# 2022–23 Ukrainian Second League

The 2022–23 Ukrainian Second League was the 32nd since its establishment.

## Summary

Due to Russo-Ukrainian War, the Professional Football League of Ukraine (PFL) lost some 24 clubs. Out of 31 teams of the last season, only 4 remained for this season. The Second League was replenished with some teams from national amateur competitions as well as some clubs added their reserve teams. Unlike the last season, this season consisted of a single group of 10 with a standard double round-robin tournament. The top team would receive a direct promotion, while the runner-up contest promotion with the second to the last from the First League.
With occupation of Kherson Oblast, the Russian occupational administration announced to create own club (Fregat) in place of FC Krystal Kherson. However, after the 2022 Kherson counteroffensive, the story did not get any continuation.

## Teams
### Promoted teams

Four teams have been promoted from the 2021–22 Ukrainian Football Amateur League:
* Nyva Buzova – 1st place of Group 2 (debut)
* Zviahel – 6th place of Group 2 (debut)
* Metalurh-2 Zaporizhzhia – 2nd place of Group 3 (returning after 11 seasons, last competed in the 2011–12 as a reserve team of the bankrupted Metalurh)
* Vast Mykolaiv – 4th place of Group 3 (debut)
One additional reserve team of the First League club and another amateur club were admitted to the league:
* Kremin-2 Kremenchuk – (debut, priorly competed in amateurs in 2019–20)
* Khust – (absolute debut)

### Relegated teams

None, while 14 teams suspended their activities or dissolved.

### Reorganized/renamed teams

* During winter break it was announced Rubikon Kyiv and OKKO Kharkiv signed an agreement on cooperation and in the second half were planning to field a joint team. As a joint team they took part in the Makarov Tournament (conducted by the Kyiv Oblast Association of Football) and reached finals where they lost to Shturm Ivankiv. However in the 2023 PFL Winter Cup competed only OKKO and just before the start of the second half, it was announced that Rubikon withdrew, and its players became free agents.

### Location map and stadiums

| Team | Stadium | Position in 2021–22 |
| Nyva Vinnytsia | Tsentralnyi Miskyi Stadion | 8th, Group A |
| Chaika | Livyi Bereh, Kyiv | 12th, Group A |
| Rubikon Kyiv | OFK Piddubnoho | 13th, Group A |
| Real Pharma Odesa | Stadion Ivan | 14th, Group B |
| Nyva Buzova | Yuvileinyi Stadium, Bucha | Am |
| Zviahel | Avanhard | Am |
| Metalurh-2 Zaporizhzhia | Slavutych-Arena | Am |
| Vast Mykolaiv | Dinaz Stadium, Demydiv | Am |
| Khust | Karpaty | — |
| Kremin-2 Kremenchuk | Kremin Arena | — |
* ↑ Minimum capacity of stadium for the Second League is 500 spectators.

## Managers

| Club | Head coach | Replaced coach |
| Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | Serhiy Syzykhin | Denys Khomutov Ihor Lutsenko (acting) |
| Khust | Volodymyr Tsytkin | |
| Kremin-2 Kremenchuk | Yaroslav Zdyrko | Yuriy Chumak |
| Metalurh-2 Zaporizhzhia | Vyacheslav Tropin | |
| Nyva Buzova | Serhiy Karpenko | |
| Nyva Vinnytsia | Oleh Ostapenko | |
| Real Pharma Odesa | Andriy Parkhomenko | Yuriy Kulish |
| Rubikon Kyiv | Viktor Kuryata | |
| Vast Mykolaiv | Ihor Yermakov | Dmytro Nazarenko |
| Zviahel | Ruslan Skydan | |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing head coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming head coach | Date of appointment |
| Vast Mykolaiv | Artem Chorniy | Undisclosed | July 2022 | Pre-season | Dmytro Nazarenko | July 2022 |
| Khust | | | | Pre-season | Volodymyr Tsytkin | July 2022 |
| Nyva Vinnytsia | Ihor Leonov | Resigned | spring 2022 | Pre-season | Oleh Ostapenko | 28 July 2022 |
| Kremin-2 Kremenchuk | | | | Pre-season | Yuriy Chumak | August 2022 |
| Real Pharma Odesa | Artem Ryazantsev | Undisclosed | 8 September 2022 | Pre-season | Yuriy Kulish | 8 September 2022 |
| Kremin-2 Kremenchuk | Yuriy Chumak | Mutual consent | 10 November 2022 | 9th | Yaroslav Zdyrko | 14 February 2023 |
| Real Pharma Odesa | Yuriy Kulish | Mutual consent | 18 November 2022 | 2nd | Andriy Parkhomenko | 18 November 2022 |
| Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | Denys Khomutov | "Mutual consent" | 26 November 2022 | 3rd | Serhiy Syzykhin | 26 January 2023 |
| Vast Mykolaiv | Dmytro Nazarenko | Role change | 28 December 2022 | 7th | Ihor Yermakov | 28 December 2022 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Nyva Buzova (C, P) | 18 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 36 | 8 | +28 | 42 | Promotion to Ukrainian First League |
| 2 | Khust (O, P) | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 35 | Qualification to promotional play-off |
| 3 | Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 33 | 20 | +13 | 35 | |
| 4 | Nyva Vinnytsia | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 29 | 16 | +13 | 35 | |
| 5 | Zviahel | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 30 | 17 | +13 | 32 | |
| 6 | Real Pharma Odesa | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 27 | 23 | +4 | 30 | |
| 7 | Vast Mykolaiv | 18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 21 | 28 | −7 | 17 | |
| 8 | Metalurh-2 Zaporizhzhia | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 23 | 37 | −14 | 15 | |
| 9 | Kremin-2 Kremenchuk | 18 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 44 | −37 | 8 | |
| 10 | Rubikon Kyiv | 18 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 36 | −30 | 4 | Withdrew after Round 10 |
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head points: Khust 6, Chaika 5, Nyva V 3
* ↑ Rubikon Kyiv withdrew after the Round 10. It was awarded technical losses for the rest of its matches.

