# 2007–08 Vyshcha Liha

The 2007–08 Vyshcha Liha season was the seventeenth since its establishment. This season of the championship was sponsored by Biola which became the title sponsor replacing Soyuz-Viktan. The competition began on 17 July 2007 and ended on 18 May 2008. 16 teams participated in the competition, 14 of which contested in the 2006–07 season, and two of which (Zakarpattia Uzhhorod and Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka) were promoted from the Ukrainian First League (the league immediately below the Ukrainian Premier League). Dynamo Kyiv was the defending champions. Also, it was the last season of the top tier being part of the Professional Football League of Ukraine before separating into the Ukrainian Premier League and rebranding from Vyshcha Liha (Higher League).
The winner of the competition became Shakhtar Donetsk with 74 points, followed by Dynamo Kyiv with 71 points. Metalist, which placed right behind Shakhtar and Dynamo, had its awards stripped for match fixing. The top goalscorer of the season was Marko Dević from Metalist Kharkiv with 19 goals, 6 of which were penalties. The spot for the second highest goalscorer with 17 goals was a three-way tie between Oleksandr Hladky from Shakhtar Donetsk, Yevhen Seleznyov from Arsenal Kyiv (on loan from Shakhtar), and Oleksandr Kosyrin from Metalurh Donetsk.

## Teams
### Promoted

Two teams were promoted from the 2006-07 Ukrainian First League.
* Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka, champion – (returning after absence of 15 seasons)
* Zakarpattya Uzhhorod, runner-up – (returning after absence of a seasons)
Naftovyk and Zakarpattia replaced Illichivets Mariupol (after a 10-year topflight spell) and Stal Alchevsk (a couple of seasons), both of which were relegated to the 2007-08 Ukrainian First League.

### Location map
## Managers

| Club | Coach | Replaced coach |
| Arsenal Kyiv | Oleksandr Zavarov | |
| Chornomorets Odesa | Vitaliy Shevchenko | |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | Oleh Protasov | |
| Dynamo Kyiv | Yuri Semin | Anatoliy Demyanenko |
| Karpaty Lviv | Valery Yaremchenko | Oleksandr Ischenko |
| Kharkiv | Volodymyr Bezsonov | |
| Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | Oleh Taran | |
| Metalist Kharkiv | Myron Markevych | |
| Metalurh Donetsk | Nikolay Kostov | Jos Daerden |
| Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | Anatoly Chantsev | |
| Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka | Valeriy Horodov | Serhiy Shevchenko Viktor Ishchenko |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | Mircea Lucescu | |
| Tavriya Simferopol | Mykhailo Fomenko | |
| Vorskla Poltava | Mykola Pavlov | Anatoliy Momot |
| Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | Volodymyr Vasiutyk | Petro Kushlyk Volodymyr Sharan |
| Zorya Luhansk | Anatoliy Volobuev | Oleksandr Kosevych |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing head coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming head coach | Date of appointment | Table |
| Chornomorets | | | | | Vitaliy Shevchenko | 27 June 2007 | Pre-season |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk (C) | 30 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 75 | 24 | +51 | 74 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | Dynamo Kyiv | 30 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 65 | 26 | +39 | 71 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Metalist Kharkiv | 30 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 51 | 27 | +24 | 63 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 30 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 40 | 27 | +13 | 59 | Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round |
| 5 | Tavriya Simferopol | 30 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 38 | 40 | −2 | 47 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |
| 6 | Arsenal Kyiv | 30 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 42 | |
| 7 | Chornomorets Odesa | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 27 | 33 | −6 | 38 | |
| 8 | Vorskla Poltava | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 28 | 30 | −2 | 36 | |
| 9 | Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 24 | 32 | −8 | 36 | |
| 10 | Karpaty Lviv | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 29 | 41 | −12 | 33 | |
| 11 | Zorya Luhansk | 30 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 24 | 43 | −19 | 31 | |
| 12 | Metalurh Donetsk | 30 | 6 | 13 | 11 | 34 | 39 | −5 | 31 | |
| 13 | Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | 30 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 29 | 39 | −10 | 30 | |
| 14 | FC Kharkiv | 30 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 20 | 32 | −12 | 27 | |
| 15 | Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka (R) | 30 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 18 | 38 | −20 | 26 | Relegation to the Ukrainian First League |
| 16 | Zakarpattia Uzhhorod (R) | 30 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 17 | 54 | −37 | 18 | Relegation to the Ukrainian First League |
* ↑ The court ruling however came later in 2013. No further sanctions were awarded to the club.
* ↑ Metalist Kharkiv was stripped of their bronze award for this season by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne in August 2013 for fixing of the match Karpaty Lviv – Metalist (of 19 April 2008).

