2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League

2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League

The 2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League season, referred to as the VBET Ukrainian Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the 35th top-level football club competition since the fall of the Soviet Union and the 18th since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League (UPL).

The season has started on 1 August 2025 and will end on 29 May 2026. The UPL clubs decided not to hold the season opening match Ukrainian Super Cup due to the ongoing Russian military aggression against Ukraine.

Dynamo Kyiv are the defending champions, having won their 17th Premier-Liha title and their 30th overall domestic title in the previous season.

Teams

2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League

This season, the Ukrainian Premier League remained at 16 teams.

Promoted teams

• Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi – first-placed team of the 2024–25 Ukrainian First League (debut) • SC Poltava – second-placed team of the 2024–25 Ukrainian First League (debut) • Metalist 1925 Kharkiv – third-placed team of the 2024–25 Ukrainian First League, winner in relegation play-off (returning after one-year absence) • FC Kudrivka – fourth-placed team of the 2024–25 Ukrainian First League, winner in relegation play-off (debut)

Relegated teams

• Inhulets Petrove – relegated after one season in the top flight • Chornomorets Odesa – relegated after three seasons in the top flight • Vorskla Poltava – relegated after twenty-nine seasons in the top flight, lost in relegation play-off • Livyi Bereh Kyiv – relegated after one season in the top flight, lost in relegation play-off

Stadiums

The minimum threshold for the stadium's capacity in the UPL is 4,500 (Article 10, paragraph 8.3).

The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:

Rank	Stadium	Place	Club	Capacity	Notes
1	Arena Lviv	Lviv	Shakhtar Donetsk	34,725	used as home ground during the season
Rukh Lviv
2	Ukraina Stadium	Lviv	Karpaty Lviv	28,051
Rukh Lviv	used as home ground in 3 matches
SC Poltava	used as home ground in 1 match
3	Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium	Kyiv	Dynamo Kyiv	16,873
Zorya Luhansk	used as home ground during the season
4	Shukhevych Miskyi Stadium	Ternopil	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	15,150	used as home ground during the season
5	Berezkin Zirka Stadium	Kropyvnytskyi	SC Poltava	13,305	used as home ground during the season
6	Cherkasy Arena	Cherkasy	LNZ Cherkasy	10,321
7	Avanhard Stadium	Rivne	Veres Rivne	7,122
Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	used as home ground in 1 match
FC Kudrivka	used as home ground in 2 matches
8	CSC Nika Stadium	Oleksandriya	FC Oleksandriya	7,000
9	Tsentralnyi Stadion	Zhytomyr	Polissya Zhytomyr	5,928
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	used as home ground during the season
FC Kudrivka	used as home ground in 1 match
10	Obolon Arena	Kyiv	Obolon Kyiv	5,103
FC Kudrivka	used as home ground during the season
SC Poltava	used as home ground in 1 match
Zorya Luhansk	used as home ground in 1 match
11	Kolos Stadium	Kovalivka	Kolos Kovalivka	5,050
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	used as home ground in 1 match
12	Arena Livyi Bereh	Zolocha hromada	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	4,700	used as home ground in 3 matches
13	Hirnyk Stadium	Kryvyi Rih	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	3,219

