The 2017–18

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 27th top level football club competitions since the

fall of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of Nationalities, Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. :s: ...

and the tenth since the establishment of the

. The tournament started on 16 July 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018. The relegation play-offs took place on 23 May and 26 May 2018. The league has scheduled to take its winter intermission after Round 19 on 9–10 December 2017 and resume its competition of the Championship with Round 20 on 17 February 2018. The 10-time winner

FC 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. The league's last season title sponsor, a bookmaker company Parimatch, withdrew from the sponsorship. On 7 July 2017, Pari-Match announced that it had ended its cooperation with the Ukrainian Premier League. Before the start of the season a scandal arose around promotion between the First League clubs FC Desna Chernihiv and NK Veres Rivne when Veres that placed lower in tournament table was admitted to the Premier League ahead of Desna. Later it was announced that Desna might be promoted as well due to rumors around a financial situation of FC Stal Kamianske. The final decision of the league's composition was adopted at the FFU Conference on 16 June 2017. With the ongoing

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

, the Round 2 games started with a minute of silence to commemorate the soldiers of the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

who had perished in the ATO zone.

Competition format

On 28 April 2017, the

administration announced that its General Assembly of participants adopted decision about changes to the competition format and calendar for the next 2017–18 season. Before the assembly, the UPL Administration presented to its clubs five variants of competition format. * For the next season UPL will keep 12 clubs (that fact was confirmed at the conference of coaches few days prior); * Competition will have two stages, with the first stage having 22 rounds and the second stage after team will split into two six-members groups having 10 more rounds in each group; * Team that placed the 12th will be relegated directly to Persha Liha, teams that placed 10th and 11th will play two-leg play-off with the second and third teams of the Persha Liha. The format was confirmed by the FFU Executive Committee on 30 May 2017. The draw for the second stage calendar was announced on 10 February and is scheduled to take place three days later on 13 February 2018.

Next season changes and a structural reform

On 26 October 2017, the magazine "Futbol" reported quoting the FFU Executive Committee member Artem Frankov that the

at its next earliest session will review a possibility to expand the league back to 16 teams starting since the 2019–20 season.UPL will review a possibility to expand the tournament to 16 teams starting since the 2019-20 season (УПЛ рассмотрит возможность расширения турнира до 16 команд с сезона-2019/20)
Sport Arena. 26 October 2017 At the same time number of clubs in the

Ukrainian First League 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 ...

will be decreased also to 16 teams. On 8 November 2017, a conference took place involving officials of the

as well as the

Football Federation of Ukraine The Ukrainian Football Association (, ; UAF) is the governing body of football in Ukraine. Before 2019, it was known as the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU; ). As a subject of the International Olympic Movement, UAF is a member of the Nation ...

(FFU) where its participants were discussing a reorganization of competition system in professional and amateur football.UPL and FFU discussed a global reform of Ukrainian football and a championship format for the 2018-19 season (УПЛ и ФФУ обсудили глобальную реформу украинского футбола и формат чемпионата на сезон 2018/19)
Sport Arena. 8 November 2017 A decision about the reform was adopted by the FFU Executive Committee on 20 June 2017.

Teams

Promotions

Two teams were promoted to the league (instead of the relegated FC Dnipro and

FC Volyn Lutsk FC Volyn Lutsk ( ) was a Ukrainian association football, football club based in Lutsk. Since its establishment in 1960, the club became the only major (professional) football club within Volyn Oblast and uncontested leader of football in the reg ...

): *

FC Mariupol Football Club Mariupol ( ) was a Ukrainian professional Association football, 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 ...

(renamed after the previous season)With a common position to the successful future! (Через спільну позицію – до успішного майбутнього!)

. 2 June 2017 – the champion of the 2016–17 Ukrainian First League ''(returning after two seasons absence)'' * NK Veres Rivne – third place of the 2016–17 Ukrainian First League ''(returning for the first time since 1994–95, 22 seasons absence)''

Location map

The following displays the location of teams.

