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Ukraine is currently ranked #7 by UEFA for leagues in Europe {see this, UEFA League coefficient}.
The 20th season of the Ukrainian Premier League begins the weekend of 9th to 11th July, 2010. Ukrainiian Premier League results, fixtures, table, at Soccerway.com, {here}.
Reigning champions are Shakhar Donetsk, who begin their first full season with their giant new futuristic stadium.
Ukrainian Cup holders are the surprise club Tavriya Simferopol. Tavriya was aided by a quarterfinal draw which pitted Ukraine’s Big 2 (Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk). Shakhtar went on to win that match, but lost in the semifinals to overachieving cross-city rivals Metalurh Donetsk. In the final on 16th May, 2010, in Kharkiv’s Metalist Stadium before 21,000, Tavriya Simferopol beat Metalurh Donetsk 3-2 in AET, with the winning goal by Nigerian striker Lucky Idahor in the 97th minute.
Just how unlikely Tavriya’s successful Cup run was can be seen in the results of the 2010 Ukrainian Super Cup played last weekend…Shakhtar demolished Tavriya 7-1.
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Tavriya Simferopol are from Simferopol, which is the capital of Crimea, and has a population of around 340,000 {2006 figure}. Crimea, the southern-most region of Ukraine, is an autonomous republic within the nation of Ukraine. Historically part of the Russian empire since the 18th century, the Crimean peninsula was “given” to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954 in a moment of hubris by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The powers that be in the Kremlin did this as an act of “brotherhood” towards Ukraine, never thinking that within 38 years, Ukraine would be independent. Especially since the Black Sea Fleet was, and still is, based in the Crimea. Ukraine has been leasing the ports to the Russians, and a partition of the fleet has been planned, but earlier this year Ukrainian President Yanukovitch has given the Russian navy in Crimea permission to stay until 2042. This has caused an uproar in Ukraine, with opposition leaders insisting Yanukovitch has violated the constitution. The justification Yanukovitch has for this lease extension is that that the new agreement provides for Russia to sell it’s natural gas to Ukraine at a significantly reduced price (about 33% lower), thus helping to end the natural gas crisis that has plagued Ukraine. But many see this as the first step in Russia’s goal to carve up Ukraine and re-take lands which hard-line pro-Russian nationalists feel belong to Russia. It must be pointed out that since Turkey joined NATO in 1955, thus putting NATO and hence the West in control of the vital Bosporus Strait, the Black Sea Fleet’s strategic importance has been diminished. But this is an issue of national sovereignity, and Yanukovitch’s pro-Moscow leanings have gone too far in the eyes of many Ukrainians, {see this article from opendemocracy.net/oD-Russia, from 28 April 2010, by Maria Starozhitskaya, ‘Russia’s fleet in Crimea: what’s the real deal?}

The warm climate of the Crimean peninsula has made it the vacation spot of Russians for generations now, and it’s heavy Russian presence remains, despite the fact that the sky blue and yellow flag of Ukraine flies there. Adding to that mix in the Crimea in recent years are scores of Tatars (ethnic Turks), over 250,000 of whom have been repatriated to the Crimea following the demise of the Soviet Union {see this ‘Crimean Tatars after Ukrainian independance’, from en.wikipedia.org.}.
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The map and chart shows the 16 clubs in the 2010-11 Ukrainian Premier League season. At the top of the map page, club crests are shown, sized to reflect 2009-10 domestic league average attendances. Attendance was up 18.1% last season in the Ukrainian Premier League. Here are the clubs with attendance increases in 2009-10 compared to 2008-09…
Shakhtar Donetsk: +11,934 per game (27,321 per game in 2009-10).
Metalist Kharkiv: +11,220 per game (26,300 per game in 2009-10).
Karpaty Lviv: + 4,061 per game (14,138 per game in 2009-10).
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk: +3,839 per game (15,767 per game in 2009-10).
Obolon Kyiv: +3,029 per game (4,267 per game in 2009-10).
Tavriya Simferopol: +2,444 (7,917 per game in 2009-10).
Dynamo Kyiv: +2,087 per game (9,794 per game in 2009-10).
Arsenal Kyiv: +836 per game (2,326 per game in 2009-10).

