2020–21 Ukrainian Premier League
30th season of top-tier football league in Vyshcha Liha
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The 2020–21 Ukrainian Premier League season was the 30th top-level football club competition since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the 13th since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League.
Official logo[1] | |
| Season | 2020–21 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 21 August 2020 – 9 May 2021[2][3] (winter break 13 December 2020 – 13 February 2021) |
| Teams | 14 |
| Champions | Dynamo Kyiv 16th Ukrainian league title 29th domestic league title |
| Relegated | Olimpik |
| Champions League | Dynamo Kyiv Shakhtar Donetsk |
| Europa League | Zorya Luhansk |
| Europa Conference League | Kolos Kovalivka Vorskla Poltava |
| Matches | 182 |
| Goals | 481 (2.64 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | 15 – Vladyslav Kulach (Vorskla Poltava) |
| Biggest home win | 5 – Dynamo 5–0 Inhulets (Round 23) |
| Biggest away win | 5 – Lviv 0–5 Zorya (Round 4) |
| Highest scoring | 7 – Vorskla 5–2 Rukh (Round 1), Oleksandriya 4–3 Inhulets (Round 6), Mariupol 4–3 Inhulets (Round 20) |
| Highest attendance | 7,953 – Rukh 1–1 Shakhtar (Round 2)[a] |
| Total attendance | 106713[a] |
| Average attendance | 1694[a] |
← 2019–20 2021–22 →
All statistics correct as of 9 May 2021
| |
The 13-time winner Shakhtar Donetsk were the four-time defending champions. On 25 April 2021, Dynamo Kyiv won the record-extending 16th title with three matches remaining, after the victory over Inhulets Petrove in the Round 23 home game.[5]
The season started on 21 August 2020 and was initially set to end on 15 May 2021.[2] On 7 April 2021 it was announced that most of clubs voted to end competitions a week early on 9 May 2021.[3][6]
Summary
This season was the first since the 2015–16, when the league consisted of double round-robin tournament, without the second stage and division to the two groups. This season also had the latest start of the competition in history.[7]
A season, that usually starts in July, was postponed for a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Ukraine. From 10 September[8] to 13 October 2020, attendance restrictions were lifted and stadiums were allowed some spectators not to exceed about 25% of stadium capacity.[9]
At least four managers of the UPL openly expressed their opinion not to postpone any games due to the COVID-19 cases.[10] Nevertheless, two games of the season's fall half were postponed to spring.
For the next 2021–22 season, the league is expected to expand again to 16 teams as part of the league's expansion plan. As a consequence, this season the lowest-ranked team from Ukrainian Premier League got relegated to Ukrainian First League, and at the same time the top three teams from the First League will gain promotion to the Premier League next season.
Teams
This season, as it was announced earlier, the Ukrainian Premier League has been expanded to 14 teams, which includes 11 teams from the previous season and the top three teams from the 2019–20 Ukrainian First League.[11]
Promoted teams
- FC Mynai – the champion of the 2019–20 Ukrainian First League (debut)
- Rukh Lviv – runner-up of the 2019–20 Ukrainian First League (debut)
- Inhulets Petrove – third place of the 2019–20 Ukrainian First League (debut)
Location map
The following displays the location of teams.
Teams in italics are from a conflict zone of the War in Donbas and are playing their home games in different cities.
