The 1992 Vyshcha Liha () was the first football championship organized by the reformed Football Federation of Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Football Federation of Ukraine, when organizing the competition, decided to shift its calendar to synchronize it with a common in Europe "fall-spring" and organized a short championship to secure berth spots for the 1992–93 European club competitions.
The newly formed competition involved the participation of Ukraine-based football "teams of masters" (professional teams) from the top All-Union football competitions, including the 1991 Soviet Vysshaya Liga teams.
The first two games of Round 1 took place on 6 March 1992 in Odesa, where local Chornomorets was hosting Karpaty, and Mykolaiv, where local Evis was playing against the visiting Temp.
Teams and organization League's formation and issues Composition The league and its calendar were adopted at the FFU Executive Committee session on 10 September 1991 with the ongoing 1991 season of the All-Soviet football competitions. It was established that the new league would consist of 20 teams divided into two groups. Six clubs (last three from each group) were set to be relegated and replaced with the two best from the First League, thus reducing the league for the next season to 16. Winners of both groups were to play against one another for the national title. The league's final was originally planned to consist of two games (home and away), but later, due to scheduling of the Ukraine national football team's games, it was changed to one on a neutral field.
To the league were included all Ukrainian clubs of the 1991 Soviet Top and First leagues (8 clubs), nine of eleven Ukrainian clubs out the 1991 Soviet Second League (all of them competed in the west zone), the two best teams of the 1991 Soviet Second (lower) League and the winner of the Ukrainian Cup. The FFU president Viktor Bannikov was against to include the Ukrainian Cup winner into the top league.
There were opponents of organization of the championship among the most notable was FC Metalurh Zaporizhya. The FC Metalist Kharkiv was against with the condition if they would be relegated from the 1991 Soviet Top League. Also against the championship was Yevhen Kucherevskyi (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, one of few Ukrainian coaches who managed to win the Soviet Top League).
There were plenty of alternative propositions on the composition and the season's calendar, among which were from the president of Prykarpattia Anatoliy Revutskyi and the head coach of Temp Ishtvan Sekech.
Calendar The championship started on March 6, about a month after the qualification rounds of another national tournament, the first edition of Ukrainian Cup. The first half of the season was scheduled to finish on April 19, with the second one to resume on April 25 (6 days intermission). The last round was to be played on June 17.
Considering such a schedule and the fact that the Ukrainian Cup competition was on the way simultaneously, the Ukrainian clubs had to forfeit their scheduled games in the Soviet Cup competition. In addition to that, Dynamo Kyiv also participated in the Champions League competition, which ended for Dynamo only on April 15. Each team this season had at least two games scheduled every week on average.
Considering other official games (outside of the league), FC Torpedo Zaporizhzhia and FC Dynamo Kyiv have played a record 26 games from February 18 through June 21, the most among the other clubs in the League.
Location of teams
Qualified teams TeamLeague and position in 1991Mylenko, V. First steps in Ukrainian club football (Первые шаги украинского клубного футбола). Football.ua. 26 November 2010.CoachReplaced coachChornomorets OdesaSoviet Top League4Viktor ProkopenkoDynamo Kyiv5Anatoliy PuzachDnipro Dnipropetrovsk9Mykola PavlovYevhen KucherevskyShakhtar Donetsk12Valery YaremchenkoMetalurh Zaporizhya13Ihor NadeinMetalist Kharkiv15Leonid TkachenkoBukovyna ChernivtsiSoviet First League5Yukhym ShkolnykovTavriya Simferopol6Anatoliy ZayaevKarpaty LvivSoviet Second League, West1Stepan YurchyshynZorya-MALS Luhansk2Anatoliy KuksovNyva Ternopil4Leonid KoltunNyva Vinnytsia5Valery PetrovVyacheslav HroznyTorpedo Zaporizhzhia7Yevhen LemeshkoVolyn Lutsk8Myron MarkevychSC Odesa10Serhiy MarusynKremin Kremenchuk13Volodymyr LozynskyiEvis Mykolaiv15Ivan BalanNaftovyk OkhtyrkaSoviet Second League B, Zone 1Championship of the Ukrainian SSR1Valery DushkovPrykarpattya2Yuriy ShuliatytskyiIvan KrasnetskyiTemp ShepetivkaSoviet Second League B, Zone 1Winner of Cup of the Ukrainian SSR9Ishtvan Sekech
Note: FC Temp Shepetivka placed only 9th in the 1991 Soviet Lower Second League. FC Halychyna Drohobych and FC Vorskla Poltava that competed in the Soviet Second League were placed in the Persha Liha (Ukrainian Second Division) as such that were relegated.