Stadiums

Five teams play their matches outside of home towns. The minimum threshold for the stadium's capacity in the UPL is 5,000. The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds: ''Notes:''

Personnel and sponsorship

''Notes:'' * Ever since Darijo Srna was tested positive for doping (

dehydroepiandrosterone Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), also known as androstenolone, is an endogenous steroid hormone precursor. It is one of the most abundant circulating steroids in humans. DHEA is produced in the adrenal glands, the gonads, and the brain. It funct ...

among others), on 22 September 2017 he voluntarily stopped participation in competitions and on 20 November 2017 he has been suspended by UEFA for the continental competitions.Srna is disqualified for 17 months for doping (Срна дисквалифицирован на 17 месяцев за допинг)
Sport Arena. 22 February 2018Srna decided to place a hold on playing for Shakhtar due to doping probe (Срна решил приостановить выступления за Шахтер из-за допинг пробы)
Sport Arena. 22 September 2017 The team's captain for Shakhtar has been served either by Taras Stepanenko or Taison. On 22 February 2018, the disqualification was officially applied and retrospectively including the time he was suspended from competitions. The start time of disqualification was identified as 22 March 2017 (date of test taken) and the end time shall be no earlier than 22 August 2018.

Managerial changes

''Notes:''

First stage

First stage table

First stage results

First stage positions by round

The following table represents the teams position after each round in the competition played chronologically.

Championship round

Championship round table

Championship round results

Championship round positions by round

Relegation round

Relegation round table

Relegation round results

Relegation round positions by round

Relegation play-offs

Teams that placed 10th and 11th in the 2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League play two-leg play-off with the second and third teams of the 2017–18 Ukrainian First League. On 11 May 2018, a draw for relegation play-offs took place in the House of Football,

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The games were played on 23 May and 27 May 2018.

First leg

----

Second leg

FC Poltava FC Poltava () was a Ukrainian association football, football club based in Poltava in 2007–2018. History The club was created by the newly elected mayor of the Poltava city Andriy Matkovsky (2006–2010) who was the club's Honorary President ...

won 3–1 on aggregate and was promoted to the 2018–19 Ukrainian Premier League. Chornomorets Odesa was relegated to the

2018–19 Ukrainian First League The 2018–19 Ukrainian First League was the 28th since its establishment. The competition began on 21 July 2018 with the match between Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk and Balkany Zorya. The competition was in recess for a winter break which starte ...

. But later, the league picked Chornomorets Odesa for the FC Poltava's replacement for the next season after their withdrawal''. ---- '' Desna Chernihiv won 5–1 on aggregate and was promoted to the 2018–19 Ukrainian Premier League. Zirka Kropyvnytskyi was relegated to the

.''

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Hat-tricks

^''(number)'' Player scored (number) goals if more than 3

Awards

Monthly awards

Round awards

The 2017 Coach of the Year award

The best coaches were identified by the All-Ukrainian Football Coaches Association.

Season awards

The laureates of the 2017–18 UPL season were: * Best player: Marlos (

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 ...

) * Best coach: Alyaksandr Khatskevich (

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 ...

) * Best goalkeeper: Andriy Pyatov (

) * Best arbiter: Yuriy Mozharovskyi (

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 young player: Viktor Tsyhankov (

) * Best goalscorer: Facundo Ferreyra (

)

Season's incidents

Desna vs Veres promotion

On 1 June 2017, it was announced that second-placed club FC Desna Chernihiv was denied a license to play in the top division. The argument was that the club was not able to provide guarantees for an adequate financing of infrastructure. The license was received by NK Veres Rivne, the third-placed team during the last season in the second-tier division. Both clubs FC Desna Chernihiv and NK Veres Rivne did not play at their home stadiums in the 2016–17 Ukrainian First League. The first one played in

at the Obolon Arena, while the other one played in

Varash Varash (, ), previously known as Kuznetsovsk () from 1977 to 2016, is a city in Rivne Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Varash urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine and Varash Raion, one of the raions of Ukraine. Population ...