Stadiums
Three of the qualified to the date teams play their matches outside of home towns. The minimum threshold for the stadium's capacity in the UPL is 5,000 (Article 10, paragraph 7.2).[12]
The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:
| Rank | Stadium | Place | Club | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NSC Olimpiyskiy | Kyiv | Dynamo Kyiv | 70,050 | [Note MYN–DYN] |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | used as home ground during the season[13] | ||||
| FC Mynai | used as home ground in round 4 | ||||
| 2 | OSC Metalist | Kharkiv | FC Lviv | 40,003 | used as home ground in round 19 |
| FC Mariupol | used as home ground in rounds 20, 22, 23 | ||||
| 3 | Arena Lviv | Lviv | Rukh Lviv | 34,915 | [14] |
| FC Lviv | |||||
| 4 | Dnipro-Arena | Dnipro | SC Dnipro-1 | 31,003 | [Note INH–DN1] |
| Inhulets Petrove | used as home ground in round 1 | ||||
| 5 | Ukraina Stadium | Lviv | FC Lviv | 28,051 | used as home ground in rounds 1-4 |
| 6 | Butovsky Vorskla Stadium | Poltava | Vorskla Poltava | 24,795 | |
| Inhulets Petrove | used as home ground in round 15 | ||||
| 7 | Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium | Kyiv | Olimpik Donetsk | 16,873 | used as home ground during the season |
| FC Mariupol | used as home ground in round 12 | ||||
| Dynamo Kyiv | used as home ground in rounds 13, 14 | ||||
| Kolos Kovalivka | used as home ground in round 14[15] | ||||
| Desna Chernihiv | used as home ground in round 15, 16[16] | ||||
| 8 | Zirka Stadium | Kropyvnytskyi | Inhulets Petrove | 14,628 | used as home ground during the season[17][18][19][Note INH–DN1] |
| 9 | Volodymyr Boiko Stadium | Mariupol | FC Mariupol | 12,680 | Mariupol returned to home stadium in round 19 due to renovations during the first half[20] |
| 10 | Avanhard Stadium | Lutsk | FC Lviv | 12,080 | used as home ground in round 1 |
| 11 | Avanhard Stadium | Uzhhorod | FC Mynai | 12,000 | used as home ground during the season[Note MYN–DYN] |
| 12 | Slavutych-Arena | Zaporizhzhia | Zorya Luhansk | 12,000 | used as home ground during the season |
| FC Mariupol | used as home ground in rounds 14, 15 | ||||
| 13 | CSC Nika Stadium | Oleksandriya | FC Oleksandriya | 7,000 | |
| 14 | Chernihiv Stadium | Chernihiv | Desna Chernihiv | 5,500 | |
| Olimpik Donetsk | used as home ground in round 10, 24 | ||||
| 15 | Obolon Arena | Kyiv | Desna Chernihiv | 5,100 | used as home ground in round 9 |
| 16 | Kolos Stadium | Kovalivka | Kolos Kovalivka | 5,000[21] | Opened before Round 2[22][23][24] |
| 17 | Skif Stadium | Lviv | Rukh Lviv | 3,742 | used as home ground in round 17 |
Notes
- ^ INH–DN1: The Round 1 game Inhulets – Dnipro-1 was played at Dnipro-Arena and Inhulets was selected as a formal host, instead the Round 14 game with Dnipro-1 as formal host will be played at Zirka Stadium, which is the home stadium of Inhulets during the first half of the season.[17][19] Before the start of the season, there was uncertainty where Inhulets would be hosting its home games in the UPL if get promoted. Since Petrove is located about halfway between Dnipro and Kropyvnytskyi, Inhulets had some intentions to play at better stadium in Dnipro where it used to play at amateur level previously, but such arrangements go against certain administrative rules. The game Dnipro-1 – Inulets did not take place in Kropyvnytskyi as it was planned earlier and without additional announcements and/or explanation was also played in Dnipro.[25]
- ^ MYN–DYN: The Round 4 game Mynai – Dynamo was played at NSC Olimpiyskiy and Mynai was selected as a formal host, instead the Round 17 game with Dynamo as formal host will be played at Avanhard Stadium.[26] On March 5, 2021 it was decided that the game of Round 17 also will be played in Kyiv due to supposedly the epidemiological situation in Zakarpattia Oblast.[27]
Personnel and sponsorship
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | Table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamo Kyiv |  Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko |
Mutual agreement[29] | 20 July 2020[30] | Pre-season |  Mircea Lucescu |
23 July 2020[31] | Pre-season |
| Olimpik Donetsk | Ihor Klymovskyi (interim) |
Made permanent | 20 July 2020[32] | Ihor Klymovskyi |
