2022-23_Ukrainian_Premier_League

2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League

2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League

32nd season of top-tier football league in Vyshcha Liha


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.

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

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.[2] 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").[3]

The current season began on 23 August 2022 and ended on 3 June 2023.[4] Shakhtar Donetsk were crowned champions for the 14th time in their history.

Preparation

War in Ukraine

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.[5] 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.[6][7] 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.[8]

Some football functionaries criticised conducting the competitions due to risks of deliberate Russian missile attacks.[9]

Official ball

PUMA Orbita Ball is official football ball of the 2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League, and the Puma brand became an official technical sponsor.[10] It is the leading ball model, certified by FIFA, designed specifically for professional football.[10]

  • The ball formed with high frequency technology provides excellent stability and reduced water absorption, as well as a soft ball feel.
  • New 12-panel concept: identical sized panels for a perfectly balanced weight and flight behavior.
  • Surface: 1.2mm thick 3D surface for greater durability and better aerodynamics. Innovative POE foam for strong grip, improved rebound performance and impact strength.[10]

Teams

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.

Omitted teams

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.[11]

Location map

Home venues of teams in the 2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League.
Teams in italics are from a conflict zone of the war in Donbas and are playing their home games in different cities.

Stadiums

The minimum threshold for the stadium's capacity in the UPL is 4,500 (Article 10, paragraph 8.3).[12] 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.[13] It was decided that the main regions in which permitted to conduct competitions are Kyiv city, Kyiv Oblast, Lviv Oblast and Zakarpattia Oblast.[11] 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:

More information Rank, Stadium ...

Personnel and sponsorship

Notes:

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...

League table

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: upl.ua
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw or "Golden match" if two teams tied for title (Article 22, paragraph 3).[44]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head points: Mynai 4, Kolos 1.
  2. Tied on head-to-head points, head-to-head goal difference, head-to-head goals scored.
  3. Tied on head-to-head points, head-to-head goal difference, head-to-head goals scored.

Results

Teams play each other twice on a home and away basis.

More information Home \ Away, CHO ...
Source: UPL calendar
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
Notes:
  1. The Round 30 match Mynai – Zorya originally ended in 0–3 win for Luhansk team, on 23 June 2023 it was reversed by the UAF CDC which awarded a technical win 3–0 to Mynai, because Zorya fielded Dmytro Myshnyov who was not listed for the match.[45]

Relegation play-offs

Teams that placed 13th and 14th in the 2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League play two-leg play-off with the third and fourth teams of the 2022–23 Ukrainian First League. The draw for play-offs took place on 2 June 2023[46] and the games will be played on 10 and 14 June 2023. If players of the clubs would be called to the national teams, games will be moved to June 8 and 12.

More information Team 1, Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score ...

First leg

More information Inhulets Petrove, 1 – 1 ...
Attendance: 0
Referee: Vitaliy Romanov (Dnipro)

More information Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, 1 – 0 ...
Attendance: 0
Referee: Yuriy Ivanov (Donetsk Oblast)

Second leg

More information LNZ Cherkasy, 2 – 1 ...
Attendance: 0
Referee: Maksym Kozyryatskyi (Zaporizhia)

LNZ Cherkasy won 3–2 on aggregate and were promoted to the UPL; Inhulets were relegated to the First League


More information Veres Rivne, 6 – 1 ...
Attendance: 0
Referee: Dmytro Bondarenko (Odesa)

Veres Rivne won 6–2 on aggregrate and both teams remained in their respective divisions

Season statistics

More information Rank, Scorer ...

Assists

As of 28 May 2023[48][49]

More information Rank, Scorer ...

Clean sheets

As of 28 May 2023[50]

Awards

Monthly awards

More information Month, Player of the Month ...

Round awards

More information Round, Player ...

See also

Notes


    References

    1. "PUMA — офіційний технічний спонсор УПЛ" (in Ukrainian). Ukrainian Premier League. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
    2. "Дякуємо Віктору Скрипнику та його тренерському штабу!". Zorya Luhansk. 28 June 2022. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
    3. "Патрік ван Леувен – головний тренер "Зорі"!". Zorya Luhansk. 28 June 2022. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
    4. "Thank you, Mister!". FC Shakhtar Donetsk. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
    5. "Igor Jovicevic". FC Shakhtar Donetsk. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
    6. "Едмар - в.о. головного тренера "Металіста 1925"" (in Ukrainian). metalist1925.com. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
    7. "Ингулец объявил об увольнении Лавриненко" (in Russian). UA-Football. 13 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
    8. "Юрій Гура залишає "Олександрію"" (in Ukrainian). FC Oleksandriya. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
    9. "Руслан Ротань — головний тренер "Олександрії"" (in Ukrainian). fco.com.ua. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
    10. "СЕРГІЙ КОВАЛЕЦЬ - ГОЛОВНИЙ ТРЕНЕР ФК "ІНГУЛЕЦЬ"" (in Ukrainian). inhulets.com. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
    11. "ВІТАЛІЙ ПОНОМАРЬОВ – ГОЛОВНИЙ ТРЕНЕР "РУХУ"" (in Ukrainian). fcrukh.com. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
    12. "ОЛЕГ ДУЛУБ ЗАЛИШИВ ПОСАДУ НАСТАВНИКА "ЛЬВОВА"" (in Ukrainian). lvivfc.com. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
    13. "ФК "ІНГУЛЕЦЬ" ДЯКУЄ СЕРГІЮ КОВАЛЬЦЮ ЗА СПІВПРАЦЮ" (in Ukrainian). inhulets.com. 4 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
    14. "Most Clean Sheets". www.footystats.org/. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
    15. "Most Clean Sheets". www.footystats.org/. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
    16. "Вірт – найкращий тренер 11-го туру УПЛ". Sport Arena. 7 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.

    Share this article:

    This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 2022-23_Ukrainian_Premier_League, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.