Overall, the Ukrainian Premier League increased it’s average attendances +1,369 per game (to 8,943 per game in 2009-10, versus 7,574 per game in 2008-09).
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Attendances will probably increase again, with enthusiasm for the 2012 Euro competition which will be co-hosted with Poland, plus the interest in Shahktar’s new stadium, plus the fact that one of the two promoted clubs is a club that led the second division in attendance last season, Volyn Lutsk. The other promoted club will not help increase attendances overall, because the club plays in a 3,500 venue…that is Ukrainian Premier League newcomers PFC Sevastopol, who hail from Sevastopol, on the south-western tip of the Crimean peninsula. Sevastopol was formerly the home of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, and is now home to a Ukrainian naval base and facilities leased by the Russian Navy and used as the headquarters of both the Ukrainian Naval Forces and the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Sevastopol has a population of around 379,000 {2007 figure}.

PFC Sevastopol are less than a decade old, and the crumbling little stadium they call home sits in stark contrast to the opulent facilities that Shakhtar Donetsk now play in…
The Haves and the Have-nots, Ukrainian version…


When looking at the issues facing pro football these days, competitive imbalance is at the top of the list, and you would be hard-pressed to find a more glaring example of the all-too-prevalent problem of the haves and the have-nots than in Ukraine. The Big 2 of Ukraine, Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk, have won 18 of the 19 Ukrainian titles, with the exception being Tavriya Simferopol winning the first, hastily assembled season (which was basically a half-season that took place in 1992, less than a year after the fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Soviet Top League). After that first truncated season, Dynamo Kyiv won 9 straight titles (from 1993 to 2001). Shakhtar Donetsk began their rise to the top when billionaire oligarch Rinat Akhmetov took over ownership of the club in 1996. At that point in time, Shakhtar was considered just a Cup specialist club, with 4 Soviet Cups and then 2 Ukrainian Cups in their trophy cabinet. Shakhtar finally won the league title in 2002, and since then, the club from the heavily industrialized Donbass region of eastern Ukraine has turned the Ukrainian Premier League into a 2-team race. The odd thing with Ukraine is that one of the Big 2, Dynamo Kyiv, does not draw well at all for it’s domestic matches, pulling in less than 10,000 per game…the jaded Dynamo Kyiv fan base only really shows up in force for UEFA Champions League matches. Dynamo Kyiv averaged 22,589 for their 3 CL Group Stage home matches last season, but only 9,794 per game for league games.

A hopeful sign of perhaps an erosion of the Big 2’s stranglehold on the Ukrainian game can be seen in the remarkable growth of the Metalist Kharkiv fan base. Metalist has finished in 3rd place for three straight seasons, and this club from Ukraine’s second-largest city draws well over 20,000 per game these days. When Metalist Kharkiv won promotion back to the top flight in 2004, they were drawing around 8,000 per game. Last season they drew 26,300 per game. Metalist Kharkiv’s coach, the Lviv-born Myron Markevych, now has two jobs, as he was appointed coach of the re-building Ukraine national football team earlier this year. For the sake of the future of Ukrainian football, I hope Myron Markevych can juggle the two roles effectively.

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List of largest cities in Ukraine, Cities in Ukraine (by population) {en.wikipedia.org}.
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Here is an article from The Global Game.com site, on Karpaty Lviv’s surprise win in the 1969 Soviet Cup final. Karparty Lviv were the only second division club to ever win the Soviet Cup…’Ukrainian will, Carpathian pride and the summer of ‘69‘, by Igor Khrestin (21 August, 2009).
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Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, Uktainian Premier League.
Thanks to E-F-S site, for attendance figures, european-football-statistics.co.uk/Attendances.
Thanks to PFC Sevastopol official site, for the photo, www.fcsevastopol.com/stadion. Thanks to Metalist Kharkiv official site, Metalist Stadium photos.

The Ukrainian Premier League is back from it’s long winter break,  with fixtures for the 18th week to be played between 27th February and 4th March.   The most noteworthy fixture is the match next Wednesday that sees league leaders Dynamo Kyiv visit Metalist Kharkiv,  who are in second place.

Meanwhile, three Ukrainian clubs are still alive in the 2008-’09 UEFA Cup…the Big 2 (Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk) and Metalist Kharkiv.

Ukrainian Premier League table {click here (Soccerway site)}.

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On the map I have shown the 18 clubs in the 08/09 Ukrainian Premier League,  with their logos sized to reflect their current average attendance.  On the right are the 18 clubs, with their founding dates;  their major titles (including USSR titles won before the fall of the Soviet Union,  in 1991);  and their total seasons spent in the Ukrainian Premier League [this is the league's 18th season]. 

