2015–16 Ukrainian First League

The 2015–16 Ukrainian First League was the 25th since its establishment. The competition commenced on 26 July 2015 with eight matches. The competition had a winter break which began after Round 18 on November 22. The competition resumed on 26 March 2016 and completed on 1 June 2016.

Ukrainian First League

Season	2015–16
Champions	Zirka Kirovohrad
Promoted	Zirka Kirovohrad
Relegated	Nyva (withdrew) Dynamo-2 (withdrew) Hirnyk (withdrew)
Matches played	220
Goals scored	509 (2.31 per match)
Top goalscorer	16 – Artem Favorov (Obolon-Brovar)
Biggest home win	Zirka 6–0 FC Ternopil (Round 5)
Biggest away win	4 – Nyva 0–4 FC Sumy (Round 3)
Highest scoring	7 – Hirnyk-Sport 3–4 FC Poltava (Round 29)
Longest winning run	6 – Zirka (Round 19–25)
Longest unbeaten run	9 – Helios (Rounds 1–9)
Longest winless run	8 –Illichivets (Rounds 3–4, 6, 8–9, ppd. 7, 10, ppd. 5)
Longest losing run	8 – Nyva (Round 6–9, Round 11–14)
Highest attendance	7,500 – Dnipro–Hirnyk (Round 20)
Lowest attendance	100 – Desna–FC Sumy(Round 12)
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

Teams

The number of teams for the competition was confirmed on 19 June 2015.^[1]

Promoted teams

Two teams were promoted from the 2014–15 Ukrainian Second League.^[2]

• Cherkaskyi Dnipro – champion (returning as a successor of FC Dnipro Cherkasy that last participated in the 2007–08 Ukrainian First League, 17 seasons absence)
• Obolon-Brovar Kyiv – 2nd place runner-up (returning as a successor of FC Obolon Kyiv after an absence of three seasons)

Relegated teams

One team was promoted from the 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League.

• Illichivets Mariupol^[3] – 14th place (returning after an absence of seven seasons)

Reinstated teams

• Avanhard Kramatorsk^[3] – special case (returning after an absence of one season)

Location map

The following displays the location of teams.

 

 

Dynamo-2

 

Obolon-Brovar

class=notpageimage|

Kyiv city home venues of teams in the League

 

 

Kyiv

 

Kyiv teams :
Dynamo
Obolon-Brovar

 

Ternopil

 

Ternopil teams :
Nyva
Ternopil

 

Desna

 

Helios

 

Hirnyk

 

Hirnyk-Sport

 

Mykolaiv

 

Naftovyk-Ukrnafta

 

Poltava

 

Sumy

 

Zirka

 

Illichivets

 

Avanhard

 

Cherkaskyi Dnipro

class=notpageimage|

Home venues of teams in the 2015–16 Ukrainian First League.

Stadiums

The following stadiums are considered home grounds for the teams in the competition.

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Metalurh Stadium, Kryvyi Rih	29,783	Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih
2	Yuvileiny Stadium, Sumy	25,800	FC Sumy
3	Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, Kyiv	16,873	Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Used as home ground in Round 14 and 17
4	Central City Stadium, Mykolaiv	16,700	MFC Mykolaiv
5	Zirka Stadium, Kirovohrad	13,667	Zirka Kirovohrad
6	Labor Reserve, Bila Tserkva	13,500	Desna Chernihiv	Used as home ground^[a]
7	City Stadium, Ternopil	12,750	Nyva Ternopil
			FC Ternopil
8	Illichivets Stadium, Mariupol	12,680	Illichivets Mariupol
9	Yuri Gagarin Stadium, Chernihiv	12,060	Desna Chernihiv
10	Central Stadion, Cherkasy	10,321	Cherkaskyi Dnipro
11	Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka	5,256	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka
12	Obolon Arena, Kyiv	5,100	Obolon-Brovar Kyiv
13	Sonyachny Stadium, Kharkiv	4,924^[5]	Helios Kharkiv
14	Avanhard Stadium, Kramatorsk	2,500	Avanhard Kramatorsk
15	Lokomotov Stadium, Poltava	2,500	FC Poltava
16	Yunist Stadium, Komsomolsk	2,500	Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk
17	Dynamo Training Center, Kyiv	1,200	Dynamo-2 Kyiv