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARK | CHO | DNI | DYN | KAR | KHA | KRY | MET | MDO | MZA | NAF | SHA | TAV | VOR | ZAK | ZOR |
| Arsenal Kyiv | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 7–0 | 1–1 |
| Chornomorets Odesa | 0–1 | — | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Dnipro | 1–3 | 1–0 | — | 0–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2–2 | 5–2 | 1–3 | — | 7–3 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Karpaty Lviv | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| FC Kharkiv | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Metalist Kharkiv | 2–4 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Metalurh Donetsk | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 |
| Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–1 | — | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 4–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 3–0 |
| Tavriya Simferopol | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | — | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 |
| Vorskla Poltava | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 0–2 |
| Zorya Luhansk | 3–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 2–3 | +:- | 1–0 | — |

## Top goalscorers

| Scorer | Goals | Team |
| Marko Dević | 19 | Metalist Kharkiv |
| Oleksandr Hladky | 17 | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| Oleksandr Kosyrin | 17 | Metalurh Donetsk |
| Yevhen Seleznyov | 17 | Arsenal Kyiv |
| Ismaël Bangoura | 15 | Dynamo Kyiv |
| Volodymyr Homenyuk | 14 | Tavriya Simferopol |
| Brandão | 12 | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| Fernandinho | 11 | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| Maksim Shatskikh | 10 | Dynamo Kyiv |
| Serhiy Nazarenko | 9 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk |

## Stadia

The following stadiums were used as home grounds during the season:
| Rank | Stadium | Capacity | Club | Notes |
| 1 | NSC Olimpiysky | 83,450 | Arsenal Kyiv | Played last 6 games |
| 2 | Chornomorets Stadium | 34,362 | Chornomorets Odesa | Annual venue for the Ukrainian Super Cup |
| 3 | Shakhtar Stadium | 31,718 | Metalurh Donetsk | |
| 4 | Metalurh Stadium | 29,783 | Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | |
| 5 | Ukraina Stadium | 28,051 | Karpaty Lviv | Renovations are taking place |
| 6 | RSK Olimpiyskiy | 25,831 | Shakhtar Donetsk | |
| 7 | Vorskla Stadium | 25,000 | Vorskla Poltava | FC Kharkiv played against Dynamo and Zorya |
| 8 | Stadium Meteor | 24,381 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | |
| 9 | Metalist Stadium | 22,757 | Metalist Kharkiv FC Kharkiv | Temporarily in emergency conditions |
| 10 | Avanhard Stadium | 22,320 | Zorya Luhansk | |
| 11 | Lokomotiv Stadium | 19,978 | Tavriya Simferopol | |
| 12 | Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium | 16,873 | Dynamo Kyiv Arsenal Kyiv | FC Arsenal Kyiv its first 9 games here |
| 13 | Avanhard Stadium | 12,000 | Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | |
| 14 | Slavutych-Arena | 11,983 | Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | |
| 15 | Dynamo Stadium | 6,000 | Metalist Kharkiv FC Kharkiv | Metalist played three games here including one against Kharkiv, Kharkiv played here its home game against Vorskla |
| 16 | Naftovyk Stadium | 5,256 | Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka | |