2023-2024 Ukrainian Premier League

The 2023-2024 Ukrainian Premier League is be the 33rd season of Ukraine's top flight and the 16th season since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League. Zoyra Luhansk are defending champions after winning the 2022-2023 edition. This will be the final season of 16 teams for the time being, as in 2024-2025, the league will be expanding to 18 teams.

## Preparations

The 2023-2024 Season will have teams playing at a fixed stadium for the season instead of around the country like the previous season. There are talks with local governments about allowing minimum capacity into stadiums where there is no serious threats about deliberate Russian missiles or attacks. Confirmed on 11th June 2023, Ukrainian teams in Europe will be playing in Poland with fans purchasing tickets from Ukraine getting free flights to the stadium. Limited Crowds were also confirmed on 12th June 2023 for the Ukrainian Premier League for Matchday 1 as a test run to see how it will go. This was after the approval of all local areas first games to see.

The Fixtures were announced on Monday 26th June 2023, with Shakhtar Donetsk vs Obolon Kyiv being opening game of the season.

## Season Summary

### July

The season begun on the 28th of July with Shakhtar Donetsk drawing 1-1 to Obolon Kyiv. Shakhtar seemed outplayed by Obolon Kyiv but Obolon Kyiv failed to take advantage of golden chances. Shakhtar were lucky to take a point as Obolon should have won. On the 29th July, Dynamo Kyiv beat Vorlska 3-1 and Mynai drew 0-0 to newly promoted Arsenal Kyiv and Metalist Kharkiv lost 1-4 to Rivne and Inhulets Petrove won 1-0 vs Metalist 1925 Kharkiv and defending league champions Zoyra Luhansk beat Oleksandryia 3-0. On 30th July, Newly Promoted Olimpik Donetsk hosted Ukrainian First League champions FC Mariupol and finished 0-3 to Mariupol. The final game of the first week was Chornomorets Odesa beating Dnipro-1 2-1 in an upset.

### August

Three Round 2 matches were postponed which were Arsenal - Obolon, Metalist 1925 Kharkiv - Olimpik Donetsk and Dnipro-1 - Zoyra Luhansk. Mynai drew 2-2 to Dynamo Kyiv. Shakhtar Donetsk beat Rivne 2-3 and Vorlska beat Inhulets Petrove 5-1, Oleksandyria beat Metalist Kharkiv

## Teams

There will be 16 teams in the Ukrainian Premier League, as has been the case since 2021-2022. 12 teams from the 2022-2023 season and 2 teams from the 2022-2023 Ukrainian First League will be confirmed to be in the league. There will be 2 Ties of 2 Legs in the Relegation Playoffs. 3rd in Ukrainian First League vs 14th in Ukrainian Premier League and 4th in Ukrainian First League vs 13th in Ukrainian Premier League.

### Promoted Teams

* FC Mariupol - 2022-2023 Ukrainian First League Champions
* Arsenal Kyiv - 2022-2023 Ukrainian First League Runners-Up
* Olimpik Donetsk - 2023 Ukrainian Premier League Play-Off Winner

### Relegated Teams

* FC Lviv - 16th in 2022-2023 Ukrainian Premier League
* FC Nyva - 15th in 2022-2023 Ukrainian Premier League
* Rukh Lviv - 13th in 2022-2023 Ukrainian Premier League and loser of a 2023 Ukrainian Premier League Play-Off Tie

## Rescheduled Games

### Saturday 2nd December 2023

* **Oleksandryia** vs **Inhulets Petrove** - Round 13 - 12:30pm EET - Nika Stadium, Oleksandryia
* **Rivne** vs **Olimpik Donetsk** - Round 13 - 3:00pm EET - Avanhard Stadium, Rivne
* **Dnipro-1** vs **Zorya Luhansk** - Round 2 - 5:30pm EET - Dnipro Arena, Dnipro
* **Arsenal Kyiv** vs **Obolon Kyiv** - Round 2 - 8:00pm EET - Dynamo Arena, Kyiv

### Sunday 3rd December 2023

* **Metalist Kharkiv** vs **Shakhtar Donetsk** - Round 14 - 5:30pm EET - Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv

### Wednesday 6th December 2023

* Olimpik Donetsk vs Oleksandyria - Round 14 - 8:00pm EET - Avanhard Stadium, Uzzhorod

## Play-Offs

There will be 4 teams in the Play-Offs. 14th Place in the Ukrainian Premier League along with 4th, 5th and 6th in the Ukrainian First League will all participate in the Play-Offs. There will be 2 Leg Semi-Finals at each teams home ground for the season then the Play-Off final in Kyiv.

## References

1. ↑ ЗОЙРА ЛУГАНСЬК – ЧЕМПІОН УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ПРЕМ’ЄР ЛІГИ
2. ↑ Ukrainian Premier League: Discussions about Minimum Capacity in 2023-2024
3. ↑ Ukrainian Premier League 2023-2024: Limited Crowds to be trailed in first gameweek
4. ↑ Shakhtar Donetsk vs Obolon Kyiv: Friday 28th July 2023: Counting down the days until the UPL is back.
5. ↑ UPL Relegation Playoffs 2022-2023
6. ↑ FC Mariupol Champions of Ukrainian First League 2022-2023!
7. ↑ Arsenal Kyiv to Ukraine's Top Flight for the first time since 2018/2019.
8. ↑ Olimpik Donetsk return to Ukrainian Top Flight after Play-Off win vs Rukh Lviv
9. ↑ 2024 UPL Play-Offs: New one-off 4 team play-off tournament announced as UPL expands to 18 teams