1. Due to reconstruction of their home ground Yuri Gagarin Stadium, Desna Chernihiv played their Round 12 home game in Bila Tserkva^[4]

Managers

Club	Coach	Replaced coach
Avanhard Kramatorsk	Yakiv Kripak
Cherkaskyi Dnipro	Ihor Stolovytskyi
Desna Chernihiv	Oleksandr Ryabokon
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Vadym Yevtushenko
Helios Kharkiv	Serhiy Syzykhin
Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih	Hennadiy Prykhodko
Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk	Ihor Zhabchenko
Illichivets Mariupol	Valeriy Kriventsov
MFC Mykolaiv	Ruslan Zabranskyi
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	Volodymyr Knysh
Nyva Ternopil	Petr Badlo (interim)	Roman Tolochko
Obolon-Brovar Kyiv	Sergei Soldatov
FC Poltava	Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi (interim)	Oleh Fedorchuk
FC Sumy	Yuriy Yaroshenko
FC Ternopil	Vasyl Ivehesh
Zirka Kirovohrad	Serhiy Lavrynenko

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment	Table
Helios Kharkiv	Serhiy Syzykhin (interim)	Change of contract	1 July 2015^[6]	Pre-season	Serhiy Syzykhin	1 July 2015	Pre-season
Nyva Ternopil	Roman Tolochko	Resigns	9 September 2015^[7]	15th	Petr Badlo (interim)	9 September 2015	15th
FC Ternopil	Vasyl Ivehesh	Hospitalized	13 May 2016^[8]	15th	Ivan Maruschak (interim)	14 May 2016	15th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Zirka Kirovohrad (C, P)	30	20	5	5	49	22	+27	65	Promoted to Ukrainian Premier League^[9]
2	Cherkaskyi Dnipro	30	16	7	7	45	27	+18	55
3	Obolon-Brovar Kyiv	30	16	6	8	45	35	+10	54
4	Illichivets Mariupol	30	14	11	5	34	23	+11	53
5	Helios Kharkiv	30	13	12	5	33	24	+9	51
6	Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih (D)	30	13	10	7	39	27	+12	49	Withdrew after the season^[a]
7	MFC Mykolaiv^[b]	30	13	8	9	34	27	+7	44
8	Desna Chernihiv	30	11	7	12	30	29	+1	40
9	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	30	11	7	12	31	33	−2	40
10	FC Poltava	30	10	8	12	29	32	−3	38
11	Dynamo-2 Kyiv (D)	30	9	9	12	27	34	−7	36	Withdrew after the season^[c]
12	Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk	30	8	9	13	30	35	−5	33
13	Avanhard Kramatorsk	30	8	8	14	28	42	−14	32
14	FC Sumy	30	8	6	16	35	54	−19	30	Avoided relegation playoff^[d]
15	FC Ternopil^[b]	30	6	7	17	18	47	−29	22	Avoided relegation^[e]
16	Nyva Ternopil^[b] (D)	30	2	4	24	10	26	−16	7	Withdrew during the season^[f]

Source: (in Ukrainian) Professional Football League of Ukraine^[18]
Rules for classification: ^[19] 1) points 2) goal difference 3) goals scored
4) head-to-head points 5) head-to-head goal difference 6) head-to-head goals scored
7) head-to-head fair play (all games) 8) draw or playoff
(C) Champion; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. Several weeks after the season completed the administration of Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih announced that the club would withdraw from the PFL.^[10] (23 June 2016)
2. The Control Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine deducted three points and fined the clubs Nyva Ternopil, FC Ternopil and MFC Mykolaiv for match fixing during the 2014–15 season.^[11] (2 September 2015)
3. The management of the senior club FC Dynamo Kyiv prior to the last game of the season announced that the reserve club, Dynamo-2 Kyiv would be terminating after the completion of the season.^[12]
4. Originally the fourteenth placed was to have played in a promotion-relegation playoff series against the third team in the Second League competition. However, two days before the end of the season, on 30 May 2016 the PFL ruled that due to sporting principles to keep 16 teams in the First League the promotion-relegation playoff match between the third placed team in the Second League against the 14th placed team in the First League was cancelled and that the third placed team in the Second League would be automatically promoted to the First League.^[13]
5. Originally, as per competition regulations, the fifteenth placed team, FC Ternopil was to be relegated to the Ukrainian Second League. However, after the season at the Conference of the PFL in preparation for the 2016–17 Ukrainian First League season the committee decided to expand the competition to eighteen teams and include FC Ternopil.^[14]
6. Nyva Ternopil announced that it will not play the first games of the spring half of the competition.^[15] The club indicated that it would compete in the Ternopil Oblast competition.^[16] The Football Federation of Ukraine formally expelled the club from the competition on 1 April 2016.^[17] Later In April 2016, the club joined the 2016 Ukrainian Football Amateur League.

