2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League

Ukrainian Premier League VBET
Official logo[1]
Season2025–26
Dates1 August 2025 – 29 May 2026
14 December 2025 – 20 February 2026
(winter break)
Total attendance0
Average attendance0
2026–27 →

The 2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League season, referred to as the VBET UPL for sponsorship reasons, is the 35th top-level football club competition since the fall of the Soviet Union and the 18th since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League (UPL).

The season is planning to start on 2 August 2025. The UPL clubs decided not to hold the season opening match Ukrainian Super Cup due to the ongoing Russian military aggression against Ukraine.[2][3]

Dynamo Kyiv are the defending champions, having won their 17th Premier-Liha title and their 30th overall domestic title in the previous season.

Teams

This season, the Ukrainian Premier League remained at 16 teams.

Relegated teams

  • Inhulets Petrove — relegated after one season in the top flight
  • Chornomorets Odesa — relegated after three seasons in the top flight
  • Vorskla Poltava – relegated after twenty-nine seasons in the top flight, lost in relegation play-off
  • Livyi Bereh Kyiv – relegated after one season in the top flight, lost in relegation play-off

Location map

Home venues of teams in the 2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League.
Several teams (Metalist 1925, Shakhtar, and Zorya) are playing their home games away from their cities due to ongoing hostilities.

Stadiums

Further information: List of football stadiums in Ukraine

The minimum threshold for the stadium's capacity in the UPL is 4,500 (Article 10, paragraph 8.3).[5]

The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:

Rank Stadium Place Club Capacity Notes
1 Arena Lviv Lviv Shakhtar Donetsk 34,725 used as home ground during the season
Rukh Lviv
2 Ukraina Stadium Lviv Karpaty Lviv 28,051
3 Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium Kyiv Dynamo Kyiv 16,873
Zorya Luhansk used as home ground during the season
4 Shukhevych Miskyi Stadium Ternopil Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi 15,150 used as home ground during the season
5 Berezkin Zirka Stadium Kropyvnytskyi SC Poltava 13,305 used as home ground during the season
6 Tsentralnyi Stadion Cherkasy LNZ Cherkasy 10,321
7 Avanhard Stadium Rivne Veres Rivne 7,122
8 CSC Nika Stadium Oleksandriya, Kirovohrad Oblast FC Oleksandriya 7,000
9 Tsentralnyi Stadion Zhytomyr Polissya Zhytomyr 5,928
10 Obolon Arena Kyiv Obolon Kyiv 5,103
FC Kudrivka used as home ground during the season
11 Kolos Stadium Kovalivka, Kyiv Oblast Kolos Kovalivka 5,050
12 TBD TBD Metalist 1925 Kharkiv TBD[a]
13 Hirnyk Stadium Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih 3,219

Personnel and sponsorship

Team President Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Dynamo Kyiv Ihor Surkis Oleksandr Shovkovskyi Vitaliy Buyalskyi New Balance A-Bank
Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Chernonoh Serhiy Nahornyak Andriy Bezhenar Macron Епіцентр
Karpaty Lviv Volodymyr Matkivskyi Vladyslav Lupashko Denys Miroshnichenko Nike Lvivske
Kolos Kovalivka Andriy Zasukha Ruslan Kostyshyn (interim) Valeriy Bondarenko Nike Vbet
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Kostyantyn Karamanits Patrick van Leeuwen TBA SKIDAN Rudomain
FC Kudrivka Roman Solodarenko Vasyl Baranov Anton Yashkov Kelme —
LNZ Cherkasy Viktor Kravchenko Vitaliy Ponomaryov TBA Macron Vbet
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv Volodymyr Nosov Mladen Bartulović Maksym Imerekov Puma Whitebit
Obolon Kyiv Oleksandr Slobodian Oleksandr Antonenko (interim) Nazariy Fedorivskyi Jako FavBet & Obolon
Oleksandriya Serhiy Kuzmenko Kyrylo Nesterenko Kyrylo Kovalets Nike AgroVista
Polissya Zhytomyr Hennadiy Butkevych Ruslan Rotan Ruslan Babenko Nike BGV Group
SC Poltava Serhiy Ivashchenko Volodymyr Sysenko[b] Vladyslav Danylenko Joma КВП
Rukh Lviv Hryhoriy Kozlovskyi Ivan Fedyk Marko Sapuha Kappa Emily Resort, Favbet, Auroom, Onur Group
Shakhtar Donetsk Rinat Akhmetov Arda Turan Mykola Matviyenko Puma FavBet
Veres Rivne Ivan Nadieyin Oleh Shandruk TBA Kelme Vbet
Zorya Luhansk Yevhen Heller Viktor Skrypnyk Pylyp Budkivskyi Puma GG.BET

