For the other two pages of profiles of Ukrainian Football Clubs , click on the following…
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Thanks to the Ukrainian Soccer History site {click here}. Thanks to the Switch Image Project site {click here}, for the Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk kits. Thanks to World Soccer magazine {click here}.
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.
**{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).
In January 2004, I was all “mapped out” in terms of US sports. My brother was into the EPL (an Arsenal fan), and I decided to try doing a map of English football. Suffice to say I was hooked. I swiftly turned into a Portsmouth FC fan (I have a weakness for colorful yet struggling teams), and began following international football. While I was doing research on the internet, I stumbled across a site about Ukrainian football (”ukrsoccerhistory.com”). As a Ukrainian- American, I felt duty-bound to do a map on Ukraine as well. In retrospect, there’s a few things I’d do different today (like make Shakhtar’s crest bigger), but I’m pretty happy with the result. Especially since I decided to put Zorya Luhansk on the map, even though they were in the second division at the time. Zorya made it back into the top flight last season. They were one of only 3 Ukrainian clubs to ever have won the USSR first division title, in 1972. Plus I love the Bolshevik poster-art quality of their charging-train-engine logo (sadly no longer in use). Other retro logos I used were with Metalist Kharkiv and Tavriya Simferopol.
The biggest USSR title winner was from Ukraine: Dynamo Kyiv. This club from the capital won it 13 times, the first in 1960, and the last in 1990. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, from central Ukraine, won The USSR league twice, both late in the Soviet era, in 1987 and 1989.
Ukrainian players invariably accounted for around 25% to 40% of the squad on any USSR side, but very few people in the west knew this. With independance, the world can see that Ukraine produces some pretty decent footballers. Their good showing in the 2006 World Cup proved this, as they finished in the top 8 teams. Just getting there was a major accomplishment. They had to beat out 2004 Euro-champions Greece, and 2002 World Cup 3rd place finishers Turkey, plus Denmark, in their tough qualifying group.
The manager of the Ukrainian national team is Oleg Blokhin, the most capped player of the Soviet Union. The most prominent Ukrainian is 2004 European Footballer of the Year Andriy Shevchenko, who got his start with Dynamo Kyiv, before making his name at AC Milan. He now plays for Chelsea, but has had problems adapting to the English style. Andriy Voronin became a top striker with Bayer Leverkusen, and is now doing well at Liverpool. Anotoliy Tymoschuck was the midfield anchor at Shakhtar. He was sold for a record amount to Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg, who currently lead the league.
Ukraine won it’s independance in 1991. Since 1992, Ukraine has had it’s own league, the Vyscha Liha. Simferopol, a small club from the Crimea, won the first, hastily assembled short season. After that, Dynamo Kyiv won it 9 straight seasons. Shakhtar Donetsk came under new ownership (Rinat Akhmetov, the richest man in Ukraine) and began improving. They finally won a league title in 2002, and have been battling Dynamo Kyiv for the title each year since. They have become the big 2, to the detriment of the rest the league. Dynamo have 12 titles, Shakhtar have 3. Dynamo won it last season, but have played poorly in the Champions League for 3 seasons running. Meanwhile Shakhtar, with their swank new training facillities, have been able to attract a higher caliber of player. Brazillians feature large in their squad, though they just lost Elano to Manchester City. Brandao is one of 6 from Brazil on the team, and they recently signed the iconoclastic Italian striker Christiano Luccarelli. They have been steadily improving on the European stage, and could finally advance to the group of 16 this season. They just beat Celtic at home, and Benfica in Portugal. Meanwhile last season’s 3rd-place team, Metalist Kharkiv, went to England and held Everton to a 1-1 draw, in the UEFA Cup. Dnipro is up and coming, and have been the only other club besides the big 2 to supply starters to the national squad these days. They could very well finish in the top two this season, and start to weaken the hegemony of the big 2.
For the 2007-2008 season, UEFA ranks Dynamo Kyiv 63rd in Europe. Shakhtar is ranked 69th, and Dnipro is 83rd. Ukraine’s pro league is ranked 11th by UEFA (country ranking for league participation), up from 13th place.
Check out the September 2007 issue of World Soccer. This magazine has a nice feature on Ukraine’s Premier League, complete with map and thumbnail profiles of the 16 clubs in this season.
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