, at the Izotop Stadium of the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. The administration of Desna released a letter of protest before a meeting of FFU representatives. In protest, the Desna administration announced that the club would not play its final game of the season against FC Illichivets Mariupol, but later relented. Nonetheless, during the game, players of both teams expressed their protest on the field in a special way: when the whistle was blown the players, instead of starting play, were demonstratively standing around yet kicking a ball. On 2 June 2017, upon conclusion of its conference the UPL administration announced about the final composition of the league and calendar for the upcoming season. The conference confirmed the admission of Veres to the league and the only club that voted against was

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

, while six votes were for decision and three (including FC Zorya Luhansk) abstained. On 2 June 2017, the Desna fans were picketing the House of Football in

after they arrived on four buses from

Chernihiv Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukraine ...

. On 7 June 2017, sports media UA-Football requested from

and FC Desna Chernihiv to publish related documents to have better understanding over the situation and come to some kind of closure on the subject. Number of football experts negatively commented on the situation, while the PFC Sumy head coach Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi stated that tomorrow these sports functionaries in such way will make Veres the national champions. The former PFL president Svyatoslav Syrota said that the FFU vice-president is lying about Desna problems. President of FC Inhulets Petrove, Oleksandr Porovoznyuk, called on other clubs to withdraw their teams from the league in support for FC Desna Chernihiv. President of FC Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni Petro Kaplun stated that it makes him laugh when the president of Veres Oleksiy Khakhlev asks to follow the regulations. He points out that last season Veres was admitted to the Second League with complete disregard to the season's regulations. Kaplun also called on the FFU authorities to pay attention to what owners of professional clubs have to say as they have a right to express their vote of confidence for the FFU leadership.

Mariupol vs Dynamo (security issues)

Another issue relating to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine became serious when

failed to arrive to

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

for the away game against

on 27 August 2017.Shvets, S.
Mariupol – Dynamo. Instead of announcement of the most scandalous game of season (Мариуполь - Динамо. Вместо анонса самого скандального матча сезона)
'. UA-Football. 27 August 2017 The issue was ongoing ever since the end of previous season when on 2 June 2017 FC Mariupol's promotion to the

became official. On 3 June 2017 the vice president of Dynamo Serhiy Mokhnyk officially announced that the club will not travel for a game in

city as it is difficult to present guarantees in security due the fact that the city is located near a frontline (about , see

). The vice president also offered to conduct the game on a neutral field such as Dnipro Arena. Few days later in more details the same announcement was repeated by Ihor Surkis who also added that if he will receive documented security guarantees, he will send his team to Mariupol. The leadership of the

(FFU) in a face of Andriy Pavelko right away expressed its opposition for the Dynamo's statement. The president of FFU made an emphasis that the game in Mariupol is an important component of uniting policy on national scale. He also underlined that there is no danger in conducting the game in Mariupol. During preparation for the next season the issue was moved to background. However, when the season started on 16 July 2017, the issue surfaced again. About a week later, on 24 July 2017, Dynamo received recommendation letter from the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, th ...

and the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

where it was urged not to travel to Mariupol for a game. The same day Dynamo published its own letter addressed to the

and

petitioning to transfer the Round 7 game against Mariupol scheduled on 27 August 2017 to another city. Two days later, on 26 July 2017, almost at the same time both the Minister of Interior (

Arsen Avakov Arsen Borysovych Avakov (, ; born 2 January 1964) is a Ukrainian politician of Armenian descent who served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021. He was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration from ...

) and the President of UPL ( Volodymyr Heninson) made public announcements assuring in safety of conducting football games in the littoral city of the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...

. Throughout the rest of month of July two games took place in Mariupol. Until August

FC Karpaty Lviv Football Club Karpaty Lviv ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Lviv. In 2020–21 the club was reorganized and changed owner. During that period there existed two clubs with the same name, one at professional level competitio ...

supported the position of Dynamo. Eventually to this "stand off" became involved the general manager of

Serhiy Palkin, while the television channel "

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

" launched a wide informational campaign in support to conduct the game. For example, during one of the channel's broadcasting the president of Football Federation of Mariupol city called

Hryhoriy Surkis Hryhoriy Mykhailovych Surkis (; born 4 September 1949) is a Ukrainian businessman, one of five vice-presidents of UEFA since 24 May 2013. Surkis was the president of Football Federation of Ukraine until September 2012.

the "main football separatist" and offered him to resolve the issue through

Viktor Medvedchuk Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk (; born 7 August 1954), also known as Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk (), is a former Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who has lived in exile in Russia since September 2022 after being handed ...