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Shakhtar Donetsk Marino Pušić Sacked 24 May 2025[6] Pre-season Arda Turan 27 May 2025
LNZ Cherkasy Roman Hryhorchuk Mutual consent 26 May 2025[7][8] Pre-season Vitaliy Ponomaryov 5 June 2025
FC Oleksandriya Ruslan Rotan End of contract 29 May 2025[9] Pre-season Kyrylo Nesterenko 17 June 2025
Polissya Zhytomyr Oleksandr Maksymov (caretaker) End of caretaker spell 29 May 2025 Pre-season Ruslan Rotan 29 May 2025[10]
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Yuriy Vernydub End of contract 31 May 2025 Pre-season Patrick van Leeuwen 9 June 2025
Rukh Lviv Vitaliy Ponomaryov Mutual consent 4 June 2025 Pre-season Ivan Fedyk 11 June 2025
Obolon Kyiv Serhiy Shyshchenko Mutual consent 4 June 2025 Pre-season Oleksandr Antonenko (interim)[c] 4 June 2025
Zorya Luhansk Mladen Bartulović (interim) End of interim spell & contract 16 June 2025 Pre-season Viktor Skrypnyk 16 June 2025
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv Oleksandr Chyzhov (caretaker) End of caretaker spell 20 June 2025 Pre-season Mladen Bartulović 20 June 2025

Notes:

  1. ^ FC Livyi Bereh Kyiv terminated the cooperation agreement with the Metalist 1925 due to indecent behavior and obscene statements by Metalist 1925's representatives towards the FC Livyi Bereh
  2. ^ The coach was absent for health reasons in the 2nd part of the 2024–25 Ukrainian First League. The team was managed by his assistant, Ihor Tymchenko
  3. ^ Serhiy Shyschenko were to leave the club officially after 16 June 2025, but before 16 June, his assistant, Oleksandr Antonenko, had been interim spell without Shyshchenko

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Dynamo Kyiv 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round
3 Karpaty Lviv 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Kolos Kovalivka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Kudrivka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 LNZ Cherkasy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Metalist 1925 Kharkiv 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Obolon Kyiv 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Oleksandriya 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Polissya Zhytomyr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Poltava 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Rukh Lviv 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for the Relegation play-off
14 Shakhtar Donetsk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 Veres Rivne 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Relegation to Ukrainian First League
16 Zorya Luhansk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: 1 August 2025. Source: upl.ua
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw or "Golden match" if two teams tied for title (Article 22, paragraph 3).[11]

Results

Teams play each other twice on a home and away basis.

Home \ Away DYN EPC KAR KOL KRY KDR LNZ M25 OBL OLK PZH POL RUX SHA VER ZOR
Dynamo Kyiv a
Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi 3/8
Karpaty Lviv 3/8
Kolos Kovalivka 1/8
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
Kudrivka 3/8
LNZ Cherkasy
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv 4/8
Obolon Kyiv
Oleksandriya
Polissia Zhytomyr
Poltava
Rukh Lviv 1/8
Shakhtar Donetsk a
Veres Rivne 2/8
Zorya Luhansk 2/8
First match(es) will be played: 1 August 2025. Source: UPL calendar
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches affected by air alerts

Relegation play-offs

Teams that placed 13th and 14th in the 2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League play two-leg play-off with the third and fourth teams of the 2025–26 Ukrainian First League.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
TBD x–x TBD
TBD x–x TBD

First Semi-final

v
v

Second Semi-final

v
v

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ Official Logo. Ukrainian Premier League website.
  2. ^ "Суперкубок України вчетверте поспіль не відбудеться: пояснення УПЛ" [The Ukrainian Super Cup will not take place for the fourth time in the row, an explanation from the UPL]. suspilne.media (in Ukrainian). 23 April 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
  3. ^ "Клуби УПЛ відмовилися проводити Суперкубок України: проєкт плану-календаря змагань на сезон 2025/26" [The UPL clubs refused to hold the Ukrainian Super Cup game – presentation of the 2025/26 season competition calendar draft]. sport-express.ua (in Ukrainian). 23 April 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
  4. ^ "Українська Прем'єр-Ліга вітає ФК «Епіцентр» із достроковим здобуттям права виступати в УПЛ!" [The Ukrainian Premier League congratulates FC Epitsentr for early achievement of the right to play in the UPL!]. upl.ua (in Ukrainian). 2 May 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
  5. ^ Places of holding competitions (Місця проведення змагань). 2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League regulations.
  6. ^ "Шахтар звільнив Пушича". Football.ua. 24 May 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  7. ^ "ЛНЗ оголосив про відхід Григорчука". sportarena.com. 26 May 2025. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  8. ^ "ЛНЗ за згодою сторін завершив співпрацю з Романом Григорчуком" (in Ukrainian). fc-lnz.com. 26 May 2025. Archived from the original on 26 May 2025. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  9. ^ "Руслан Ротань залишає ФК «Олександрія»" (in Ukrainian). fco.com.ua. 29 May 2025. Archived from the original on 30 May 2025. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  10. ^ "Офіційно: Руслан Ротань — новий головний тренер ФК "Полісся"!" (in Ukrainian). polissyafc.com. 29 May 2025. Archived from the original on 30 May 2025. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  11. ^ Defining of teams' places in competitions (Визначення місць команд у змаганнях). 2021–22 Ukrainian Premier League regulations.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.