The Ukrainian Women's Higher League (Vyshcha Liha) ()Чемпіонат України. Вища ліга. Історія чемпіонів – від Динамо до Житлобудів. womensfootball.com.ua is a second-tier women's association football competition in the Ukrainian Women's Football Championship. Starting with the 2026–27 season, the women's national football competitions consist of three tiers: the Elite League, the Higher League (Vyshcha Liha), and the First League (Persha Liha), with the First considered amateur (non-professional). The Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) department of women's and girls' football organizes the competitions.
The top teams of the Top (Higher) League qualify for the UEFA women's competitions. Since 2015, the league has been dominated by Metalist 1925 Kharkiv, which holds the record for the most titles.
History
The league was created in 1992 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the discontinuation of the Soviet women's football championship, which existed for two seasons, 1990 and 1991 (the Soviet Trade Union Sport Federation organized the 1989 season). The new Ukrainian league included several teams that participated in the former Soviet championship, such as Lehenda Chernihiv, Arena Kyiv, Olimp Kyiv (former Soviet champion Nyva Baryshivka), Dynamo Kyiv, ZHU Zaporizhzhia, Luhanochka Luhansk, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, and many others. Kharkiv city teams en masse boycotted the domestic league until the introduction of the UEFA Women's Cup.
The first Ukrainian championship consisted of 18 teams that were split into two divisions, the Higher League (10 teams) and the First League (8 teams). The first Ukrainian championship presented a new Donetsk team (as Tekstylnyk Donetsk) that started from the First League and eventually would become one of the most successful clubs in the league. While dominated at first by various teams from Kyiv, starting from 1994 Donchanka (Donechanka) Donetsk became the flagman (flag-woman) of the league, dominating until the end of the 1990s.
Some six teams that previously competed in Soviet competitions (in 1990 and 1991) chose not to enter the new Ukrainian league in 1992. More teams withdrew from competitions after 1993, causing the second tier (First League) to be disbanded for the next 20 years. The interest in women's football never improved in Ukraine, and by the end of the 1990s the league consisted of merely 4 teams playing a 4 or 6-leg round-robin tournament between each other.
With the turn of the millennium, the leadership in the league was overtaken by WFC Lehenda Chernihiv and stayed the leading team for the next decade. Around that time (2001), there was introduced new international tournament, UEFA Women's Cup that gave a boost to the expansion of the Ukrainian league. For the first time in the league, a team from Kharkiv appeared. Later, the team,, at first existing as a department of the main Metalist club, in 2006 was taken over by a local construction company. While the main Donetsk team declined, Chernihiv footballers received a notable competitiveness boost from Kharkiv, Prykarpattia and Azov regions. There also appeared new smaller teams such as Rodyna out of Kostopil in Volhynia and eastern Podollia teams around Uman. In 2008, a winter break competition was held, which became regular later since 2013.
Following 2010, Lehenda was not able to regain the first position in the league, and the league became dominated by Zhilstroi-1 (Zhytlobud-1) Kharkiv.
Clubs The following eleven clubs compete in the 2026–27 season.
Team Location Ground Capacity 2020–21 season DIuSSh 1 Khmelnytskyi Podillya 6,800 1L, 3rd ("A") EMS-Podillia Vinnytsia PCY Stadium 1,500 10th SDIuShOR Iunist Chernihiv Iunist 3,000 1L, 3rd ("B") Mariupol Sofiivska Borshchahivka, Kyiv Oblast Sofiyivskyi ? 1L, 1st ("B") Podil Kyiv Podil Arena 743 1L, 2nd ("B") Pohoryna Kostopil, Rivne Oblast Kolos 1,330 1L, 2nd ("A") Uzhhorod Uzhhorod Mynai 1,312 1L, 1st ("A")
