First round of football. Ukrainian Football Championship in the middle of nowhere. Modernity and club football in Ukraine

The Ukrainian Football Championship consists of three professional leagues: UPL, First League and Second League. The eliteness of the divisions is located in the same descending order, and an exchange takes place between them.

Quantity professional clubs in the Ukrainian Championship is constantly changing, so the number of clubs in the First and Second Leagues also changes before each season. The strongest league, the Premier League, currently consists of 12 teams and is played in two stages.

Stages of tours in the Ukrainian Premier League

The first stage includes 22 rounds. All UPL teams play two matches against each other (home and away), following which they are divided into two sixes - the highest and the lowest.

The second stage - 10 rounds. Teams of the Ukrainian Championship play each other within their sixes in two matches.

In 1 six the following is played:

Only last place in 1 six is ​​left with nothing.

In the second six, the fight is exclusively for survival:

Current situation in the Ukrainian Championship

Now the Ukrainian Premier League is going through difficult times. Three championship teams are forced to play in cities other than their own:

• Zarya (Lugansk) plays in Zaporozhye;
• Shakhtar (Donetsk) - in Kharkov;
• Olympic (Donetsk) - in Kyiv.

In addition, in the Ukrainian football championship for last years financial opportunities have been significantly reduced. Only Shakhtar and Dynamo maintain a stable budget, but both clubs are forced to cut it as much as possible.

Previously, all UPL clubs could allow high salaries football players, thanks to which the Ukrainian Football Premier League looked like an attractive tournament for players from all over the world, except, of course, the very top ones. But after the start of the crisis, all Ukrainian Championship clubs had to cut their budget several times, and some big clubs, like Dnepr and Metalist, simply did not survive.

However, thanks to the efforts of Shakhtar and Dynamo, the Ukrainian Championship maintains a place in the top ten in the UEFA coefficients table, which allows one to count on a direct ticket to the group stage of the Champions League and a chance for the vice-champion in qualifying.

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"Fun" everyday life of the UPL.

Ukrainian Championship

The Ukrainian Football Championship is one of the leading football club tournaments in Eastern Europe. Football club championship in major league started in 1992. The elite of Ukrainian club football was created on the basis of the teams of the highest and first leagues of the USSR football championship. The first season in the top division began in the spring of 1992 and included a group stage. The winners of the two groups competed in the final match to determine the champion team. FC Tavriya became the first champion of the country. All subsequent titles were shared between the two leading Ukrainian clubs Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Over the subsequent time, the number of participants constantly changed downward. The tournament regulations have also changed. Since 1992, the game calendar has been compiled taking into account games played according to the “autumn-spring” system, and the schedule of meetings assumed a two-round system, two games each between teams, away and at the home stadium.

Modernity and club football in Ukraine

In 2008, the football championship in the top division underwent a transformation. An association was created on the basis of professional clubs - the Premier League of Ukraine. The new structure received from the Football Federation of Ukraine all rights to host an elite football club tournament.

Starting from the 2016/17 season, the number of participating teams was reduced to 12. The UPL tournament format involves holding the tournament in two stages. At the first stage, participants play matches in two rounds, a home match and an away game. According to the results of the first stage, the teams that took the first 6 lines in standings, continue to fight for the championship title.

The other six teams are gathered in another group, in which they are fighting for a place in the top division of Ukrainian football.

Today, the main news from the camp of Ukrainian clubs has a European Cup focus. The statistics of the domestic championship matches are not as brilliant as the matches involving Ukrainian teams in the Champions League and Europa League. Despite this, a fairly significant audience watches online broadcasts of UPL matches, follows reviews of past rounds and is interested in expert forecasts.

Perhaps this weekend the last round of the Ukrainian Premier League was played before the quarantine pause. There is unofficial information on this matter; official confirmation or refutation will most likely come on Tuesday, when the UPL holds relevant consultations with UEFA. How did the tour matches that took place in front of empty stands turn out? In short, they turned out to be very interesting. Shakhtar was defeated by Zorya, which, together with the draw between Dynamo and Desna, intensified the fight for second place in the standings. Viktor Skripnik’s team has now caught up with Alexey Mikhailichenko’s guys, and Alexander Ryabokon’s team is very close. “Alexandria” cannot be discounted either, which with a strong-willed victory over “Kolos” did not allow itself to fall behind the contenders for “silver”. It was much more interesting than a week ago in the Lviv derby. It again ended in a draw, but “Lviv” and “Karpaty” managed to score, and missed two penalties at the end of regulation time. Dnepr-1 won again against Mariupol, but in the confrontation between Olympic and Vorskla, the winner was not determined. We summarize the results of the 23rd round of the Ukrainian Premier League in a traditional review on FNK.

First six.

There were many interesting matches in the quietest round of the Ukrainian season, but the most intriguing was played in Zaporozhye, where Zorya hosted Shakhtar. It is difficult to say whether he lived up to the lofty expectations, but in the first half it was quite boring on the field. Yes, Zarya attacked a little more often and worried Shakhtar’s goalkeeper a little more, but the confidence of the Pitmen’s young goalkeeper seemed to deprive Viktor Skrypnyk’s more experienced forward team of composure. If we recall the moments that arose at the Zarya goal, then it only makes sense to mention the opportunity that, after a corner kick and Makharadze’s mistake, Moraes missed, clearly not ready for this gift of fate. After the break it became a little more fun, but the ball still didn’t go into the goal. The Zarya goalkeeper stopped making mistakes, and Gromov, who was forced to come on as a substitute, seemed to have forgotten how to hit the target from outside the penalty area. The key event of the confrontation happened in the 84th minute, when Mikhailichenko powerfully shot from the edge of the penalty area - 1:0. After that, the opponents had one moment each: first, Gromov again made one doubt his goal-scoring skills, then Shakhtar almost had the Taison-Macon combination work with the latter’s inaccurate shot.

The match between Dynamo Kyiv and Desna Chernigov was of interest in the context of the fight for the podium. Alexei Mikhailichenko's team needed to win due to Zorya's sensational victory, otherwise Dynamo risked losing their second position. At the beginning of the meeting, the goalkeepers took the lead: Past and Buschan each helped their teams out once, and then went into the shadows. This is because the game calmed down, moved to the center, and the players stopped creating chances. Only towards the end of the first half it became interesting and fun again: Shepelev unloaded his cannon after Gitchenko’s hesitant play, but the midfielder’s shot was taken by the crossbar. The midfielder realized that hitting the goal was more offensive to himself, so in the second half he switched to the role of first assistant: it was Shepelev who brought Rusin one on one, and he beat the goalkeeper in close combat. And only after that “Desna” demonstrated that it also intended to play in attack. So, first Starenky scored with his head, but the goal was canceled due to offside, then Filippov scored legitimately - and the score became equal. What was most happy about this fact was not even Desna, but Zarya, which was worried about the draw.

“Alexandria” and “Kolos” gave an unexpectedly bright and productive match. Vladimir Sharan's team spent a lot of energy and emotion in the cup match against Dynamo, so the weak first half of the reporting match can be justified. “Kolos” looked better, attacked much more and more varied, and logically took the lead: Baboglo lost the duel to Sorokin, who used this to accurately hit the corner. "Alexandria" reacted to this with activity, which led to a not very logical return goal: Grechishkin shot irresistibly from middle distance under the crossbar. After the break, the teams seemed to switch roles, and the Alexandrians began to dictate their terms to the opponent. In the 54th minute, Baboglo, in a fight with Maksimenko during a set-piece, earned his team a penalty, which was converted by Gritsuk. Ten minutes later, things got really bad for Kolos: Kovalets took advantage of Maksimenko’s mistake and made Oleksandriya’s advantage comfortable. Kolos brought back the intrigue ten minutes before the end of regular time (Lysenko made a clear header), but the guests didn’t have enough for more. Zaderaka put an end to the confrontation, who after a long throw demonstrated his speed skills and set the final score - 4:2.

Second six.

In the last round, Dnepr-1 confidently won against Mariupol at home. A week passed and the hosts again inflicted a dry defeat on the Azov team. In the first half, there was little to suggest that there would be any goals scored in this match. The most dangerous moment of the meeting before the break was created by the efforts of Buletsa, who took a dangerous free-kick, and the goalkeeper heroically turned the ball into the post. The Azov team responded to this with long-range attempts by Fedorchuk and Kornienko, which turned out to be inaccurate. In the second half, the nature of football did not change much, and the players continued to fight hard for the advantage. The decisive moment of the match occurred immediately after the players had played an hour: the match referee pointed to the penalty mark after using VAR. Fomin, who played with his hand in his own penalty area, was officially recognized as the anti-hero of the meeting, and Khoblenko, who converted the penalty, was officially recognized as the hero. “Mariupol” not only did not recover from such a blow, but also missed the second goal: Chichikov assisted Supryaga, who used his chance.

Just a week ago, “Lviv” and “Karpaty” were sorting things out among themselves in the first part of the season, and this weekend the two Lviv teams had to play each other after the participants in the Ukrainian Premier League were divided into two sixes. It is worth admitting that the reporting match turned out to be much more interesting. Already in the 3rd minute, Renan could have put the home team ahead, but from an advantageous position he shot wide of the goal. “Karpaty” responded to this with Boychuk hitting the post, and then still opened the scoring: the same Boychuk was prevented from scoring a goal by Bratkov, who scored an own goal. “Lviv” came back after the break: Renan crossed to Iacovelli, who won the fight against Hull and scored his debut goal in the UPL. After the exchange of goals, the game calmed down, and exploded again shortly before the final whistle. At first, Sabino violated the rules in his own penalty area, but Nazarine was prevented from converting the penalty by Lvov goalkeeper Sarnavsky, who won the duel for the third time in a row after hitting it from the spot. The most upset about this fact was Gennady Pasich, who out of frustration committed a foul on the penalty kick. But Tatarkov, interestingly, failed to convert the penalty. The result is 1:1 in a match of unused opportunities.

The next round (and maybe the entire Ukrainian season) was closed by the match between Olympic and Vorskla. The nominal owners lost their head coach, the official reason for parting with whom was “life circumstances”; for the Poltava team, in this regard, everything is a little more stable. The first dangerous shot in the match after Perduta’s pass was made by Stepanyuk, and Balanyuk’s first attempt was successful: the Olympic forward was the first to finish after Teixeira’s shot and the goalkeeper’s save. Interestingly, in the first attack after conceding a goal, Vorskla earned a penalty: Kichak made a gross mistake and then brought down Luizao. However, Shehich did not convert the penalty kick, and the Olympic goalkeeper was rehabilitated. And yet, in the last minutes of the first half, Vorskla restored equality in the score when, after a pass from Kane, Kulach found himself unguarded in the center of the penalty area. From the second half, you can remember Kane’s shot to the post, Stepanyuk’s one-on-one opportunity that was not realized, and Balashov’s chance, who moments before the final whistle did not play very efficiently.

Vladimir Shcherban.