Personnel and sponsorship

<table><thead><tr><th>Team</th><th>President</th><th>Head coach</th><th>Captain</th><th>Kit manufacturer</th><th>Shirt sponsor</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Dynamo Kyiv</td><td>Ihor Surkis</td><td>Ihor Kostyuk</td><td>Vitaliy Buyalskyi</td><td>New Balance</td><td>GG.BET</td></tr><tr><td>Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi</td><td>Ivan Chernonoh</td><td>Serhiy Nahornyak</td><td>Andriy Bezhenar</td><td>Bavovna</td><td>Епіцентр</td></tr><tr><td>Karpaty Lviv</td><td>Volodymyr Matkivskyi</td><td>Fran Fernández</td><td>Vladyslav Babohlo</td><td>Nike</td><td>Lvivske</td></tr><tr><td>Kolos Kovalivka</td><td>Andriy Zasukha</td><td>Ruslan Kostyshyn</td><td>Valeriy Bondarenko</td><td>Nike</td><td>Svitanok</td></tr><tr><td>Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih</td><td>Kostyantyn Karamanits</td><td>Patrick van Leeuwen</td><td>Maksym Zaderaka</td><td>SKIDAN</td><td>Rudomain</td></tr><tr><td>FC Kudrivka</td><td>Roman Solodarenko</td><td>Vasyl Baranov</td><td>Anton Yashkov</td><td>Kelme</td><td>betking</td></tr><tr><td>LNZ Cherkasy</td><td>Viktor Kravchenko</td><td>Vitaliy Ponomaryov</td><td>Nazariy Muravskyi</td><td>Macron</td><td>FavBet</td></tr><tr><td>Metalist 1925 Kharkiv</td><td>Bohdan Boyko</td><td>Mladen Bartulović</td><td>Ivan Kalyuzhnyi</td><td>Puma</td><td>Whitebit</td></tr><tr><td>Obolon Kyiv</td><td>Oleksandr Slobodian</td><td>Oleksandr Antonenko (interim)</td><td>Oleh Slobodyan</td><td>Jako</td><td>FavBet & Obolon</td></tr><tr><td>Oleksandriya</td><td>Serhiy Kuzmenko</td><td>Volodymyr Sharan</td><td>Dmytro Myshnyov</td><td>Nike</td><td>AgroVista</td></tr><tr><td>Polissya Zhytomyr</td><td>Hennadiy Butkevych</td><td>Ruslan Rotan</td><td>Ruslan Babenko</td><td>Nike</td><td>BGV Group</td></tr><tr><td>SC Poltava</td><td>Serhiy Ivashchenko</td><td>Pavlo Matviychenko (interim)</td><td>Vladyslav Danylenko</td><td>ARTY</td><td>КВП, Poltava Brewery, Insortex</td></tr><tr><td>Rukh Lviv</td><td>Hryhoriy Kozlovskyi</td><td>Ivan Fedyk</td><td>Denys Pidhurskyi</td><td>Kappa</td><td>Emily Resort, Favbet, Auroom, Onur Group</td></tr><tr><td>Shakhtar Donetsk</td><td>Rinat Akhmetov</td><td>Arda Turan</td><td>Mykola Matviyenko</td><td>Puma</td><td>FavBet</td></tr><tr><td>Veres Rivne</td><td>Ivan Nadieyin</td><td>Oleh Shandruk</td><td>Ihor Kharatin</td><td>Buntar</td><td>betking</td></tr><tr><td>Zorya Luhansk</td><td>Yevhen Heller</td><td>Viktor Skrypnyk</td><td>Pylyp Budkivskyi</td><td>Puma</td><td>Without sponsor</td></tr></tbody></table>

