Ukrainian First League

The following displays the location of teams.

Alians

Ahrobiznes

Avanhard

Chornomorets

Hirnyk-Sport

Kremin

Krystal

Metalist 1925

Mykolaiv

Nyva

Obolon

Polissia

Prykarpattia

Volyn

VPK-Ahro

Veres

Home venues of teams in the 2020–21 Ukrainian First League.

The league conducts its competition in a regular double round-robin format where each team plays with every other one twice. The league conducts its competitions from fall to spring, however due to climate conditions in Ukraine, a mid-season winter break is usually longer than the summer break between competition seasons. Since 1995 the league also follows the same system of points calculation that is adopted throughout the whole European continent, 3 points for win, one for draw, and none for loss.

During its history the number of members in the league has fluctuated. In its first years before 1999 the league consisted of 20 or more participants. Later there was an idea to decrease the number of members in all leagues in order to improve the quality of competition. Until 2013 the number of participants was reduced to 18 except for couple of seasons in 2006–2008. Recently since 2013 the number was reduced further to 16 where it remains since.

Traditionally two better teams out of First League are being swapped for two worse teams out of Premier (Higher) League. On more rare occasions a third team gets a chance of promotion, but there were also seasons when only one team would get promoted. Only twice three teams were promoted to the top division, both times happening due to the top tier expansion. The league's winner and usually the second placed runner-up get accepted to the Premier League. However, due to the rule that a second team of the club cannot be promoted when its senior team plays in a higher tier, on few occasions when a second club team finished in top two places the third-placed team was admitted to the top division. In 2013 there was set a precedent when a club on its own will has refused to be promoted. In 2017 there was created another precedent when a club that earned promotion was denied it based on administrative decision.

With relegation, the league's policy is a bit different, although originally it also was two for two. In 1996 the Second League (lower tier) was converted into de-facto regional league with two (three) regional groups. The league has also decreased its number of participants from originally 22-24 to only 16-18. There were also number of withdrawals which triggered sometime additional number in rotation.

The relegation or promotion play-offs were previously usually organized under unforeseen circumstances such as a team's withdrawal from the league and often were not scheduled until after the season had concluded. Since 2011 relegation play-offs have become a well established tradition.

Since the turn of the millennium the frequency of withdrawals in the First League has increased among the competing clubs. In order to fight this, the league has been applying a stricter approach to every club's financial situation to avoid withdrawals during a season.

Since the 2009–10 season the First League has started to broadcast selected matches over the internet in order to increase its popularity.

The most successful clubs in the league are FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv, FC Hoverla Uzhhorod, and FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi. All of those teams were either disbanded or went through some sort of reorganizations. In 2016 Dynamo Kyiv withdrew its second team from professional competitions, while FC Hoverla was refused in attestation. Previously in 2008 FC Zirka that went through reorganization was re-established based on a local youth football club FC Olimpik Kropyvnytskyi and in 2016 won its third championship in the league.

Notes:

• ‡ – indicates a phoenix club of the original

Top-20. All figures are correct through the 2019–20 season.[6] Club status is current of the 2020–21 season:

Among notable players of the league are its top scorers. The title of the league's top scorer earned on multiple occasions the following players, Serhiy Chuichenko (4 times, Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya), Oleh Hrytsai (2 times, FC Cherkasy), Oleksandr Aliyev (2 times, Dynamo-2 Kyiv), Matviy Bobal (2 times, Ihroservis Simferopol), Oleksandr Akymenko (2 times, Stal / Inhulets).

Season	Nationality	Winning manager	Club	Ref
1992	UKR	Viktor Nosov	Veres Rivne	[7]
	UKR	Volodymyr Stryzhevskyi	Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	[7]
1992–93	UKR	Yukhym Shkolnykov	Nyva Vinnytsia	[7]
1993–94	UKR	Ihor Yurchenko	Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk	[7]
1994–95	UKR	Oleksandr Ishchenko	Zirka-NIBAS Kirovohrad	[7]
1995–96	UKR	Viktor Pozhechevskyi	Vorskla Poltava	[7]
1996–97	UKR	Yevhen Korol	Metalurh Donetsk	[7]
1997–98	UKR	Anatoliy Zayaev	SC Mykolaiv	[7]
1998–99	UKR	Valeriy Zuyev	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
1999–00
2000–01	UKR	Volodymyr Onyshchenko
2001–02	UKR	Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi	Volyn-1 Lutsk	[7]
2002–03	UKR	Yuriy Koval	Zirka Kirovohrad	[7]
2003–04	UKR	Viktor Ryashko	Zakarpattia Uzhhorod	[7]
2004–05	UKR	Anatoliy Volobuyev	Stal Alchevsk	[7]
2005–06	UKR	Yuriy Koval	Zorya Luhansk	[7]
2006–07	UKR	Serhiy Shevchenko	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	[7]
2007–08	UKR	Oleksandr Ishchenko	Illichivets Mariupol	[7]
2008–09	UKR	Mykhailo Ivanytsia	Zakarpattia Uzhhorod	[7]
2009–10	UKR	Oleh Leschynskyi	PFC Sevastopol
2010–11	UKR	Volodymyr Sharan	PFC Oleksandriya
2011–12	UKR	Oleksandr Sevidov	Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod
2012–13	RUS	Oleg Kononov	PFC Sevastopol
2013–14	UKR	Roman Sanzhar	Olimpik Donetsk
2014–15	UKR	Volodymyr Sharan	FC Oleksandriya
2015–16	UKR	Serhiy Lavrynenko	Zirka Kirovohrad
2016–17	UKR	Oleksandr Sevidov	Illichivets Mariupol
2017–18	UKR	Serhiy Litovchenko	Arsenal Kyiv
2018–19	UKR	Dmytro Mykhaylenko	SC Dnipro-1
2019–20	UKR	Vasyl Kobin	FC Mynai

No manager has won the league more than two times. With 2 league titles there are Valeriy Zuyev (both Dynamo-2 Kyiv), Oleksandr Ishchenko (Zirka and Illichivets), Yuriy Koval (Zirka and Zorya), Oleksandr Sevidov (Hoverla and Illichivets), Volodymyr Sharan (both Oleksandriya).

Most attended games in the league (1992-2017) recorded at Yuvileiny Stadium (Sumy).[8]

The most attended seasons were in the beginning of 1990s and the beginning of 2000s.[8]