# 2004 Belarusian Premier League

The 2004 Belarusian Premier League was the 14th season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 15 and ended on November 11, 2004. Gomel were the defending champions.

## Team changes from 2003 season

Two lowest placed teams in 2003 (Lokomotiv Minsk and Molodechno-2000) relegated and were replaced by two best teams from 2003 First League: newcomers MTZ-RIPO Minsk and Lokomotiv Vitebsk, who previously competed in Premiere League as KIM, Dvina and Lokomotiv-96 and is a different team from Lokomotiv Vitebsk, who relegated to First League in 1995 and after a few seasons in First and Second Leagues was disbanded in late 2000.

## Overview

Dinamo Minsk won their 7th champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up BATE Borisov and 2004–05 Cup winners MTZ-RIPO Minsk qualified for UEFA Cup. 2001 champions Belshina Bobruisk finished on last place and directly relegated to the First League. Lokomotiv Vitebsk and MTZ-RIPO Minsk shared 14th and 15th places with equal number of points and had to play one-legged play-off on a neutral ground to determine who will relegate and who will stay. Lokomotiv Vitebsk lost the game and relegated to the First League. Torpedo-SKA Minsk, who finished 6th, lost financial support from their sponsor in early 2005 and, after losing almost all their main squad and not having funds to pay entrance fee for next season's Premiere League, had to relegate to Second League.

## Teams and venues

| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity | Position in 2003 |
| Gomel | Gomel | Central Stadium | 10,600 | 1 |
| BATE | Borisov | City Stadium (Borisov) | 5,500 | 2 |
| Dinamo Minsk | Minsk | Dinamo Stadium | 40,000 | 3 |
| Torpedo-SKA | Minsk | Torpedo Stadium (Minsk) | 5,200 | 4 |
| Shakhtyor | Soligorsk | Stroitel Stadium | 3,000 | 5 |
| Torpedo | Zhodino | Torpedo Stadium (Zhodino) | 2,020 | 6 |
| Neman | Grodno | Neman Stadium | 6,300 | 7 |
| Naftan | Novopolotsk | Atlant Stadium | 5,300 | 8 |
| Dnepr-Transmash | Mogilev | Spartak Stadium (Mogilev) | 6,800 | 9 |
| Belshina | Bobruisk | Spartak Stadium (Bobruisk) | 3,000 | 10 |
| Dinamo Brest | Brest | OSK Brestskiy | 3,000 | 11 |
| Zvezda-VA-BGU | Minsk | Traktor Stadium | 17,600 | 12 |
| Darida | Minsk Raion | Darida Stadium | 3,000 | 13 |
| Slavia | Mozyr | Yunost Stadium | 5,300 | 14 |
| Lokomotiv | Vitebsk | Vitebsky CSK | 8,100 | First league, 1 |
| MTZ-RIPO | Minsk | Traktor Stadium | 17,600 | First league, 2 |
* ^ One game played at Torpedo Stadium in Minsk.
* ^ One game played at Torpedo Stadium in Minsk and one game at Spartak Stadium in Mogilev.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Dinamo Minsk (C) | 30 | 24 | 3 | 3 | 64 | 18 | +46 | 75 | Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | BATE Borisov | 30 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 59 | 25 | +34 | 70 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 30 | 19 | 8 | 3 | 55 | 21 | +34 | 65 | |
| 4 | Torpedo Zhodino | 30 | 19 | 2 | 9 | 57 | 28 | +29 | 59 | |
| 5 | Gomel | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 42 | 41 | +1 | 46 | |
| 6 | Torpedo-SKA Minsk (R) | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 37 | 31 | +6 | 46 | Relegation to Belarusian Second League |
| 7 | Neman Grodno | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 37 | 33 | +4 | 40 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round |
| 8 | Dinamo Brest | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 39 | 41 | −2 | 39 | |
| 9 | Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 30 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 29 | 37 | −8 | 37 | |
| 10 | Naftan Novopolotsk | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 45 | 50 | −5 | 35 | |
| 11 | Darida Minsk Raion | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 35 | |
| 12 | Slavia Mozyr | 30 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 32 | 51 | −19 | 31 | |
| 13 | Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 31 | 56 | −25 | 29 | |
| 14 | MTZ-RIPO Minsk (O) | 30 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 32 | 56 | −24 | 27 | UEFA Cup first qualifying round and relegation play-offs |
| 15 | Lokomotiv Vitebsk (R) | 30 | 8 | 3 | 19 | 34 | 54 | −20 | 27 | Relegation to Belarusian First League |
| 16 | Belshina Bobruisk (R) | 30 | 2 | 6 | 22 | 21 | 62 | −41 | 12 | Relegation to Belarusian First League |
* ↑ Torpedo-SKA Minsk were relegated to the Second League due to the financial reasons.
* ↑ MTZ-RIPO Minsk qualified for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round by winning the 2004–05 Belarusian Cup.
* ↑ MTZ-RIPO Minsk and Lokomotiv Vitebsk finished the season level on points so the Football Federation of Belarus decided to organise a playoff game to determine which side will be relegated to the First League.

### Relegation play-off
## Results

| Home \ Away | BAT | BSH | DAR | DBR | DMI | DNE | GOM | LVI | MTZ | NAF | NEM | SHA | SLA | TZH | TMI | ZBM |
| BATE Borisov | | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–3 |
| Belshina Bobruisk | 0–5 | | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 |
| Darida Minsk Raion | 2–3 | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 |
| Dinamo Brest | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | | 0–3 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 |
| Dinamo Minsk | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 6–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 4–0 |
| Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Gomel | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–4 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Lokomotiv Vitebsk | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| MTZ-RIPO Minsk | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 5–2 | 6–0 | | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 0–5 | 0–3 | 0–0 |
| Naftan Novopolotsk | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–2 | | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 5–1 |
| Neman Grodno | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 |
| Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 5–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Slavia Mozyr | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 0–5 | | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Torpedo Zhodino | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 5–2 |
| Torpedo-SKA Minsk | 0–3 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 0–1 |
| Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 2–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | |
* ↑ MTZ-RIPO was awarded a technical loss for entering the field of a disqualified player.

## Belarusian clubs in European Cups

| Round | Team #1 | Agg. | Team #2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup ||||||
| First round | Odra Wodzisław | 1–2 | Dinamo Minsk | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Second round | Dinamo Minsk | 4–3 | Smederevo | 1–2 | 3–1 (aet) |
| Third round | Lille | 4–3 | Dinamo Minsk | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| 2004–05 UEFA Cup ||||||
| First qualifying round | Nistru Otaci | 3–2 | Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| First qualifying round | BATE Borisov | 2–4 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 2–3 | 0–1 |
| 2004–05 UEFA Champions League ||||||
| First qualifying round | Gomel | 1–2 | Tirana | 0–2 | 1–0 |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Name | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Valery Strypeykis | Naftan Novopolotsk | 18 |
| 2 | Raman Vasilyuk | Dinamo Brest | 17 |
| 3 | Aleksandr Sokolov | Darida Minsk Raion | 16 |
| 4 | Yawhen Zuew | Torpedo Zhodino | 15 |
| 5 | Vitaliy Bondarev | Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 14 |
| 5 | Artsyom Hancharyk | Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 14 |
| 7 | Oleg Strakhanovich | BATE Borisov | 13 |
| 8 | Edu | Torpedo-SKA Minsk | 12 |
| 8 | Dzmitry Parfyonaw | MTZ-RIPO Minsk | 12 |
| 8 | Andrey Razin | Dinamo Minsk | 12 |