Results

As of 1 June 2016

Home \ Away	AVK	CHD	DES	DK2	HEL	HIR	HIS	ILL	MYK	NAF	NVT	OBK	POL	SUM	TNP	ZIR
Avanhard Kramatorsk		1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–2	0–2	2–3	+:-	1–2	0–0	3–0	2–0	0–2
Cherkaskyi Dnipro	2–0		2–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	3–0	3–2	0–2	1–0	3–1	4–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	2–2
Desna Chernihiv	3–1	3–1		1–2	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	+:-	0–2	2–1	4–1	1–1	1–0
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	2–1	2–2	3–1		0–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–3	2–1	4–1	2–1	0–1
Helios Kharkiv	2–0	1–1	0–1	1–1		2–1	1–1	0–0^[a]	2–2	0–2	3–0^[b]	1–2	1–0	3–2	3–0	1–1
Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1		3–1	1–2	3–0	0–3	+:-^[b]	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–0
Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–0^[c]		1–1	3–1	2–0	1–3	1–2	3–4	3–0	1–3	1–1
Illichivets Mariupol	1–1	1–1	0–1^[d]	4–2	3–1	2–1	0–0		0–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–1^[e]	0–0	3–0
MFC Mykolaiv	2–1	1–0	3–1	0–0	0–2	0–3	2–0	4–0		0–1	3–0	2–2	1–1	3–1	3–0	0–2
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	4–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–3	0–2	1–0	0–0		+:-	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–3
Nyva Ternopil^[f]	0–1	1–1	2–0	-:+	-:+	0–1	0–0	-:+	-:+	0–1		-:+	0–1	0–4	-:+	0–1
Obolon-Brovar Kyiv	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–2	2–3	1–0	0–2	0–0	3–0	2–2		3–1	4–2	3–2	1–2
FC Poltava	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–0	0–0		1–0	1–2	1–0	3–1	+:-	1–2		2–2	1–0	1–0
PFC Sumy	3–2	0–1	0–4	2–1	0–0	2–2	0–1	0–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–3		4–1	0–1
FC Ternopil	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–3	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–1		1–2
Zirka Kirovohrad	5–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	4–0	2–1	1–3	0–0	2–1	1–0	+:-	1–2	2–0	2–0	6–0

Updated to match(es) played on 1 June 2016. Source: (in Ukrainian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Illichivets Mariupol postpones their Round 12 away match against Helios Kharkiv since several players were called for international duty.^[20] Match was played after Round 16.
2. Nyva Ternopil informed the PFL that they would not arrive for their Round 10 match against Helios Kharkiv due to their difficult financial situation.^[21] Control Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine awarded a 3–0 technical victory to Helios. (12 November 2015)^[22]
3. Round 4 match at Yunist Stadium between Hirnyk-Sport and Hirnyk was abandoned due to the waterlogged condition of the pitch due to torrential rain prior to the start of the match.^[23][24] The match was rescheduled and played after Round 12 on 14 October.^[25]
4. Illichivets Mariupol postpones their Round 7 home match against Desna Chernihiv since several players were called for international duty.^[26] Match played after Round 9.^[27]
5. Illichivets Mariupol postpones their Round 5 home match against FC Sumy since several players were called for international duty.^[28] Match played after Round 10.^[27]
6. Nyva Ternopil informed the PFL that the club will not be able to take part in the first game of the spring half of the season.^[15] (23 March 2016) Later the FFU formally expelled the club and awarded technical victories to their opponents.^[17] (1 April 2016)

Position by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Zirka Kirovohrad	13	14	7	4	1	3	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Cherkaskyi Dnipro	9	3	8	5	8	4	3	4	2	5	3	4	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	2	2	4	3	2	2
Obolon-Brovar Kyiv	1	7	12	8	6	8	6	3	5	6	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	5	4	4	2	4	4	4	4	4	2	2	3	3
Illichivets Mariupol	2	1	2	3	7	9	9	9	10	14	11	13	10	11	10	7	8	8	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	4
Helios Kharkiv	10	11	6	2	4	2	4	5	3	4	6	6	7	9	8	8	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	5
Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih	14	5	4	7	5	5	7	8	6	3	2	3	4	3	4	4	4	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	3	3	3	5	5	6
MFC Mykolaiv	3	6	10	10	10	7	8	7	8	8	8	7	9	6	5	5	6	6	10	10	9	11	11	11	11	10	9	7	7	7
Desna Chernihiv	7	12	9	11	12	10	10	10	11	10	13	10	8	8	9	11	11	11	9	7	7	10	10	10	10	9	8	8	8	8
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	8	4	1	1	2	6	5	6	7	7	7	12	13	13	14	13	13	12	12	12	10	8	9	8	7	7	7	9	10	9
FC Poltava	6	8	13	14	9	12	12	11	9	9	9	11	12	10	12	9	9	10	8	8	8	7	7	7	8	8	10	10	9	10
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	4	2	3	6	3	1	1	1	4	1	5	5	5	5	6	6	7	7	6	9	11	9	8	9	9	11	13	12	12	11
Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk	12	10	11	13	15	15	16	14	15	13	12	9	6	7	7	10	10	9	11	11	13	13	12	12	12	13	11	11	11	12
Avanhard Kramatorsk	16	16	16	16	16	16	13	12	13	12	10	8	11	12	11	12	12	13	13	13	12	12	13	13	13	12	12	13	13	13
PFC Sumy	5	9	5	9	11	11	11	13	14	15	15	15	14	14	13	15	15	14	14	14	15	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
FC Ternopil	15	13	14	12	14	13	14	15	12	11	14	14	15	15	15	14	14	15	15	15	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Nyva Ternopil	11	15	15	15	13	14	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Updated to match(es) played on 1 June 2016. Source: pfl.ua

Top goalscorers

As of 1 June 2016^[29]

Rank	Scorer	Goals (Pen.)	Team
1	Artem Favorov	16 (3)	Obolon-Brovar Kyiv
2	Yevhen Chepurnenko	11 (1)	Desna Chernihiv
3	Artem Sitalo	10 (4)	Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih
	Serhiy Vakulenko	10 (6)	Illichivets Mariupol
5	Volodymyr Bayenko	8	Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih
	Denys Skepskyi	8 (2)	Cherkaskyi Dnipro
7	Borys Baranets	7	Zirka Kirovohrad
	Oleksandr Batalskyi	7	Cherkaskyi Dnipro

Rank	Scorer	Goals (Pen.)	Team
7	Oleksiy Chychykov	7	Zirka Kirovohrad
	Ruslan Ivashko	7	Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk
	Roman Loktionov	7	Zirka Kirovohrad
	Vasyl Prodan	7	Obolon-Brovar Kyiv
	Artur Zahorulko	7	Illichivets Mariupol
	Denys Favorov^[a]	7 (1)	FC Poltava/Desna Chernihiv
	Ihor Sikorskyi	7 (4)	MFC Mykolaiv

1. Denys Favorov signed with Desna Chernihiv during the winter break.^[30]

See also

• 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League
• 2015–16 Ukrainian Second League
• 2015–16 Ukrainian Cup

References

1. [Statement of the 24th PFL Conference] (PDF). PFL (in Ukrainian). 19 June 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
2. (in Ukrainian) [Second league, Round 24: Cherkaskyi Dnipro and Obolon-Brovar enter First League]. Professional Football League of Ukraine. 19 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-07-01. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
3. (in Russian) "Сталь и еще пять клубов вышли из состава ПФЛ, восемь - включено" [Stal and other five clubs left the PFL, while other eight were included]. UA-Football. 20 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
4. "Десна" прийме ПФК "Суми" у Білій Церкві [Desna will host FC Sumy in Bila Tserkva] (in Ukrainian). ua-football.com. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
5. [Kharkiv has opened the training base "Sonyachniy"]. stadion.lviv.ua (in Ukrainian). 11 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 May 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
6. [Head coach]. FC Helios Kharkiv website (in Ukrainian). FC Helios Kharkiv. 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-06-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
7. Тренерський штаб "Ниви" подав у відставку [Nyva coaching staff resigned]. Nyva Ternopi] website) (in Ukrainian). UA-Football. 9 September 2015.
8. Чому тренер ФК «Тернопіль» Василь Івегеш потрапив до лікарні? [Why did FC Ternopil's Vasyl Ivehesh find himself in hospital?]. Ternopil City web site (in Ukrainian). 13 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
9. Постанови Центральної Ради ПФЛ ПОСТАНОВА №20 [Professional Football League of Ukraine Central Committee - Meeting Minutes #20] (PDF). PFL (in Ukrainian). 17 July 2014.
10. Гірник підтвердив інформацію про зняття з чемпіонату [Hirnyk confirmed that the club removes itself from the championship]. ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 23 June 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
11. Апеляція Миколаєва, Ниви і Тернополя щодо зняття очок відхилена [Mykolaiv, Ternopil, Nyva points deducted appeal rejected]. ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 22 March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
12. Динамо-2 припиняє своє існування [Dynamo-2 ceases its existence]. ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 1 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
13. ПФЛ відмінила плей-офф за місце у 1 лізі, третя команда 2 ліги підвищується напряму [PFL cancelled the playoffs for a place in First League, Second League third team obtains direct promotion]. UA-Football (in Ukrainian). 31 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
14. В Першій лізі можуть стартувати 18 команд [16 teams my compete in the First League]. UA-Football (in Ukrainian). 24 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
15. Офіційно: Нива не вийде на гру з ФК Тернопіль [Official: Nyva will not appear for the match against FC Ternopil]. ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 24 March 2016.
16. [Since the season Nyva (Ternopil) will participate in a regional championship]. UA-Football (in Russian). 21 March 2016. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016.
17. Офіційно: Нива виключена з Першої ліги [Official: Nyva expelled from First League]. ua-football.com (in Ukrainian). 7 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
18. . PFL (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
19. "РЕГЛАМЕНТ Стаття 12. Визначення місць команд у турнірній таблиці (Regulations: Statute 12 Standing place position in the tournament table)" (PDF) (in Ukrainian). PFL. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
20. [Illichivets will hold a friendly match against Metalist]. Illichivets Mariupol official webpage (in Russian). 10 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
21. [Official: Round 10 First League match between Helios Kharkiv and Nyva Ternopil will not take place.]. Professional Football League of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 26 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-28. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
22. Гелиосу засчитали техническую победу над Нивой [Helios was awarded a technical win over Nyva]. goalless.ru (in Russian). 12 November 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
23. Перша ліга. Матч Гірник-Спорт - Гірник перенесено через зливу [First League. Match Hirnyk-Sport - Hirnyk moved due downpour] (in Ukrainian). champion.com (Ukrainian Pravda). 15 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
24. Награда для преданных болельщиков (видео) [Reward for the loyal fans (video)] (in Russian). Hirnyk-Sport official web site. 15 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
25. Адміністрація ОФК "Професіональна футбольна ліга України" РІШЕННЯ № 16 - #3 [Professional Football League of Ukraine Administration Committee - Meeting Minutes #16 Agenda Item #3] (PDF). PFL (in Ukrainian). 29 September 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
26. [Match Illichivets - Desna will be rescheduled]. Illichivets Mariupol official webpage (in Russian). 27 August 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
27. [Dates for matches with Illichivets against Sumy and Desna known]. Illichivets Mariupol official webpage (in Russian). 5 September 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
28. [Illichivets players called up for U-21 National Team]. Illichivets Mariupol official webpage (in Russian). 18 August 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
29. Full roster at UA-Football
30. ["Desna" Chernihiv returns for the season] (in Russian). 4ernigiv.info. 28 March 2016. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.