2004 Belarusian Premier League

The 2004 Belarusian Premier League was the 14th season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 15 and ended on November 11, 2004. Gomel were the defending champions.

Belarusian Premier League
Season2004
ChampionsDinamo Minsk
RelegatedLokomotiv Vitebsk
Belshina
Champions LeagueDinamo Minsk
UEFA CupMTZ-RIPO Minsk
BATE Borisov
Intertoto CupNeman
Matches played241
Goals scored657 (2.73 per match)
Top goalscorer Valery Strypeykis (18)
Biggest home winMTZ-RIPO 6–0 Lokomotiv Vitebsk
Biggest away winBelshina 0–5 BATE;
MTZ-RIPO 0–5 Torpedo Zhodino
Highest scoring5–2 – 3 games;
6–1 – 1 game
← 2003
2005 →

Team changes from 2003 season

Two lowest placed teams in 2003 (Lokomotiv Minsk and Molodechno-2000) relegated and were replaced by two best teams from 2003 First League: newcomers MTZ-RIPO Minsk and Lokomotiv Vitebsk, who previously competed in Premiere League as KIM, Dvina and Lokomotiv-96 and is a different team from Lokomotiv Vitebsk, who relegated to First League in 1995 and after a few seasons in First and Second Leagues was disbanded in late 2000.

Overview

Dinamo Minsk won their 7th champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up BATE Borisov and 2004–05 Cup winners MTZ-RIPO Minsk qualified for UEFA Cup. 2001 champions Belshina Bobruisk finished on last place and directly relegated to the First League. Lokomotiv Vitebsk and MTZ-RIPO Minsk shared 14th and 15th places with equal number of points and had to play one-legged play-off on a neutral ground to determine who will relegate and who will stay. Lokomotiv Vitebsk lost the game and relegated to the First League. Torpedo-SKA Minsk, who finished 6th, lost financial support from their sponsor in early 2005 and, after losing almost all their main squad and not having funds to pay entrance fee for next season's Premiere League, had to relegate to Second League.

Teams and venues
Location of teams in 2004 Belarusian Premier League
Team Location Venue Capacity Position in 2003
Gomel Gomel Central, Gomel 11,800 1
BATE Borisov City Stadium, Borisov 5,500 2
Dinamo Minsk Minsk Dinamo, Minsk 41,040 3
Torpedo-SKA Minsk Torpedo, Minsk 5,200 4
Shakhtyor Soligorsk Stroitel 5,000 5
Torpedo Zhodino Torpedo, Zhodino 3,020 6
Neman Grodno Neman 6,300 7
Naftan Novopolotsk Atlant 6,500 8
Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev Spartak, Mogilev 11,200 9
Belshina Bobruisk Spartak, Bobruisk 3,550 10
Dinamo Brest Brest OSK Brestskiy 10,080 11
Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk Traktor 17,600 12
Darida Minsk Raion Darida 6,000 13
Slavia Mozyr Yunost 5,500 14
Lokomotiv Vitebsk Central, Vitebsk 8,300 First league, 1
MTZ-RIPO Minsk Traktor 17,600 First league, 2

Table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Dinamo Minsk (C) 30 24 3 3 64 18 +46 75 Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2 BATE Borisov 30 22 4 4 59 25 +34 70 Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 30 19 8 3 55 21 +34 65
4 Torpedo Zhodino 30 19 2 9 57 28 +29 59
5 Gomel 30 13 7 10 42 41 +1 46
6 Torpedo-SKA Minsk (R) 30 13 7 10 37 31 +6 46 Relegation to Belarusian Second League[lower-alpha 1]
7 Neman Grodno 30 11 7 12 37 33 +4 40 Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
8 Dinamo Brest 30 10 9 11 39 41 −2 39
9 Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 30 11 4 15 29 37 −8 37
10 Naftan Novopolotsk 30 10 5 15 45 50 −5 35
11 Darida Minsk Raion 30 9 8 13 38 48 −10 35
12 Slavia Mozyr 30 9 4 17 32 51 −19 31
13 Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk 30 7 8 15 31 56 −25 29
14 MTZ-RIPO Minsk (O) 30 6 9 15 32 56 −24 27
Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
Qualification to relegation play-offs
15 Lokomotiv Vitebsk (R) 30 8 3 19 34 54 −20 27 Relegation to Belarusian First League[lower-alpha 3]
16 Belshina Bobruisk (R) 30 2 6 22 21 62 −41 12
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd matches won; 3rd head-to-head
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. Torpedo-SKA Minsk were relegated to the Second League due to the financial reasons.
  2. MTZ-RIPO Minsk qualified for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round by winning the 2004–05 Belarusian Cup.
  3. MTZ-RIPO Minsk and Lokomotiv Vitebsk finished the season level on points so the Football Federation of Belarus decided to organise a playoff game to determine which side will be relegated to the First League.

Relegation play-off
Lokomotiv Vitebsk1 – 4MTZ-RIPO Minsk
Yeremeyev  66' Report Zelmikas  15'
Mkhitaryan  34'
Fedorchenko  55'
Parfenov  61'
Lokomotiv Stadium, Baranovichi
Attendance: 1,000

Belarusian clubs in European Cups
Round Team #1 Agg. Team #2 1st leg 2nd leg
2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup
First round Odra Wodzisław 1–2 Dinamo Minsk 1–0 0–2
Second round Dinamo Minsk 4–3 Smederevo 1–2 3–1 (aet)
Third round Lille 4–3 Dinamo Minsk 2–1 2–2
2004–05 UEFA Cup
First qualifying round Nistru Otaci 3–2 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 1–1 2–1
BATE Borisov 2–4 Dinamo Tbilisi 2–3 0–1
2004–05 UEFA Champions League
First qualifying round Gomel 1–2 Tirana 0–2 1–0

Top scorers
Rank Name Team Goals
1 Valery StrypeykisNaftan Novopolotsk18
2 Raman VasilyukDinamo Brest17
3 Aleksandr SokolovDarida Minsk Raion16
4 Yawhen ZuewTorpedo Zhodino15
5 Vitaliy BondarevDnepr-Transmash Mogilev14
Artsyom HancharykShakhtyor Soligorsk14
7 Oleg StrakhanovichBATE Borisov13
8 EduTorpedo-SKA Minsk12
Dzmitry ParfyonawMTZ-RIPO Minsk12
Andrey RazinDinamo Minsk12

See also
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