Managerial changes

<table><thead><tr><th>Team</th><th>Outgoing manager</th><th>Manner of departure</th><th>Date of vacancy</th><th>Table</th><th>Incoming manager</th><th>Date of appointment</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Shakhtar Donetsk</td><td>Marino Pušić</td><td>Sacked</td><td>24 May 2025</td><td>Pre-season</td><td>Arda Turan</td><td>27 May 2025</td></tr><tr><td>LNZ Cherkasy</td><td>Roman Hryhorchuk</td><td>Mutual consent</td><td>26 May 2025</td><td>Vitaliy Ponomaryov</td><td>5 June 2025</td></tr><tr><td>FC Oleksandriya</td><td>Ruslan Rotan</td><td>End of contract</td><td>29 May 2025</td><td>Kyrylo Nesterenko</td><td>17 June 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Polissya Zhytomyr</td><td>Oleksandr Maksymov (caretaker)</td><td>End of caretaker spell</td><td>29 May 2025</td><td>Ruslan Rotan</td><td>29 May 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih</td><td>Yuriy Vernydub</td><td>End of contract</td><td>31 May 2025</td><td>Patrick van Leeuwen</td><td>9 June 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Rukh Lviv</td><td>Vitaliy Ponomaryov</td><td>Mutual consent</td><td>4 June 2025</td><td>Ivan Fedyk</td><td>11 June 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Obolon Kyiv</td><td>Serhiy Shyshchenko</td><td>Mutual consent</td><td>4 June 2025</td><td>Oleksandr Antonenko (interim)</td><td>4 June 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Zorya Luhansk</td><td>Mladen Bartulović (interim)</td><td>End of interim spell & contract</td><td>16 June 2025</td><td>Viktor Skrypnyk</td><td>16 June 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Metalist 1925 Kharkiv</td><td>Oleksandr Chyzhov (caretaker)</td><td>End of caretaker spell</td><td>20 June 2025</td><td>Mladen Bartulović</td><td>20 June 2025</td></tr><tr><td>SC Poltava</td><td>Volodymyr Sysenko</td><td>Change of role</td><td>29 July 2025</td><td>Pavlo Matviychenko (interim)</td><td>29 July 2025</td></tr><tr><td>FC Kudrivka</td><td>Vasyl Baranov</td><td>Juridical</td><td>5 August 2025</td><td>1st</td><td>Vitaliy Kostyshyn (interim)</td><td>5 August 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Dynamo Kyiv</td><td>Oleksandr Shovkovskyi</td><td>Sacked</td><td>27 November 2025</td><td>7th</td><td>Ihor Kostyuk (caretaker)</td><td>27 November 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Ihor Kostyuk (caretaker)</td><td>Permanent basis</td><td>17 December 2025</td><td>4th</td><td>Ihor Kostyuk</td><td>17 December 2025</td></tr><tr><td>Karpaty Lviv</td><td>Vladyslav Lupashko</td><td>Mutual consent</td><td>31 December 2025</td><td>9th</td><td>Fran Fernández</td><td>8 January 2026</td></tr><tr><td>FC Kudrivka</td><td>Vitaliy Kostyshyn (interim)</td><td>Resigned</td><td>20 February 2026</td><td>13th</td><td>Vasyl Baranov</td><td>20 February 2026</td></tr><tr><td>FC Oleksandriya</td><td>Kyrylo Nesterenko</td><td>Mutual consent</td><td>23 March 2026</td><td>15th</td><td>Volodymyr Sharan</td><td>23 March 2026</td></tr></tbody></table>

League table

2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	LNZ Cherkasy	21	15	2	4	30	12	+18	47	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Shakhtar Donetsk	20	14	5	1	48	12	+36	47	Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round
3	Polissya Zhytomyr	21	13	3	5	36	14	+22	42
4	Dynamo Kyiv	21	12	5	4	49	23	+26	41
5	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	20	9	7	4	24	13	+11	34
6	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	21	9	7	5	33	28	+5	34
7	Kolos Kovalivka	21	8	8	5	20	20	0	32
8	Zorya Luhansk	20	7	7	6	27	24	+3	28
9	Karpaty Lviv	21	6	8	7	29	26	+3	26
10	Obolon Kyiv	21	6	6	9	17	33	−16	24
11	Veres Rivne	20	5	7	8	16	24	−8	22
12	Kudrivka	21	5	6	10	24	35	−11	21
13	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	21	6	2	13	25	35	−10	20	Qualification for the Relegation play-off
14	Rukh Lviv	21	6	1	14	16	32	−16	19
15	Oleksandriya	21	2	5	14	14	40	−26	11	Relegation to Ukrainian First League
16	Poltava	21	2	3	16	16	53	−37	9

Results

2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League

Teams play each other twice on a home and away basis.

Matches affected by air raid alerts

Round 1 Zorya vs LNZ. The match had been interrupted in the 17th minute for 36 minutes. Round 2 Poltava vs Veres. The match had been interrupted in the 80th minute for 38 minutes. Kryvbas vs Metalist 1925. The match had been interrupted in the 24th minute for 38 minutes. Round 3 Rukh vs Obolon. The match had been interrupted in the 67th minute for 15 minutes. Kolos vs Karpaty. The match had been interrupted in the 33nd minute for 17 minutes. Zorya vs Kryvbas. The match had been interrupted in the 63th minute for 17 minutes. Round 4 Kryvbas vs Obolon. The match was delayed for 20 minutes. Round 5 Obolon vs Dynamo. The match was delayed for 15 minutes. Kryvbas vs Polissya. The match was delayed for 30 minutes and then had been interrupted in 2nd minute for 8 minutes. Round 6 Obolon vs Karpaty. The match had been interrupted in 26th minute for 49 minutes. Round 8 Kolos vs Rukh. The match was delayed for 60 minutes. Oleksandriya vs Karpaty. The match had been interrupted in the 9th minute for 41 minutes. Obolon vs Veres. The match was delayed for 45 minutes. Round 10 Poltava vs Kolos. The match was delayed for 15 minutes. Round 11 Kryvbas vs Poltava. The match was delayed for 60 minutes. LNZ vs Karpaty. The match had been interrupted a few times: in the 26th minute for 39 minutes; in the 49th minite for 31 minutes; in the 90+4th minute for 22 minutes. Round 12 Oleksandriya vs Polissya. The match was delayed for 20 minutes. Round 14 Obolon vs Kolos. The match had been interrupted in 44th minute for 45 minutes. Round 16 Oleksandriya vs Kudrivka. The match was delayed for 27 minutes. Round 18 LNZ vs Polissya. The match had been interrupted a few times: in 7th minute for 29 minutes and then in 90+2nd minute for 18 minutes. Round 19 Polissya vs Dynamo.The match had been interrupted in 90+1st minute for 19 minutes. Round 20 LNZ vs Oleksandriya. The match was delayed for 45 minutes.