Clubs' name changes Zorya-MALS Luhansk before the season carried the name Zorya Luhansk. A name extension was provided for sponsorship reasons. Evis Mykolaiv before the season carried the name Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv. SC Odesa changed its name from SKA Odesa on May 5, 1992, due to restructuring of the Soviet Odesa Military District and Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Stadiums RankStadiumClubCapacityHighestAttendanceNotes1Republican StadiumDynamo Kyiv100,0005,000Round 8 (Zorya-MALS)2Metalist StadiumMetalist Kharkiv38,6337,000Round 15 (Dnipro)3Black Sea Shipping Central StadiumChornomorets34,3629,500Round 15 (Tavriya)4Shakhtar StadiumShakhtar Donetsk31,7184,300Round 20 (Tavriya)5Ukraina StadiumKarpaty Lviv28,05113,000Round 3 (Tavriya)Tavriya Simferopol36,000Final (Dynamo)6Central City StadiumEvis Mykolaiv25,17515,000Round 4 (Chornomorets)7Meteor StadiumDnipro24,3816,000Round 13 (Dynamo)8Lokomotyv StadiumNyva Vinnytsia24,00010,000Round 17 (Shakhtar)9Avanhard StadiumZorya-MALS22,32017,200Round 14 (Dynamo)10Lokomotiv StadiumTavriya Simferopol19,9783,500Round 17 (Karpaty)11Dynamo StadiumDynamo Kyiv16,8732,500Round 17 (SC Odesa)as home ground in Round 12 and 1712AutoZAZ StadiumTorpedo Zaporizhzhia15,0005,000Round 10 (Chornomorets)13City StadiumNyva Ternopil12,75020,000Round 10 (Dynamo)14Bukovyna StadiumBukovyna Chernivtsi12,00014,000Round 6 (Dynamo)15Metalurh Central StadiumMetalurh Zaporizhya11,9838,000Round 1 (Shakhtar)Dnipro3,000Playoff (Shakhtar)16Dnipro StadiumKremin Kremenchuk11,30013,000Round 14 (Chornomorets)17Avanhard StadiumVolyn Lutsk10,79220,000Round 9 (Dynamo)18Elektron StadiumPrykarpattya15,000Round 5 (Dynamo)19Naftovyk StadiumNaftovyk Okhtyrka5,2564,500Round 16 (Dnipro)20SKA StadiumSC Odesa6,000Round 4 (Dynamo)21Temp StadiumTemp Shepetivka10,000Round 8 (Shakhtar)
Managerial changes Managerial changes approximated
TeamOutgoing head coachDate of replacementTableIncoming head coachNyva TernopilMykhailo DunetsPre seasonLeonid KoltunDnipro DnipropetrovskYevhen KucherevskyiMarch 10, 19921st (Group B)Mykola PavlovNyva VinnytsiaVyacheslav HroznyMarch 28, 199210th (Group A)Valery PetrovPrykarpattia Ivano-FrankivskIvan Krasnetskyi April 19929th (Group B)Yuriy Shuliatytskyi
First stage
European qualification Before 17th Round, Chornomorets Odesa qualified for the 1992–93 Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round after winning 1992 Ukrainian Cup. After 17th Round, Dynamo Kyiv qualified for the Championship play-off. After 20th Round, Tavriya Simferopol qualified for the Championship playoff. Tavriya won the title and was admitted to the European Cup, their opponents in the final, Dynamo, qualified for the UEFA Cup.
Group A final standings
Notes:
Group B final standings
Notes:
Second stage
Championship playoff
Tavriya Simferopol qualified for 1992–93 European Cup Preliminary round and Dynamo Kyiv qualified for 1992–93 UEFA Cup First round.