and the president of the aggressor state (

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

). On 11 August 2017, the Deputy director of National Police in Donetsk Oblast wrote an official letter to the

with security guarantees for all games in Mariupol. Finally the game between FC Mariupol and FC Karpaty took place on August 13 in Mariupol. On 18 August 2017, FFU issued a press release where it denied the petition of Dynamo in transferring the game. The session of the FFU Executive Committee that had taken place on 22 August 2017 should have solved the problem. Following no show of Dynamo to the game with FC Mariupol on 27 August 2017, FC Mariupol issued a press release where it accused its opponents in attempt to discredit the football club from Mariupol. On 14 November 2017, The Appeal Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine did not satisfy the Dynamo appeal and counted the team's technical defeat. On 19 February 2018, the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

declined all claims of Dynamo to the

in relations to the "Mariupol case". On 28 February 2018, the

has officially updated its standings in correspondence to the earlier decision of the FFU CDC of 11 September 2017.

Relocation of teams

Due to the 2014

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

some football clubs were forced to be dissolved, other moved away to other cities in Ukraine. Among the UPL teams, teams from Donetsk, Olimpik and Shakhtar, moved to

, Zorya Luhansk moved to

Zaporizhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a population of ...

, teams from the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

. During the season several clubs (Shakhtar, Stal, and Veres) changed their city registration for various reasons and informed the

that since the next season will represent other cities.Konkevych, Yu.
Shakhtar, Veres, and Stal informed FFU about change of their place of registry (Шахтер, Верес и Сталь уведомили ФФУ о смене прописки)
'. Sport Arena. 20 February 2018.

2018 UPL presidential elections

The 2018 presidential elections of the

took place on 6 April 2018. The current president Volodymyr Heninson that serves as the president since February 2016 announced that he will not run for president in 2018.Heninson won't run for the UPL president (Генинсон не будет баллотироваться на должность президента УПЛ)
Football.ua. 7 March 2018 Among possible candidates specialists note a Swiss lawyer

Thomas Grimm Thomas Grimm (; born 3 April 1959 in Lüscherz) is a Swiss jurist and football functionary, who has served as the president of the Ukrainian Premier League since 2018. Biography Grimm was born on 3 April 1959 in the Swiss village of Lüscherz. I ...

or Joe Palmer from

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

. As of 26 March 2018, a day before deadline for submitting candidacy for election, there is only Thomas Grimm whose candidacy was submitted by

FC Oleksandriya Football Club Oleksandriya (), commonly known as Oleksandriya, is a Ukrainian professional football club based in the city of Oleksandriya, Kirovohrad Oblast. Founded in 1990, the club plays in the Ukrainian Premier League. The year 1948 on the ...

on 22 March 2018. On 6 April 2018, Thomas Grimm was elected as a new president with 10 votes for and 2 abstained.

Prospective disciplinary sanctions

According to FootballHub, in March the FFU Disciplinary Committee prosecuted the Olimpik's junior teams U-19 and U-21 for game fixing.CDC prosecuted Olimpik for match fixing - mass media (КДК наказал Олимпик за договорные матчи — СМИ)
Sport Arena. 29 March 2018 Earlier the CDC chairman, Francesco Baranca, underlined that Olimpik won't participate in European competitions if its junior teams will be disqualified.

FC 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 ...

could have problems with the league's attestation for next season for debts to its former players. Another UPL player submitted his claim to the FFU CDC against its former club FC Stal Kamianske.Shabanov submitted his claim against Stal to the FFU CDC (Шабанов подал заявление на Сталь в КДК ФФУ)
Sport Arena. 29 March 2018

Notes

References

External links

Official website
of the

Mariupol – Dynamo: discussion around the game that failed to take place only begins (Маріуполь - Динамо: дискусія довкола матчу, що не відбувся, тільки починається)
PROFUTBOL (ПРОФУТБОЛ). 27 August 2017. (YouTube video, Ukrainian/Russian) * Nazarkevych, Yu.
The Rivne's record (Рівненський рекорд)
'.

. 19 November 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Ukrainian Premier League Ukrainian Premier League seasons 1 Ukr Wartime seasons in Ukrainian football