### Results

| Home \ Away | CPB | XST | KR2 | MT2 | NBU | NVI | RPO | RUB | VST | ZVA |
| Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | | 1–2 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 0–4 | 3–0 | 3–3 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Khust | 0–0 | | 4–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | +:- | 5–1 | 2–2 |
| Kremin-2 Kremenchuk | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| Metalurh-2 Zaporizhzhia | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–5 |
| Nyva Buzova | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 4–1 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Nyva Vinnytsia | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| Real Pharma Odesa | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–4 | 2–3 | | +:- | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Rubikon Kyiv | -:+ | 3–1 | -:+ | 0–3 | -:+ | -:+ | 0–7 | | -:+ | 0–3 |
| Vast Mykolaiv | 1–2 | 1–2 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 5–1 | | 0–0 |
| Zviahel | 2–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | +:- | 2–0 | |
* ↑ postponed
* ↑ postponed
Notes:

### Top goalscorers

As of 28 May 2023
| Rank | Scorer | Team | Goals (Pen.) |
| 1 | Artur Zahorulko | Nyva Vinnytsia | 14 (5) |
| 2 | 2 player(s) | 2 player(s) | 12 |
| 4 | 1 player(s) | 1 player(s) | 10 |
| 5 | 3 player(s) | 3 player(s) | 8 |
| 8 | 1 player(s) | 1 player(s) | 6 |
| 9 | 4 players | 4 players | 5 |
| 13 | 6 players | 6 players | 4 |
| 19 | 16 players | 16 players | 3 |
| 36 | 15 players | 15 players | 2 |
| 51 | 37 players | 37 players | 1 |

### Number of teams by region

| Number | Region | Team(s) |
| 2 | Kyiv Oblast | Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka and Nyva Buzova |
| 1 | Kyiv | Rubikon Kyiv |
| 1 | Mykolaiv Oblast | Vast Mykolaiv |
| 1 | Odesa Oblast | Real Pharma Odesa |
| 1 | Poltava Oblast | Kremin-2 Kremenchuk |
| 1 | Vinnytsia Oblast | Nyva Vinnytsia |
| 1 | Zhytomyr Oblast | Zviahel |
| 1 | Zakarpattia Oblast | Khust |
| 1 | Zaporizhia Oblast | Metalurh-2 Zaporizhzhia |

## Post-season play-offs

Following the league season (double round-robin tournament), the runner-up is expected to meet with the 2022–23 First League's 15th placed team to contest the 2022–23 Second League promotion.

## Awards
### Round awards

| Round | Player | Player | Player | Coach | Coach | Coach |
| Round | Player | Club | Reference | Coach | Club | Reference |
| Round 1 | Dmytro Yarchuk | Vast Mykolaiv | | Serhiy Karpenko | Nyva Buzova | |
| Round 2 | Denys Ndukve | Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | | Volodymyr Tsytkin | Khust | |
| Round 3 | Valeriy Nikitchuk | Zviahel | | Viktor Kuryata | Rubikon Kyiv | |
| Round 4 | Oleksiy Lytovchenko | Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | | Oleh Ostapenko | Nyva Vinnytsia | |
| Round 5 | Ivan Somov | Nyva Buzova | | Yuriy Kulish | Real Pharma Odesa | |
| Round 6 | Andriy Fesenko | Zviahel | | Serhiy Karpenko | Nyva Buzova | |
| Round 7 | Vasyl Lutsiv | Khust | | Volodymyr Tsytkin | Khust | |
| Round 8 | Serhiy Barsukov | Real Pharma Odesa | | Denys Khomutov | Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | |
| Round 9 | Anatoliy Taran | Nyva Buzova | | Serhiy Karpenko | Nyva Buzova | |
| Round 10 | Andriy Holovatenko | Nyva Buzova | | Serhiy Karpenko | Nyva Buzova | |
| Round 11 | Oleksiy Shvets | Nyva Vinnytsia | | Serhiy Karpenko | Nyva Buzova | |
| Round 12 | Artur Zahorulko | Nyva Vinnytsia | | Serhiy Syzykhin | Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | |
| Round 13 | Vasyl Lutsiv | Khust | | Ruslan Skydan | Zviahel | |
| Round 14 | Oleksandr Vivdych | Kremin-2 Kremenchuk | | Ruslan Skydan | Zviahel | |
| Round 15 | Vladyslav Borysenko | Khust | | Volodymyr Tsytkin | Khust | |
| Round 16 | Yevhen Mykolayuk | Nyva Buzova | | Serhiy Syzykhin | Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka | |
| Round 17 | Artur Zahorulko | Nyva Vinnytsia | | Andriy Parkhomenko | Real Pharma Odesa | |
| Round 18 | Bohdan Pavlych | Khust | | Volodymyr Tsytkin | Khust | |