# 1997–98 Ukrainian Second League

The 1997–98 Ukrainian Second League was the seventh season of 3rd level professional football in Ukraine. The competition commenced on 31 July 1997 and ended on 29 June 1998.

## Group A
### Promoted teams

* Tsementnyk-Khorda Mykolaiv - Runner-up of the Amateur League (debut)
* Naftovyk Dolyna - Third of the Amateur League (debut)
* Dynamo-3 Kyiv - Group 3 third of the Amateur League (debut)
* Berkut Bedevlia - Group 1 last of the Amateur League (debut)
* Borysfen Boryspil - undetermined (previously another team FC Boryspil played at the level in 1993–94)
* Karpaty-2 Lviv - undetermined (debut)

### Relegated teams

* Podillia Khmelnytskyi - Placed 22nd in the First League (returning, last time in 1989 (Soviet Union))
* Veres Rivne - Placed 23rd in the First League (returning, last time in 1989 (Soviet Union))
* Krystal Chortkiv - Placed 24th in the First League (debut)

### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Podillya Khmelnytskyi (C, O, P) | 34 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 69 | 20 | +49 | 78 | Play-off |
| 2 | Dynamo-3 Kyiv | 34 | 21 | 7 | 6 | 59 | 24 | +35 | 70 | |
| 3 | Karpaty-2 Lviv | 34 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 54 | 50 | +4 | 53 | |
| 4 | Veres Rivne | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 42 | 33 | +9 | 52 | |
| 5 | Krystal Chortkiv | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 48 | 38 | +10 | 51 | |
| 6 | Tsementnyk-Khorda Mykolaiv | 34 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 51 | |
| 7 | Halychyna Drohobych | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 37 | 31 | +6 | 50 | |
| 8 | Karpaty Mukacheve (D) | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 36 | 30 | +6 | 49 | Withdrew |
| 9 | Systema-Boreks Borodianka | 34 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 34 | 23 | +11 | 49 | |
| 10 | Naftovyk Dolyna | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 48 | |
| 11 | Hazovyk Komarno | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 41 | |
| 12 | Papirnyk Malyn | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 29 | 34 | −5 | 41 | |
| 13 | Berkut Bedevlia (D) | 34 | 12 | 4 | 18 | 26 | 53 | −27 | 40 | Withdrew |
| 14 | Borysfen Boryspil | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 40 | |
| 15 | Kalush | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 32 | 42 | −10 | 38 | |
| 16 | Haray Zhovkva | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 29 | 43 | −14 | 38 | |
| 17 | Tysmenytsia (O, D) | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 35 | 49 | −14 | 38 | Relegation play-off - Withdrew |
| 18 | Pokuttia Kolomyia (R) | 34 | 6 | 5 | 23 | 19 | 61 | −42 | 23 | Relegated |

### Top goalscorers

| | Scorer | Team | Goals (Pen.) |
| 1 | Yuriy Bakhovskyi | Veres Rivne | 16 |
| 2 | Pavlo Onysko | Karpaty-2 Lviv | 14 (1) |
| 2 | Viktor Danylychyn | Krystal Chortkiv | 14 (3) |
| 4 | Vasyl Bondarchuk | Podillya Khmelnytskyi | 12 |
| 4 | Volodymyr Ivakhnyuk | FC Kalush | 12 (1) |

## Group B
### Promoted teams

* Chornomorets Sevastopol - Fourth of the Amateur League (returning, last time as Chayka Sevastopol in 1995–96)
* Dynamo Odesa - undetermined (returning, last time as Dynamo-Flesh in 1995–96)
* SKA-Lotto Odesa - winner of the Odesa Oblast championship as Lotto Odesa (debut)
* Fortuna Sharhorod - winner of the Vinnytsia Oblast championship (debut)
* Dnipro-2 Dnipropetrovsk - undetermined (debut)
* Zirka-NIBAS-2 Kirovohrad - undetermined (debut)

### Relegated teams

* SC Odesa - Placed 21st in the First League (returning, last time as SKA Odesa in 1991 (Soviet Union))

### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Krystal Kherson (C) | 32 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 74 | 20 | +54 | 86 | Play-off |
| 2 | SKA-Lotto Odesa (D) | 32 | 21 | 4 | 7 | 54 | 23 | +31 | 67 | Merged with Dynamo Odesa |
| 3 | SC Odesa | 32 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 48 | 29 | +19 | 61 | |
| 4 | Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk | 32 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 39 | 35 | +4 | 47 | |
| 5 | Olimpia Pivdenoukrainsk | 32 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 33 | 41 | −8 | 45 | |
| 6 | Viktor Zaporizhzhia | 32 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 41 | 38 | +3 | 43 | |
| 7 | Dnipro-2 Dnipropetrovsk | 32 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 43 | |
| 8 | Tytan Armyansk | 32 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 36 | 36 | 0 | 42 | |
| 9 | Chornomorets Sevastopol | 32 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 32 | 33 | −1 | 41 | |
| 10 | Portovyk Illichivsk | 32 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 36 | 45 | −9 | 40 | |
| 11 | Lokomotyv Smila | 32 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 39 | |
| 12 | Fortuna Sharhorod | 32 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 37 | 53 | −16 | 38 | |
| 13 | Nyva Bershad | 32 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 39 | 46 | −7 | 35 | |
| 14 | Torpedo Melitopol | 32 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 38 | 43 | −5 | 33 | |
| 15 | Ryhonda Bila Tserkva | 32 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 25 | 45 | −20 | 31 | |
| 16 | Zirka-2 Kirovohrad | 32 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 21 | 47 | −26 | 29 | |
| 17 | Dynamo Odesa | 32 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 26 | 40 | −14 | 28 | Merged with SKA-Lotto Odesa |

## Group C
### Promoted teams

* Elektron Romny - Winner of the Amateur League (debut)
* Metalurh Komsomolske - Fifth of the Amateur League (debut)
* Pivdenstal Yenakieve - Sixth of the Amateur League (debut)
* Slovianets Konotop - Group 3 runner-up of the Amateur League (debut)
* Avers Bakhmach - Group 5 runner-up of the Amateur League (debut)
* Vorskla-2 Poltava - undetermined (debut)
* Hirnyk Pavlohrad - undetermined (returning, last time as Hirnyk-Kosmos Pavlohrad in 1995–96)
* Metalurh-2 Donetsk - undetermined (debut)

### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Shakhtar-2 Donetsk (C, P) | 30 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 87 | 26 | +61 | 70 | Play-off |
| 2 | Fakel Varva (D) | 30 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 48 | 23 | +25 | 60 | Withdrew |
| 3 | Elektron Romny | 30 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 53 | 36 | +17 | 58 | |
| 4 | Oskil Kupiansk | 30 | 16 | 5 | 9 | 35 | 28 | +7 | 53 | |
| 5 | Obolon-PPO Kyiv | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 47 | 28 | +19 | 52 | |
| 6 | Metalurh Novomoskovsk | 30 | 16 | 3 | 11 | 49 | 39 | +10 | 51 | |
| 7 | Slovyanets Konotop (D) | 30 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 45 | Withdrew |
| 8 | Slavutych-ChAES (D) | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 42 | Withdrew |
| 9 | Vorskla-2 Poltava | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 52 | 47 | +5 | 40 | |
| 10 | Metalurh-2 Donetsk (D) | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 36 | Withdrew |
| 11 | Shakhtar Stakhanov | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 45 | −24 | 33 | |
| 12 | Pivdenstal Yenakiyeve (D) | 30 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 27 | 34 | −7 | 31 | Withdrew |
| 13 | Metalist-2 Kharkiv | 30 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 39 | 52 | −13 | 28 | |
| 14 | Myrhorod | 30 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 34 | 64 | −30 | 26 | |
| 15 | Hirnyk Pavlohrad (R) | 30 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 30 | 58 | −28 | 24 | Play-off – Relegated |
| 16 | Metalurh Komsomolske (R) | 30 | 7 | 2 | 21 | 24 | 63 | −39 | 23 | Relegated |
| 17 | Avers Bakhmach (D) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew |

## Post season play-offs
### Relegation play-offs

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| FC Tysmenytsia | 4–1 | FC Promin Sambor | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Zirka-2 Kirovohrad | w/o | Kharchovyk Popivka | | |
| Hirnyk Pavlohrad | -:+ | Shakhtar Horlivka | 1–2 | -:+ |

### Relegation play-offs (1st leg)

Zirka-2 Kirovohrad won on walkover after Kharchovyk Popivka withdrew from the play-offs.

### Relegation play-offs (2nd leg)

Tysmenytsia won 4–1 on aggregate.
Shakhtar Horlivka won on walkover after Hirnyk Pavlohrad did not arrive.