Position by round

	Lider/Champions of 2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League
	Qualification for Conference League
	possible Qualification for Conference League
	Qualification for the Relegation play-offs
	Relegation to Ukrainian First League

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Scorer	Team	Goals Pen.
1	Matviy Ponomarenko	Dynamo Kyiv	9 (0)
2	Pylyp Budkivskyi	Zorya Luhansk	8 (0)
Baboucarr Faal	Rukh Lviv / Karpaty Lviv	8 (0)
Mykola Hayduchyk	Polissya Zhytomyr	8 (0)
5	Nemanja Anđušić	Zorya Luhansk	7 (0)
Mark Assinor	LNZ Cherkasy	7 (0)
Yuriy Klymchuk	Kolos Kovalivka	7 (0)
Bruninho	Karpaty Lviv	7 (1)
Prosper Obah	LNZ Cherkasy / Shakhtar Donetsk	7 (1)
Andriy Storchous	Kudrivka	7 (1)
Yehor Tverdokhlib	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih / LNZ Cherkasy	7 (3)

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Dmytro Riznyk	Shakhtar Donetsk	13
2	Oleksiy Palamarchuk	LNZ Cherkasy	12
Yevhen Volynets	Polissya Zhytomyr
4	Danylo Varakuta	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	10
5	Nazar Domchak	Karpaty Lviv	8
6	Oleh Bilyk	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	7
Valentyn Horokh	Veres Rivne
Ivan Pakholyuk	Kolos Kovalivka
9	Ruslan Neshcheret	Dynamo Kyiv	6
10	Oleksandr Saputin	Zorya Luhansk	5

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Lassina Traoré	Shakhtar Donetsk	Karpaty Lviv	3–0 (H)	22 February 2026
Nemanja Anđušić	Zorya Luhansk	SC Poltava	4–0 (H)	8 March 2026

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month	Coach of the Month	Ref.
Player	Club	Coach	Club
August 2025	Andriy Storchous	Kudrivka	Vasyl Baranov	Kudrivka
September 2025	Bruninho	Karpaty Lviv	Mladen Bartulović	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv
October 2025	Prosper Obah	LNZ Cherkasy	Vitaliy Ponomaryov	LNZ Cherkasy
November 2025December 2025	Oleksiy Hutsulyak	Polissya Zhytomyr
February 2026March 2026	Matviy Ponomarenko	Dynamo Kyiv	Ihor Kostyuk	Dynamo Kyiv
April 2026
May 2026

Round awards

The list includes winners of the Round by the Ukrainian Premier League as well as the Ukrainian internet publisher "SportArena".