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Dynamo Kyiv seem to have put behind them the disorganization of their last season,  and have a 6 point lead on Metalist Kharkiv,  and more importantly for them,  a 12 point lead on their nemesis,  Shakhtar Donetsk.  Dynamo Kyiv’s top scorer is Ismaël Bangoura,  from the West African Republic of Guinea,  who leads the league with 12 goals.  Ukrainian international Artem Milevsky (who was born in Mazyr, Belarus) has 8 goals.  Here is an article on Dynamo Kyiv’s resurgence under former Lokomotiv Moscow and Dynamo Moscow manager Yuri Semin  {see this,  by Jonathan Wilson at the Guradian UK}.

Metalist Kharkiv have flown under the radar for years,  building a respectable academy and a loyal and somewhat sizeable fan base (they currently draw 14,150 per game).  But Metalist have won only one title,  the 1988 USSR Cup.   Their leading scorer is the Brazilian Jackson Coelho,  with 10 goals.   Here is their club profile on the Ukrainian Soccer.net site {click here}.  Their manager is Myron Markevych,  who left his hometown club Karpaty Lviv to take over at Metalist in 2005.  

Metalist Kharkiv are owned by industrialist Oleksandr Yaroslavsky,  who is bucking the current league trend of belt-tightening in the wake of the global financial crisis,  by vowing to spend to improve the squad.  This after Metalist defeated Benfica,  Galatasaray,  and Olympiacos in the UEFA Cup group stage.  Currently,  in the final phase of the UEFA Cup,  Metalist Kharkiv lead Sampdoria 1-0 (with the return leg Thursday the 26th at home in Ukraine).  The goal in Genoa was scored on a header by midfielder Denys Oliynyk {see this match report, from the Goal.com site}.  Oliynik was picked up from Dynamo Kyiv during the winter break,  so the owner’s promise to bring in talent has already reaped dividends.  Here is an interview with Oliynyk from ukrainiansoccer.com…{click here},  from 24th February.

Defending champions Shakhtar Donetsk are recovering from a poor league start,  as well as a nightmare scenario in the Champions League last September {see this, by David Hytner at the Guardian UK}.  Shakhtar are in real jeopardy of losing their accustomed place in the Champions League next fall,  as they sit 6 points off the coveted second-place-in-league/ Champions League 3rd round qualifier spot.  In the UEFA Cup,  Shakhtar have a 2-0 lead on Tottenham, with the second leg on Thursday in London.

With the aggregate at 1-1 (and the away goals rule in effect),  Dynamo Kyiv must get a winning result (or a draw result higher than 1-1) on Thursday,  to advance in the UEFA Cup,  when they go to Spain to play their second leg,  versus Valencia.

UEFA site {click here (set at UEFA Cup fixtures and results)}.

Below,  the current leading scorers in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Thanks to World Soccer magazine for the article ‘Ukraine credit crunch bites deep’, by Oleg Zadernovsky,  from the February 2009 issue.    Thanks to the great site called UkrSoccerHistory.Com  {click here (set at Dynamo Kyiv page)}.  Thanks to http://www.ukrainiansoccer.net/ ,  a good site for Ukrainian football news and results.   Thanks to the contributors to the pages on Ukrainian football clubs at Wikipedia {click here, for the page on the Ukrainian Premier League’s 2008-’09 season}.

The Ukrainian Premier League ends it’s winter break on the weekend of March 2 and 3.   This map shows the average attendances for the first part of the 2007-’08 season (7 to 10 home matches).   There is also a smaller map, showing the four Ukrainian clubs that qualified for the 2007-’08 Champions League (Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk), and the 2007-’08 UEFA Cup (Metalist Kharkiv and Dnipro).  I have also added the top 12 drawing clubs in the Ukrainian Persha Liha (the second division).

Dnipro are surprise leaders at the winter break, with a 2 point lead over Shakhtar Donetsk, and four points ahead of reigning champions Dynamo Kyiv for the crucial second Champions League qualifier spot.   Dnipro host Dynamo Kyiv on Sunday, March 3.  It is basically one of the biggest games in the history of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.  Because if the club can beat the giants of Ukrainian football (Dynamo), for the second time this season, they will very likely hold on to the second place spot that will allow them the chance at the Champions League.  It would be good for Ukrainian football for another club to be at the top.  And it would be appropriate for Dnipro to become the third force in Ukraine, as they are the only club outside the big 2 (of Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk) that has lately been supplying players to the national team.  

 **{See this article, from The Guardian website, by Jonathan Wilson,  about Dnipro, and their quest to break the big 2 duopoly in Ukraine.}    

**{Click here, for the Ukrainian Premier League Table.} 

Ukraine is currently ranked # 12 for European competitions by UEFA.  Winner and second place in the Premier League make it to the 3rd round qualifiers for the Champions League.  3rd and 4th place qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Thanks to the Colours Of Football website, for the kits (http://colours-of-football.com).