Third place playoff
Season statistics
Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoalsTop scorers (Бомбардиры).uafootball.net.ua(Pen.)1 Yuriy Hudymenko Tavriya Simferopol 122 Timerlan Huseinov Zorya-MALS Luhansk 113 Serhii Rebrov Shakhtar Donetsk 10 Ivan Hetsko Chornomorets Odesa 10 (6)5 Oleksandr Zayats Torpedo Zaporizhzhia 9 (3)6 Serhiy Shevchenko Tavriya Simferopol 8 (2)7 Yuriy Hrytsyna Dynamo Kyiv 7 Ivan Korponay Kremin Kremenchuk 7 Serhiy Husyev Chornomorets Odesa 7 (1) Oleh Salenko Dynamo Kyiv 7 (3)
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Dmytro ShutkovShakhtar Donetsk11 Oleh KolesovTavriya Simferopol113 Ihor MoiseyevTorpedo Zaporizhia8 Oleksandr PomazunMetalist Kharkiv8 Anatoliy ChystovNyva Ternopil8 Mykhailo BurchVolyn Lutsk8
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ivan Hetsko 4 April 1992 Pavlo Shkapenko 28 April 1992 Serhii Rebrov 3 June 1992 Yuriy Hudymenko* 9 June 1992 Yuriy Hrytsyna 17 June 1992
Notes: (*) Asterisk identifies players who scored four goals (poker).
Medal squads (league appearances and goals listed in brackets) 1. SC Tavria Simferopol Goalkeepers: Oleh Kolesov (19 / -9), Dmitriy Gulenkov (1). Defenders: Mykola Turchynenko (19), Oleksandr Holovko (18), Ihor Volkov (17 / 1), Vidmantas Vyšniauskas (15), Yuriy Getikov (14), Sefer Alibayev (9), Serhiy Voronezhsky (7), Dmitriy Smirnov (5). Midfielders: Andriy Oparin (19 / 1), Vladislav Novikov (18 / 1), Yuriy Mikhailus (2), Oleksandr Kundenok (2), Serhiy Yesin (1). Forwards: Sergei Gladyshev (19 / 6), Yuriy Hudymenko (18 / 12), Serhiy Shevchenko (18 / 8), Sergey Andreev (15 / 2), Toliat Sheykhametov (7), Marat Mulashev (2).
Manager: Anatoliy Zayayev.
Transferred out during the season: Marat Mulashev (to Rubin Kazan), Oleksandr Kundenok (to Polissya Zhytomyr). 2. FC Dynamo Kyiv Goalkeepers: Valdemaras Martinkėnas (10 / -7), Ihor Kutepov (9 / -7). Defenders: Andriy Annenkov (17), Serhiy Zayets (15 / 1), Anatoliy Bezsmertny (14), Oleh Luzhnyi (13 / 2), Serhiy Shmatovalenko (9), Akhrik Tsveyba (9), Gintaras Kvitkauskas (6), Ervand Sukiasian (5 / 2), Andrey Aleksanenkov (2). Midfielders: Volodymyr Sharan (19 / 2), Yuriy Moroz (19), Stepan Betsa (14 / 1), Pavlo Yakovenko (12 / 1), Oleh Volotek (11 / 2), Serhiy Kovalets (12 / 1). Forwards: Oleh Salenko (16 / 7), Yuriy Hritsyna (13 / 7), Oleh Matveyev (10 / 1), Valeriy Yesipov (6), Viktor Leonenko (5 / 3).
Manager: Anatoliy Puzach.
Transferred out during the season: ?. 3. FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Goalkeepers: Valeriy Horodov (19 / -17), Mykola Medin. Defenders: Serhiy Diriavka (17), Volodymyr Horily (17), Volodymyr Bahmut (14 / 3), Serhiy Bezhenar (9 / 2), Serhiy Mamchur (9), Andriy Yudin (8). Midfielders: Andriy Polunin (17 / 2), Oleksandr Zakharov (17 / 2), Yevhen Pokhlebayev (16), Oleksiy Sasko (16), Yuriy Maksymov (14 / 3), Vadym Tyshchenko (13 / 2), Dmytro Mykhailenko (1), Oleksandr Omelchuk (1). Forwards: Valentyn Moskvin (19 / 3), Serhiy Konovalov (14 / 5), Serhiy Dumenko (7 / 4), Oleksandr Palianytsia (7 / 1), Vladimir Lebed (7 / 1), Oleksandr Tiehayev (2).
Manager: Yevhen Kucherevsky (until March 15 (3 games)), Mykola Pavlov (since March 15 (15 games)).
Transferred out during the season: Vladimir Lebed (to Krystal Kherson).
Note: Players in italic are whose playing position is uncertain.
See also Ukrainian First League 1992 1992 Ukrainian Transitional League Ukrainian Cup 1992
References
External links Season information on the Ukrainian Football from Dmytro Troshchiy Season information on RSSSF Season information on the Ukrainian Football from Aleksei Kobyzev Banyas, V. The Top League Cup: long forgotten tournament... (Кубок вищої ліги: таки забутий турнір...) . Ukrainian Premier League. 11 August 2017