# 2001–02 Vyshcha Liha

The 2001–02 Vyshcha Liha season was the 11th since its establishment. FC Dynamo Kyiv were the defending champions.

## Teams
### Promotions

* Zakarpattia Uzhhorod, the runners-up of the 2000–01 Ukrainian First League – (debut)
* Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya, the third placed of the 2000–01 Ukrainian First League – (debut)
Note: the 2000–01 Ukrainian First League was won by the second team of Dynamo Kyiv, FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv, which could not be promoted.

### Renamed

* FC CSKA Kyiv owned by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was sold to the Kyiv city authorities headed by Oleksandr Omelchenko. The club was reorganized and renamed as FC Arsenal Kyiv to commemorate SC Arsenal that existed before 1960s.

### Location
## Managers

| Club | Coach | Replaced coach | Home stadium |
| FC Shakhtar Donetsk | Nevio Scala | Viktor Prokopenko | Shakhtar Stadium |
| FC Dynamo Kyiv | Oleksiy Mykhailychenko | Valery Lobanovsky | Dynamo Stadium |
| FC Metalurh Donetsk | Semen Altman | | Metalurh Stadium |
| FC Metalurh Zaporizhia | Oleh Taran | Volodymyr Atamanyuk | Metalurh Stadium AvtoZAZ Stadium |
| FC Metalist Kharkiv | Mykhailo Fomenko | | Metalist Stadium |
| FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | Yevhen Kucherevsky | Mykola Fedorenko | Meteor Stadium |
| SC Tavriya Simferopol | Anatoliy Zayayev | Valeriy Petrov | Lokomotyv Stadium |
| FC Karpaty Lviv | Lev Brovarskyi | Myron Markevych | Ukraina Stadium |
| FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | Ihor Nadein | Hennadiy Lytovchenko | Metalurh Stadium |
| FC Metalurh Mariupol | Mykola Pavlov | | Illichivets Stadium |
| FC Vorskla Poltava | Andriy Bal | | Vorskla Stadium |
| FC Arsenal Kyiv | Oleh Kuznetsov | (co-coach Volodymyr Bezsonov) | CKS ZSU Stadium |
| FC Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya | Roman Pokora | | Nika Stadium |
| FC Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | Yuriy Kalitvintsev | | Avanhard Stadium |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk (C) | 26 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 49 | 10 | +39 | 66 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | Dynamo Kyiv | 26 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 62 | 9 | +53 | 65 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Metalurh Donetsk | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 38 | 28 | +10 | 42 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | 26 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 25 | 22 | +3 | 40 | Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 5 | Metalist Kharkiv | 26 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 35 | 36 | −1 | 40 | |
| 6 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 26 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 30 | 20 | +10 | 40 | |
| 7 | Tavriya Simferopol | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 27 | 36 | −9 | 30 | |
| 8 | Karpaty Lviv | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 31 | −12 | 29 | |
| 9 | Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | 26 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 28 | 40 | −12 | 28 | |
| 10 | Illichivets Mariupol | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 29 | 42 | −13 | 26 | |
| 11 | Vorskla Poltava | 26 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 33 | −14 | 25 | |
| 12 | Arsenal Kyiv | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 18 | 28 | −10 | 23 | |
| 13 | Polihraftekhnika | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 39 | −18 | 23 | Qualification to relegation playoffs |
| 14 | Zakarpattia Uzhhorod (R) | 26 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 23 | 49 | −26 | 21 | Relegated to Ukrainian First League |
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head points: Metalurh 7 pts, Metalist 9 pts, Dnipro 1 pt; On decision of the FFU executive committee, Metalurh had better head-to-head record with both Metalist and Dnipro separately (see #European qualifications case).
* ↑ Metalurh Zaporizhia obtained the uncontested European competitions berth (both Shakhtar and Dynamo were participants of the 2002 Ukrainian Cup Final) after it was awarded the 4th place on the decision the Executive Committee of Football Federation of Ukraine. According to the Metalist head coach Mykhailo Fomenko, the club's leadership did not contested the decision as it was afraid for obligation to invest more funds in the club, plus the home stadium had to be reconstructed.
* 1 2 ARK 2–0 POL; POL 1–0 ARK

### European qualifications case

Because both finalists of the 2002 Ukrainian Cup Final Dynamo and Shakhtar qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the fourth European competition berth was to be awarded to the best fourth placed team in the league competition. The fourth place with 40 points earned was Metalist Kharkiv, however there were two more teams with the same number of points Metalurh Zaporizhia and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. According to the 2001-02 season regulations the first tie breaker in case of even points were the head-to-head points among the teams that tied. Therefore originally Metalist Kharkiv was the main contender to qualify for the European competitions. However, the administration of FC Metalurh Zaporizhia argued the fact that their team head better head-to-head record with both Metalist Kharkiv (2 1-0-1 2-2 with an away goal) and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2 1-1-0 2-1). On 16 June 2002 the FFU Executive Committee came up with its final decision awarding Metalurh Zaporizhia with qualification to European competitions.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ARK | DNI | DYN | KAR | KRY | MET | MDO | MTM | MZA | POL | SHA | TAV | VOR | ZAK |
| Arsenal Kyiv | — | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Dnipro | 2–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 4–1 | 0–0 | 6–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 |
| Karpaty Lviv | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | — | 3–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 |
| Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–7 | 0–0 | — | 4–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Metalist Kharkiv | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 |
| Metalurh Donetsk | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 5–0 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Metalurh Mariupol | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–6 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–2 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Metalurh Zaporizhzhia | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 3–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 4–1 |
| Polihraftekhnika | 1–0 | 2–6 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | — | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 4–2 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 4–0 | 5–1 |
| Tavriya Simferopol | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–5 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Vorskla Poltava | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 |
| Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–5 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | — |

## Top goalscorers

| Serhiy Shyschenko | Metalurh Donetsk | 12 (2) |
| Vitaliy Pushkutsa | Metalist Kharkiv | 11 (1) |
| Olexandr Melashchenko | Dynamo Kyiv | 9 |
| Andriy Vorobei | Shakhtar Donetsk | 9 |
| Valentin Belkevich | Dynamo Kyiv | 9(1) |
| Florin Cernat | Dynamo Kyiv | 9 (1) |
| Vasyl Gigiadze | Tavriya Simferopol | 9 (7) |
| Igor Prodan | Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | 8 |
| Serhiy Chuychenko | Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya | 8(3) |
| Hennady Zubov | Shakhtar Donetsk | 8 (4) |