20 July 2020[32] | ||
| FC Mariupol | Oleksandr Babych |
End of contract | 30 July 2020[33] | Ostap Markevych |
3 August 2020[34] | ||
| SC Dnipro-1 | Dmytro Mykhaylenko |
Resigned[35] | 18 September 2020[36] | 11th |  Igor Jovićević |
22 September 2020[37] | 11th |
| FC Lviv |  Giorgi Tsetsadze |
Resigned | 24 October 2020[38] | 14th | Vitaliy Shumskyi (interim) |
28 October 2020[39] | 14th |
| Olimpik Donetsk | Ihor Klymovskyi |
Mutual consent | 25 February 2021[40] | 8th | Yuriy Kalitvintsev |
25 February 2021[41] | 8th |
| FC Lviv | Vitaliy Shumskyi (interim) |
Mutual consent | 1 March 2021[42] | 14th | Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi |
2 March 2021[43] | 14th |
| FC Mynai | Vasyl Kobin |
Resigned | 24 March 2021[44] | 13th | Mykola Tsymbal |
26 March 2021[45] | 13th |
| Olimpik Donetsk | Yuriy Kalitvintsev |
Mutual consent | 3 May 2021[46] | 13th | Roman Sanzhar |
4 May 2021[47] | 13th |
League table
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dynamo Kyiv (C) | 26 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 59 | 15 | +44 | 65 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 26 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 54 | 19 | +35 | 54 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Zorya Luhansk | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 44 | 22 | +22 | 50 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off round |
| 4 | Kolos Kovalivka | 26 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 36 | 26 | +10 | 41 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Vorskla Poltava | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 37 | 30 | +7 | 41 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round |
| 6 | Desna Chernihiv | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 38 | 32 | +6 | 38 | |
| 7 | SC Dnipro-1 | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 36 | 38 | −2 | 30 | |
| 8 | FC Lviv | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 25 | 51 | −26 | 29[a] | |
| 9 | FC Oleksandriya | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 33 | 37 | −4 | 29[a] | |
| 10 | Rukh Lviv | 26 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 27 | 39 | −12 | 28 | |
| 11 | FC Mariupol | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 27 | 41 | −14 | 26[b] | |
| 12 | Inhulets Petrove | 26 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 24 | 39 | −15 | 26[b] | |
| 13 | Olimpik Donetsk (R) | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 28 | 48 | −20 | 22 | Relegation to Ukrainian First League |
| 14 | FC Mynai | 26 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 16 | 47 | −31 | 18 | Readmitted |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head higher number of goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Higher number of goals scored; 7) Draw or "Golden match" if two teams tied for title (Article 22, paragraph 3).[48]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
Results
Teams play each other twice on a home and away basis.
Season statistics
Top goalscorers
|
Assists
|
Hat-tricks
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artem Bondarenko |
FC Mariupol | Inhulets Petrove | 4–3 | 3 April 2021[52] |
| Vladyslav Kulach |
Vorksla Poltava | Zorya Luhansk | 4–2 | 17 April 2021[53] |
| Vitaliy Buyalskyi |
Dynamo Kyiv | Vorskla Poltava | 5–1 | 1 May 2021[54] |
Awards
Monthly awards
| Month | Player of the Month | Coach of the Month | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Coach | Club | ||
| September 2020 | Ruslan Stepanyuk |
Vorskla Poltava | Yuriy Maksymov |
Vorskla Poltava | [55] |
| October 2020 | Vladyslav Kulach |
Vorskla Poltava | Igor Jovićević |
SC Dnipro-1 | [56] |
| November 2020 | Vladyslav Kocherhin |
Zorya Luhansk | Serhiy Lavrynenko |
Inhulets Petrove | [57] |
| December 2020 | Dmytro Ivanisenya |
Zorya Luhansk | Ivan Fedyk |
Rukh Lviv | [58] |
| February 2021 |  Allahyar Sayyadmanesh |
Zorya Luhansk | Viktor Skrypnyk |
Zorya Luhansk | [59] |
| March 2021 |  China |
FC Lviv | Mircea Lucescu |
Dynamo Kyiv | [60] |
| April 2021 | Illya Zabarnyi |
Dynamo Kyiv | Mircea Lucescu |
Dynamo Kyiv | [61] |
| May 2021 | Yehor Nazaryna |
Zorya Luhansk | Mircea Lucescu |
Dynamo Kyiv | [62] |