Round	Player	Coach
Player	Club	Reference	Coach	Club	Reference
Round 1	Andriy Storchous (SA)	FC Kudrivka		Ruslan Rotan (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Andriy Storchous (UPL)	FC Kudrivka		Vasyl Baranov (UPL)	FC Kudrivka
Round 2	Gleiker Mendoza (SA)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Oleksandr Antonenko (SA)	Obolon Kyiv
Gleiker Mendoza (UPL)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Vladyslav Lupashko (UPL)	Karpaty Lviv
Round 3	Maksym Zaderaka (SA)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (SA)	LNZ Cherkasy
Maksym Zaderaka (UPL)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (UPL)	LNZ Cherkasy
Round 4	Vitaliy Buyalskyi (SA)	Dynamo Kyiv		Oleksandr Shovkovskyi (SA)	Dynamo Kyiv
Yehor Tverdokhlib (UPL)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Oleksandr Shovkovskyi (UPL)	Dynamo Kyiv
Round 5	Tedi Cara (SA)	FC Oleksandriya		Oleksandr Antonenko (SA)	Obolon Kyiv
Tedi Cara (UPL)	FC Oleksandriya		Mladen Bartulović (UPL)	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv
Round 6	Gleiker Mendoza (SA)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (SA)	LNZ Cherkasy
Gleiker Mendoza (UPL)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Kyrylo Nesterenko (UPL)	FC Oleksandriya
Round 7	Pedrihno (SA)	Shakhtar Donetsk		Ruslan Rotan (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Oleksandr Filippov (UPL)	Polissya Zhytomyr		Ruslan Rotan (UPL)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Round 8	Prosper Obah (SA)	LNZ Cherkasy		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (SA)	LNZ Cherkasy
Gleiker Mendoza (UPL)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (UPL)	LNZ Cherkasy
Round 9	Mykola Myronyuk (SA)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi		Serhiy Nahornyak (SA)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi
Mykola Myronyuk (UPL)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi		Serhiy Nahornyak (UPL)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi
Round 10	Vladyslav Veleten (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr		Ruslan Rotan (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Vladyslav Veleten (UPL)	Polissya Zhytomyr		Oleksandr Shovkovskyi (UPL)	Dynamo Kyiv
Round 11	Eren Aydın (SA)	Veres Rivne		Arda Turan (SA)	Shakhtar Donetsk
Eren Aydın (UPL)	Veres Rivne		Arda Turan (UPL)	Shakhtar Donetsk
Eguinaldo (UPL)	Shakhtar Donetsk
Round 12	Eduard Sarapiy (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (SA)	LNZ Cherkasy
Yevheniy Pastukh (UPL)	LNZ Cherkasy		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (UPL)	LNZ Cherkasy
Round 13	Yuriy Klymchuk (SA)	Kolos Kovalivka		Ruslan Kostyshyn (SA)	Kolos Kovalivka
Yuriy Klymchuk (UPL)	Kolos Kovalivka		Ruslan Kostyshyn (UPL)	Kolos Kovalivka
Round 14	Valeriy Voskonyan (SA)	SC Poltava		Pavlo Matviychenko (SA)	SC Poltava
Valeriy Voskonyan (UPL)	SC Poltava		Pavlo Matviychenko (UPL)	SC Poltava
Round 15	Artur Mykytyshyn (SA)	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih		Viktor Skrypnyk (SA)	Zorya Luhansk
Round 16	Oleksiy Hutsulyak (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr		Ihor Kostyuk (SA)	Dynamo Kyiv
Oleksiy Hutsulyak (UPL)	Polissya Zhytomyr		Vitaliy Ponomaryov (UPL)	LNZ Cherkasy
winter break
Round 17	Lassina Traoré (SA)	Shakhtar Donetsk		Ruslan Rotan (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Round 18	Matviy Ponomarenko (SA)	Dynamo Kyiv		Ruslan Rotan (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Matviy Ponomarenko (UPL)	Dynamo Kyiv		Ruslan Rotan (UPL)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Round 19	Vladyslav Supriaha (SA)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi		Ihor Kostyuk (SA)	Dynamo Kyiv
Vladyslav Supriaha (UPL)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi		Serhiy Nahornyak (UPL)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi
Round 20	Andriy Yarmolenko (SA)	Dynamo Kyiv		Serhiy Nahornyak (SA)	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi
Bruninho (UPL)	Karpaty Lviv		Ruslan Rotan (UPL)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Round 21	Oleksiy Hutsulyak (SA)	Polissya Zhytomyr		Fran Fernández (SA)	Karpaty Lviv
Round 22
Round 23
Round 24
Round 25
Round 26
Round 27
Round 28
Round 29
Round 30

Relegation play-offs

2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League

Teams that placed 13th and 14th in the 2025–26 Ukrainian Premier League play two-leg play-off with the third and fourth teams of the 2025–26 Ukrainian First League.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
TBD	x–x	TBD
TBD	x–x	TBD