# 1996 Belarusian Premier League

The 1996 Belarusian Premier League was the sixth season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on 16 April and ended on 10 November 1996. Dinamo Minsk were the defending champions.

## Team changes from 1995 season

Bobruisk, who finished in the last place, have relegated and immediately dissolved after 1995 season. They were replaced by the newcomers Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk, who won the First League in 1995.
Dvina Vitebsk changed their name to Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk and Shinnik Bobruisk were renamed to Belshina Bobruisk. Torpedo Mogilev changed name to Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev in the middle of the season (in September).

## Overview

The championship was played as a double round-robin tournament in the summer season of 1996. MPKC Mozyr won the champions title for the 1st time while spending only two seasons in Premier League and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up Dinamo Minsk qualified for UEFA Cup. Bronze medalists and 1996–97 Cup winners Belshina Bobruisk qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup. Obuvshchik Lida and Vedrich Rechitsa, placed 15th and 16th respectively, relegated to the First League.

## Teams and venues

| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity | Position in 1995 |
| Dinamo Minsk | Minsk | Dinamo Stadium (Minsk) | 50,050 | 1 |
| MPKC Mozyr | Mozyr | Yunost Stadium (Mozyr) | 7,500 | 2 |
| Dinamo-93 Minsk | Minsk | Traktor Stadium | 25,000 | 3 |
| Ataka-Aura Minsk | Minsk | Traktor Stadium | 25,000 | 4 |
| Molodechno | Molodechno | City Stadium | 5,600 | 5 |
| Dnepr Mogilev | Mogilev | Spartak Stadium (Mogilev) | 12,000 | 6 |
| Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk | Vitebsk | Dinamo Stadium (Vitebsk) | 5,500 | 7 |
| Neman Grodno | Grodno | Neman Stadium | 14,000 | 8 |
| Torpedo Minsk | Minsk | Torpedo Stadium (Minsk) | 5,000 | 9 |
| Dinamo Brest | Brest | Dinamo Stadium (Brest) | 5,400 | 10 |
| Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev | Mogilev | Torpedo Stadium (Mogilev) | 6,000 | 11 |
| Obuvshchik Lida | Lida | Obuvshchik Stadium | 3,000 | 12 |
| Shakhtyor Soligorsk | Soligorsk | Stroitel Stadium | 5,000 | 13 |
| Vedrich Rechitsa | Rechytsa | Central Stadium | 5,500 | 14 |
| Belshina Bobruisk | Bobruisk | Spartak Stadium (Bobruisk) | 4,800 | 15 |
| Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk | Novopolotsk | Atlant Stadium | 6,500 | First league, 1 |
* ^ One game played at City Stadium in Lyuban, two games at Traktor Stadium.
* ^ Two games played at Kamvolschik Stadium, one game at Dinamo Stadium.
* ^ Two games played at Dinamo Stadium.
* ^ Ten games played at Khimvolokno Stadium due to renovation works at Spartak Stadium
* ^ One game played at City Stadium in Shumilino.
* ^ Two games played at Shakhtyor Stadium.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | MPKC Mozyr (C) | 30 | 24 | 4 | 2 | 64 | 17 | +47 | 76 | Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Dinamo Minsk | 30 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 83 | 20 | +63 | 75 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Belshina Bobruisk | 30 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 67 | 32 | +35 | 63 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Dinamo-93 Minsk | 30 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 44 | 30 | +14 | 56 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 5 | Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk | 30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 48 | 27 | +21 | 49 | |
| 6 | Ataka-Aura Minsk | 30 | 13 | 5 | 12 | 31 | 42 | −11 | 44 | |
| 7 | Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk | 30 | 13 | 4 | 13 | 43 | 52 | −9 | 43 | |
| 8 | Molodechno | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 42 | 33 | +9 | 41 | |
| 9 | Dnepr Mogilev | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 33 | 36 | −3 | 39 | |
| 10 | Dinamo Brest | 30 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 39 | 43 | −4 | 32 | |
| 11 | Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 30 | 8 | 5 | 17 | 29 | 50 | −21 | 29 | |
| 12 | Torpedo Minsk | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 32 | 53 | −21 | 29 | |
| 13 | Neman Grodno | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 25 | 48 | −23 | 29 | |
| 14 | Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev | 30 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 27 | 64 | −37 | 27 | |
| 15 | Obuvshchik Lida (R) | 30 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 26 | 43 | −17 | 24 | Relegation to Belarusian First League |
| 16 | Vedrich Rechitsa (R) | 30 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 14 | 57 | −43 | 15 | Relegation to Belarusian First League |

## Results

| Home \ Away | ATA | BSH | DBR | DMI | D93 | DNE | LVI | MOL | MPK | NAF | NEM | OBU | SHA | TMI | TMO | VED |
| Ataka-Aura Minsk | | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–5 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Belshina Bobruisk | 3–0 | | 4–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 6–0 | 7–0 |
| Dinamo Brest | 1–2 | 0–0 | | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 7–0 | 1–0 |
| Dinamo Minsk | 4–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | | 6–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 5–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Dinamo-93 Minsk | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–3 |
| Dnepr Mogilev | 0–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Molodechno | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | | 1–2 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 5–0 | 2–0 |
| MPKC Mozyr | 1–0 | 5–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 7–1 | 3–1 |
| Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 0–3 | | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 4–0 |
| Neman Grodno | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| Obuvshchik Lida | 0–1 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–5 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Torpedo Minsk | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–5 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 2–2 | | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev | 0–0 | 1–6 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | | 1–1 |
| Vedrich Rechitsa | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–6 | 2–0 | |

## Belarusian clubs in European Cups

| Round | Team #1 | Agg. | Team #1 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup ||||||
| Group stage | Ataka-Aura Minsk | 0–4 | Rotor Volgograd | 0–4 | |
| Group stage | Shakhtar Donetsk | 1–2 | Ataka-Aura Minsk | 1–2 | |
| Group stage | Ataka-Aura Minsk | 0–3 | Antalyaspor | 0–3 | |
| Group stage | Basel | 5–0 | Ataka-Aura Minsk | 5–0 | |
| 1996–97 UEFA Cup ||||||
| Preliminary round | Dinamo-93 Minsk | 4–2 | Tiligul Tiraspol | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Preliminary round | Bohemians | 1–1 (a) | Dinamo Minsk | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Qualifying round | Helsingborg | 4–1 | Dinamo-93 Minsk | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Qualifying round | Dinamo Minsk | 2–3 | Beşiktaş | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup ||||||
| Qualifying round | MPKC Mozyr | 2–3 | KR Reykjavik | 2–2 | 0–1 |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Name | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Andrey Khlebasolaw | Belshina Bobruisk | 34 |
| 2 | Uladzimir Makowski | Dinamo Minsk | 23 |
| 3 | Alyaksandr Vyazhevich | Molodechno | 20 |
| 4 | Sergey Yaromko | MPKC Mozyr | 14 |
| 5 | Alyaksandr Kulchy | MPKC Mozyr | 13 |
| 6 | Vitaliy Kirilko | Dinamo Brest | 12 |
| 6 | Vladimir Solodukhin | Dnepr Mogilev | 12 |
| 8 | Ruslan Lyashenko | Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk | 11 |
| 8 | Vladimir Putrash | Belshina Bobruisk | 11 |
| 10 | Aleksandr Volovik | Torpedo Minsk | 10 |