The 2008–09

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

season was the eighteenth since its establishment. The league was restructured and split off from the

Professional Football League of Ukraine The Professional Football League of Ukraine (; also known as PFL) is a non-for-profit sports association of professional football (sports) clubs also known as the Football Clubs Association "Professional Football League of Ukraine". It is a co ...

. It was officially named as the ''EpiCentre Championship of Ukraine in football''.

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

were the defending champions of the past season, having won their fourth league title. The season began on 16 July 2008 with a scoreless draw between

Tavriya Simferopol Sports Club Tavriya () was a Ukrainian football club from Simferopol. Tavriya was a member of the Ukrainian Premier League from its founding and won the first Ukrainian Premier League 1992, Ukrainian Premier League making them one of three team ...

and

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro (, ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club played its last season in the 2018–19 Ukrainian Amateur League. The club was owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2018, FC Dnipro was forced i ...

. The last round of matches were played on 26 May 2009. A total of 16 teams participated in the league, 14 of which had contested in the 2007–08 season, and two of which were promoted from the

Persha Liha The Persha Liha ( ) or Ukrainian First League is a Ukrainian football league system, level of national football competitions (second tier) in Ukraine governed by the Professional Football League of Ukraine, Professional Football League at the disc ...

Vorskla Poltava FC Vorskla Poltava ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Poltava. The team set to compete in Ukrainian First League, the second tier of Football in Ukraine, Ukrainian football after relegation from Ukrainian Premier League in ...

Ahmed Januzi Ahmed Januzi (born 8 July 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Kosovar club KF Llapi. Born in Kosovo, he represented the Albania national team. Club career Early career Ahmed Januzi was born in Vučitrn to Kosovar Al ...

scored the first goal of the tournament on 18 July 2008 in the 72nd minute of an away match against

FC Kharkiv FC Kharkiv () was a professional football club based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. After 2009–10 Ukrainian First League season the club was relegated to the Ukrainian Second League. However, they failed attestation when they submitted falsified documen ...

. Dynamo Kyiv won their title several games before the end of the season after a home win against Tavriya Simferopol. Dynamo finished with a 15-point lead over the defending champions and current runners-up

Teams

Promoted

FC Illichivets Mariupol Football Club Mariupol ( ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Mariupol, that competed in the Ukrainian Premier League. The club ceased to exist as a result of the Siege of Mariupol, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. ...

, champion of the

2007–08 Ukrainian First League The 2007–08 Ukrainian First League was the seventeenth since its establishment. There were 20 teams competing. Two teams were relegated from the Ukrainian Premier League 2006-07. Four teams were promoted from the Ukrainian Second League 2006-07. ...

– ''(returning after absence of a season)'' *

FC Lviv FC Lviv () is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Lviv. The history of the club is very controversial and was interrupted on numerous occasions. The first club under such name entered professional competitions back in 199 ...

, runner-up of the

– ''(debut)''

Location map

Managers and captains

Managerial changes

Qualification to European competitions for 2009–10

* After the 23rd Round, Dynamo Kyiv qualified for European football for the 2009–10 season. * After the 26th Round, Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for European football for the 2009–10 season, while Dynamo Kyiv – for the

2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010 at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...

with an away 1–0 win over Zorya Luhansk. * After the 27th Round, Metalist Kharkiv qualified for European football for the 2009–10 season, while Dynamo Kyiv won the League's title with 3–2 home win over Tavriya Simferopol. * After the 28th Round, Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for the

with an away 3–0 win over Zorya Luhansk. * After the 30th Round, Metalurh Donetsk qualified for the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spai ...

with the 0–0 home draw against Arsenal Kyiv. * After beating Shakhtar Donetsk in the final of the

2008–09 Ukrainian Cup The 2008–09 Ukrainian Cup was the 18th annual season of Ukraine's football knockout competition. The defending champion of this edition was Shakhtar Donetsk. The Ukrainian Cup began with a preliminary round where teams from Druha Liha and Amat ...

(1–0), Vorskla qualified for the Europa League play-off round, which qualified Metalist for the Europa League third qualification round and Metalurh for the second qualification round Timeline of qualification ImageSize = width:700 height:245 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:120 right:100 left:50 Legend = columns:2 left:25 top:80 columnwidth:300 AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1922 till:30/06/1931 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1922 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:E1 value:rgb(0.73,0.92,1) legend:Europa_League_2nd_qual._round id:E2 value:rgb(0,0.98,0.96) legend:Europa_League_3rd_qual._round id:E3 value:rgb(0.54,0.81,1) legend:Europa_League_playoff_round id:EL value:blue legend:UEFA_Europa_League id:C3 value:rgb(0.81,0.94,0.75) legend:Champions_League_3rd_qual._round id:CG value:rgb(0.67,0.88,0.69) legend:Champions_League_Group_stage id:CL value:rgb(0.49,0.61,0.05) legend:UEFA_Champions_League id:EF value:green legend:European_Football Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Qualification bar:Year PlotData= barset:Qualification width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till barset:Qualification width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:01/01/1923 till:01/01/1926 color:EF text:

Dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...

shift:(-215,-4) barset:break from:01/01/1926 till:01/01/1927 color:CL from:01/01/1926 till:01/01/1927 color:EF text: Shakhtar shift:(-110,-4) barset:break from:01/01/1927 till:01/01/1928 color:CG from:01/01/1927 till:01/01/1928 color:EF from:01/01/1927 till:01/01/1928 color:EF text: Metalist shift:(-100,-4) barset:break from:01/01/1928 till:01/01/1930 color:CG from:01/01/1928 till:01/01/1930 color:C3 from:01/01/1928 till:01/01/1930 color:EL barset:break from:01/01/1930 till:01/01/1931 color:CG from:01/01/1928 till:01/01/1931 color:C3 from:01/01/1929 till:01/01/1931 color:EL from:01/01/1930 till:01/01/1931 color:EL text: Metalurh shift:(-100,-4) from:01/01/1930 till:01/01/1931 color:EL text:

Vorskla The Vorskla (; ) is a river that runs from Belgorod Oblast in Russia southwards into northeastern Ukraine, where it joins the Dnieper. Geography The river's source is on the western slopes of the Central Russian Upland north of Belgorod. Wi ...

shift:(-100,-4) barset:break from:01/01/1931 till:30/06/1931 color:CG from:01/01/1931 till:30/06/1931 color:C3 from:01/01/1931 till:30/06/1931 color:E2 from:01/01/1931 till:30/06/1931 color:E1 from:01/01/1931 till:30/06/1931 color:E3 bar:Year width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:from color:canvas from:01/01/1922 till:01/01/1923 text:Round 22 from:01/01/1923 till:01/01/1924 text:Round 23 from:01/01/1924 till:01/01/1925 text:Round 24 from:01/01/1925 till:01/01/1926 text:Round 25 from:01/01/1926 till:01/01/1927 text:Round 26 from:01/01/1927 till:01/01/1928 text:Round 27 from:01/01/1928 till:01/01/1929 text:Round 28 from:01/01/1929 till:01/01/1930 text:Round 29 from:01/01/1930 till:01/01/1931 text:Round 30 from:01/01/1931 till:30/06/1931 text:Cup

League table

Results

Round by round

The following table is a historic representation of the team's position in the standings after the completion of each round.

Top scorers

Season awards

The laureates of the 2008–09 UPL season were: * Best player:

Darijo Srna Darijo Srna (; born 1 May 1982) is a Croatian former professional association football, footballer and current director of football of Ukrainian Premier League club FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Shakhtar Donetsk. During most of his career he played as a r ...

(

) * Best coach:

Mircea Lucescu Mircea Lucescu (; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national football team, Romania national team. He i ...

(

) * Best arbiter: Andriy Shandor (

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

) * Best goalscorer:

Oleksandr Kovpak Oleksandr Oleksandrovich Kovpak (; born 2 February 1983) is a retired Ukrainian footballer and current manager. Career He moved to Tavriya in the winter of 2005 from Dnipro Cherkassy. Kovpak become the top goalscorer of the Ukrainian Premie ...

(

) * Fair play prize:

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

Stadiums

played in

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

, because

Dynamo Stadium Dynamo Stadium or Dinamo Stadium is a stadium that often associated with the Dynamo (sports society). It may also refer to: Albania *Selman Stërmasi Stadium, Tirana, formerly "Dinamo Stadium" Belarus * Dinamo Stadium (Brest), Belarus *Dinamo St ...

in Kharkiv which was recently bought by the club requires major renovations. The club returned to their home ground in April for their 24th Round game against Tavriya.

Arsenal Kyiv Football Club Arsenal Kyiv () is a Ukrainian football club based in Kyiv. In 2019, the club's professional team was dissolved, but its junior teams continue to compete in city competitions. The club claims to be a successor of Kyiv Arsenal fac ...

, who also has a chronic problem with obtaining its own home ground, shared three stadiums in the first half of the season. Initially allowed to play at

Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium The Stadion Dynamo imeni Valeria Lobanovskoho is a multi-functional stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine that is modified for football use only. It is the home stadium of FC Dynamo Kyiv yet not the main stadium, for which Dynamo uses the bigger NSC Olymp ...

, Arsenal was forced to seek another home venue during its times financial hardship. Arsenal was spotted by

Obolon Kyiv FC Obolon Kyiv (, ) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv (Obolonskyi District). Its home colors are green shirts and white shorts; while its away uniforms are white shirts and green shorts. Its ma ...

that let the club utilize the Obolon Stadium. As the problem continues to be unresolved with Arsenal's home field, they could possibly relocate from Kyiv, with some speculations of moving to

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presid ...

has moved this season to the newly built Dnipro Stadium, but still played some of its games at

Stadium Meteor Meteor Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Dnipro, Ukraine. It is part of the Sports Complex Meteor and is a home of the Olympic and Paralympic teams of Ukraine with status ''national''. Overview It is used for various Olympic sports and f ...

on occasion. Also

plans to move to the newly built

Donbass Arena Donbas Arena ( ; ) is a stadium with a natural grass pitch in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, that opened on 29 August 2009. The facility is located in the center of the city, in the Lenin Comsomol park. With a capacity of 52,187 spectators, the st ...

once it is completely built.

FC Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Odesa, Ukraine. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 as ''Dynamo'', but until 2002 it carried a logo with 1958 and 1959

, due to renovations at

Chornomorets Stadium The Chornomorets Stadium () is a football stadium built in 2011 in Odesa, Ukraine. The stadium has a capacity of 34,164 and is the home of FC Chornomorets Odesa. The inaugural match, between FC Chornomorets Odesa and FC Karpaty Lviv, was played ...

played its games in the second half of the season at Spartak Stadium. Newly promoted

decided to use

Ukraina Stadium Ukraina Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Lviv, Ukraine. It is currently used mostly for association football matches, and is the home of FC Karpaty Lviv. "Ukraina" is also an alternative stadium for the Ukraine national football team whe ...

expecting to attract extra fans in

. However, economic factors as well as poor performances and lack of support in the area the club decided after the winter break to return to their original home ground Kniazha Arena in

Dobromyl Dobromyl (, ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, in western Ukraine. It is located some 5 kilometers from the border with Poland. It hosts the administration of Dobromyl urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukrai ...

. After one home game in atrocious conditions in early spring which damaged the pitch the club was forced to look to other venues (including Avanhard Stadium in

Lutsk Lutsk (, ; see #Names and etymology, below for other names) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of Lutsk Raion within the oblast. Lutsk has a populati ...

and

Bannikov Stadium Navchanlno-trenuvalnyi kompleks imeni Viktor Bannikov, Viktora Bannikova (Viktor Bannikov training complex) is a small football stadium located close to the House of Football (Kiev), House of Football and the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex, O ...

in Kyiv).Тепер у Луцьку! (Now in Lutsk)
Late in April FC Lviv returned for home fixtures at Kniazha Arena.

List of home stadiums

Auxiliary or former home stadiums

References

External links

Ukrainian Football Premier League official page

soccerway.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Ukrainian Premier League Ukrainian Premier League seasons 1

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...