| 2024 Ukrainian Cup Final | |
| Event: | 2023–24 Ukrainian Cup |
| Team1association: | Premier League |
| Team1score: | 1 |
| Team1: | Vorskla Poltava |
| Team2: | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| Team2association: | Premier League |
| Team2score: | 2 |
| Date: | 15 May 2024 |
| Stadium: | Avanhard Stadium[1] |
| City: | Rivne |
| Attendance: | 3,500 |
| Referee: | Vitaliy Romanov (Dnipro) |
| Previous: | 2021 |
| Next: | 2025 |
The 2024 Ukrainian Cup Final is the 31st final match of the annual Ukrainian football cup competition. It was played on 15 May 2024 at the Avanhard Stadium in Rivne.[2] This is the first time the cup final would be held in Rivne.[3]
With still ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the final is expected to be the first one since the start of the invasion in February of 2022 and the 9th since the start of the war in 2014.
See main article: 2023–24 Ukrainian Cup.
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
| Vorskla Poltava | Round | Shakhtar Donetsk | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | 2023–24 Ukrainian Cup | Opponent | Result | |
| Metalist 1925 Kharkiv | 3–0 (N) | Round of 16 | Veres Rivne | 3–0 (A) | |
| Obolon Kyiv | 3–0 (A) | Quarter-finals | Viktoriya Sumy | 3–0 (N) | |
| Polissia Zhytomyr | 1–0 (A) | Semi-finals | Chornomorets Odesa | 4–1 (N) |
As a Premier League team, Vorskla Poltava started in the Round of 16, notionally away at Ukrainian Premier League side Metalist 1925 Kharkiv. At the Livyi Bereh Arena near Kyiv, Vorskla Poltava won 3–0 with a series of goals from Ibrahim Kane, Ruslan Stepanyuk, and Ivan Nesterenko.[4] In the quarter-finals, they were drawn away at Ukrainian Premier League team Obolon Kyiv and won 3–0 at the Obolon Arena in Kyiv due to goals from Stepanyuk, Kane, and Andriy Batsula.[5] [6] In the semi-finals at away Zhytomyr Tsentralnyi Stadion, they played fellow Ukrainian Premier League Polissia Zhytomyr and reached their third final with a 1–0 win with a Serhiy Myakushko goal.[7]
As a Premier League team, Shakhtar Donetsk started in the Round of 16, they were drawn away to Veres Rivne and won 3-0 at the Avanhard Stadium in Rivne thanks to goals from Kashchuk, Bondarenko and Ocheretko. In the Quarter-finals, they were drawn against Viktoriya Sumy and won 3-0 at the Livyi Bereh in Hnidyn with goals from Nazaryna, Zubkov and Rakitskyi. In the Semi-Finals, they were drawn to Chornomorets Odesa and won 4-1 at Arena Lviv thanks to goals from Sikan, Bondarenko (penalty) and a brace from Sudakov.
Both clubs exist since the Soviet times, but they never played each other in official games (domestic league, national cup) with Shakhtar playing at the top tier and Vorskla (earlier as Kolos) at the third tier of the All-Union football competitions.
Following dissolution of the Soviet Union, a matchup of these teams became more regular. While Vorskla is recognized as an obvious underdog, it is considered as not an easy opponent for the miners. Within the Ukrainian Cup, both teams met 9 times with 6 matches played at quarterfinals stage.[8] Vorskla was victorious twice, while Shakhtar has 5 wins. However, this is their second final and in the last one between them, in 2009, Vorskla gained its only national trophy thus far.
This is also the second final for the Vorskla's manager Serhiy Dolhanskyi who in 2009 as a captain and goalkeeper of Vorskla won the cup already in the role of a player in the Vorskla–Shakhtar final.
| Team | Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|
| Vorskla Poltava | 2 (2009, 2020) |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 19 (1995, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) |