2022-2023 Ukrainian Premier League

The **2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League** season, referred to as the **VBet Liha** for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd top-level football club competition since the fall of the Soviet Union and the 15th since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League.

The defending champions are Dynamo Kyiv. The previous 2021–22 season was abandoned due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although Shakhtar Donetsk were at the top of the table when the league was abandoned, no title was officially awarded. The current season began on 23 August 2022 and will end on 3 June 2023.

## Preparation

Due to the full-scale invasion of Russia, teams were discussing the possibility of playing in western Ukraine as well as Poland. On May 26th 2022, the Ukrainian Premier League was confirmed to play in 2022-2023. On June 16th 2022, the Ukrainian Premier League confirmed to have 16 teams, with FC Mariupol, who finished 16th getting relegating FC Mariupol (16th), Kolos (15th) and relegated Desna (14th). The promoted teams were Oblon Kyiv (1st), their first Ukrainian Premier League appearance since 2015-2016. FC Kharkiv (2nd) and Nyva (3rd). Ukrainian teams in Europe would play their games in Europe, who were Shakhtar Donetsk (UCL Group Stage), Dynamo Kyiv (UCL Qualifiers), Zoyra Luhansk (UEL Qualifiers), Oleksandriya (UECL Qualifiers) and FC Dnipro-1 (UECL Qualifiers). On 24th June 2022, the UPL planned the season on August 20th 2022. On 24th July it was confirmed that the opening weekend would be pushed to August 23rd, to mark Ukrainian National Flag Day. Oleksandryia and FC-Dnipro 1 at the time were already eliminated from Europe. Shakhtar already qualified for Group Stage so they all participated in the opening games. Dynamo Kyiv and Zoyra Luhansk were to play in the playoff round of the qualifiers so they would not play during the week.

## Teams

Just like the previous 2 seasons, the Ukrainian Premier League had 16 teams, 13 of them which participated in 2021-2022, 3 of them which got promoted. Some of the teams also got suspended due to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, such as Mariupol and Desna having their infrastructure destroyed, but the teams would still participate in Ukrainian First League.

### Promoted Teams

* Oblon Kyiv - First Placed team of the 2021-2022 Ukrainian First League
* FC Kharkiv - Second Placed team of the 2021-2022 Ukrainian First League
* FC Nyva - Third Placed team of the 2021-2022 Ukrainian First League

### Relegated Teams

* FC Mariupol - 16th Placed team of the 2021-2022 Ukrainian Premier League
* Kolos - 15th Placed team of the 2021-2022 Ukrainian Premier League
* Desna - 14th Placed team of the 2021-2022 Ukrainian Premier League

### Stadiums

It was planned that games will be played in Poland. However in June 2022, the UPL confirmed games will be played in Ukraine. With the ongoing Russian aggression clubs were forced to relocate to western parts of the country with the Ukrainian Association of Football listed its certified stadiums for the season competitions. On 6th August 2022, the UPL announced the stadiums.

## References

1. ↑ 2022-2023 Ukrainian Premier League: Season to begin August 23rd
2. ↑ UPL News: UPL confirming to return with relegating bottom 3 teams
3. ↑ 22-23 UPL: Oblon Kyiv return, FC Kharkiv also return, Nyva make debut
4. ↑ Which Ukrainian teams will play in Europe?
5. ↑ D Kyiv and Z Luhansk to miss out Gameweek 1 due to playing games in Europe
6. ↑ UPL 2022-2023: Who will participate?
7. ↑ The Original Relegation Playoff game between 3rd of UFL and 14th of UPL was cancelled due to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
8. ↑ UPL considering games in Poland for 22-23
9. ↑ Ukrainian Premier League games will be played in Ukraine for 22-23, according to the UPL
10. ↑ Teams from Eastern Ukraine may relocate to Western Ukraine
11. ↑ Kharkiv clubs return to Kharkiv after Ukrainian Counterattack
12. ↑ Metalist 1925 Kharkiv return to Dynamo Stadium in Kharkiv, will host matches for the first time since 2012