtar Donetsk | 9 (1) | ||
| Yuriy Klymchuk | Rukh Lviv | 9 (2) |
| Rank | Scorer | Team | Assists | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=1 | 1 | Oleksandr Pikhalyonok | Dnipro-1 | align=center rowspan=1 | 10 |
| align=center rowspan=1 | 2 | Heorhiy Sudakov | Shakhtar Donetsk | align=center rowspan=1 | 8 |
| align=center rowspan=2 | 3 | Serhiy Buletsa | Zorya Luhansk | align=center rowspan=2 | 7 |
| Vitaliy Buyalskyi | Dynamo Kyiv | ||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 5 | Mykhailo Mudryk | Shakhtar Donetsk | align=center rowspan=1 | 6 |
| align=center rowspan=2 | 6 |  Talles | Rukh Lviv | align=center rowspan=2 | 5 |
| Viktor Tsyhankov | Dynamo Kyiv | ||||
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=1 | 1 | Anatoliy Trubin | Shakhtar Donetsk | align=center rowspan=1 | 14 | |
| align=center rowspan=1 | 2 | Yevhen Volynets | Kolos Kovalivka | align=center rowspan=1 | 13 | |
| align=center rowspan=3 | 3 | Oleksandr Saputin | Zorya Luhansk | align=center rowspan=3 | 9 | |
| Oleh Mozil | Metalist 1925 Kharkiv | |||||
| Oleksandr Bandura | Minai | |||||
| align=center rowspan=1 | 6 | Max Walef | Dnipro-1 | align=center rowspan=1 | 8 |
| Month | Player of the Month | Coach of the Month | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Coach | Club | |||
| August–September 2022 | Dmytro Klyots | Veres Rivne | Yuriy Virt | Veres Rivne | [48] | |
| October 2022 | Artem Dovbyk | SC Dnipro-1 | Patrick van Leeuwen | Zorya Luhansk | [49] | |
| November–December 2022 | Artem Dovbyk | SC Dnipro-1 | Yuriy Vernydub | Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | [50] | |
| February–March 2023 |  Ziguy Badibanga | Chornomorets Odesa | Roman Hryhorchuk | Chornomorets Odesa | [51] | |
| April 2023 | Artem Dovbyk | SC Dnipro-1 | Patrick van Leeuwen | Zorya Luhansk | [52] [53] | |
| May–June 2023 | Nazar Rusyn | Zorya Luhansk | Vitaliy Ponomaryov | Rukh Lviv | [54] | |