Higher League (Vyshcha Liha) laureates The following is a list of all previous champions.Ukrainian Championship. Top League. History of champions, from Dynamo to Zhytlobud (Чемпіонат України. Вища ліга. Історія чемпіонів - від Динамо до Житлобуд). All-Ukrainian Association of Women's Football. ‡ – winners of the National Cup for women's teams in bold winners of the Double (championship and cup) SeasonChampionRunner-up3rd PositionWinter championOverview. WFPL.com.ua. 15 February 2020# of teams1st tier competition1992Dynamo Kyiv ‡Arena-Hospodar FastivLehenda Chernihiv–101993Arena Kyiv ‡Dynamo KyivTornado Kyiv–131994Donetsk-Ros' Donetsk ‡Yunisa KyivAlina Kyiv–131995Donetsk-Ros' Donetsk Alina Kyiv ‡Spartak Kyiv–91996Donetsk-Ros' Donetsk ‡Alina KyivStal Makiyivka–61997Alina Kyiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivDonchanka-Varna Donetsk–51998WFC Donchanka ‡Lehenda ChernihivIskra Zaporizhzhia–41999WFC Donchanka ‡Lehenda ChernihivHrafit Zaporizhzhia–42000Lehenda Chernihiv WFC DonchankaKyivska Rus' Kyiv–82001Lehenda Chernihiv ‡WFC DonchankaVolyn Lutsk–82002Lehenda Chernihiv ‡WFC KharkivMetallurg-Donchanka Donetsk–82003Kharkiv-Kondytsioner ‡Lehenda ChernihivDonchanka-TSPOR Donetsk–72004Metalist Kharkiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivSpartak Sumy–92005Lehenda Chernihiv ‡Arsenal KharkivSpartak Ivano-Frankivsk–92006Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivNaftokhimik Kalush–92007Naftokhimik Kalush Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Lehenda Chernihiv–82008Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivNaftokhimik KalushZhytlobud-1 Kharkiv 102009Lehenda Chernihiv ‡Zhytlobud-1 KharkivIllichivka Mariupol–72010Lehenda Chernihiv Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Illichivka Mariupol–92011Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivNaftokhimik Kalush–82012Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv Naftokhimik Kalush ‡Donchanka-TsPOR–82013Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivDonchanka-TsPORLehenda Chernihiv 82014Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Zhytlobud-2 KharkivLehenda ChernihivZhytlobud-1 Kharkiv 82015Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivZhytlobud-2 KharkivZhytlobud-1 Kharkiv 82016Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Lehenda ChernihivZhytlobud-2 Kharkiv 72017Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv Zhytlobud-1 KharkivLehenda ChernihivZhytlobud-1 Kharkiv 92017–18Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Zhytlobud-2 KharkivLehenda ChernihivZhytlobud-2 Kharkiv 102018–19Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv ‡Zhytlobud-2 KharkivVoskhod Stara MayachkaZhytlobud-2 Kharkiv 102019–20Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv ‡Zhytlobud-1 KharkivVoskhod Stara MayachkaZhytlobud-1 Kharkiv 102020–21Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv ‡Voskhod Stara MayachkaZhytlobud-2 Kharkiv 102021–22*Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv ‡Zhytlobud-1 KharkivKryvbas Kryvyi Rihcancelled«ЗИМОВА ПЕРШІСТЬ-2022»: ЗМАГАННЯ НЕ ВІДБУДУТЬСЯ ЧЕРЕЗ НОВИЙ СПАЛАХ ЗАХВОРЮВАНОСТІ. womensfootball.com.ua. 21.01.2022112022–23Vorskla Poltava Kryvbas Kryvyi RihKolos Kovalivka–122023–24Vorskla Poltava ‡Kolos KovalivkaKryvbas Kryvyi Rih–122024–25Vorskla Poltava Metalist 1925 KharkivKolos Kovalivka–112025–26Metalist 1925 Kharkiv Seasters OdesaVorskla Poltava–102nd tier competition2026–27–7
The 2021–22 season was abandoned midway due to Russian aggression, and no end-season awards were given out. However, Zhytloud-2 Kharkiv did win the National Cup which was resumed later and won by the Zhytlobud-2 successor Vorskla.
Record champions ClubWinnersWinning yearsRunners-up2nd place yearsMetalist 1925 Kharkiv (Zhytlobud-1)112006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2025–2662007, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019–20, (2021–22), 2024–25Lehenda Chernihiv62000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010101997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015Vorskla Poltava (Zhytlobud-2)62016, 2017, 2019–20, (2021–22), 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024–2542014, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21Donchanka Donetsk51994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 199912000Metalist Kharkiv22003, 200422002, 2005Alina Kyiv1199721995, 1996Dynamo Kyiv1199211993Arena Kyiv1199311992Naftokhimik Kalush1200712012Unisa Luhansk–11994Kyyivska Rus Kyiv–12001Illichivka Mariupol–12009Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih–12022–23Kolos Kovalivka–12023–24Seasters Odesa–12025–26Total 34 34
Ukraine Women's Higher League players +All-time Higher League appearance leadersRankPlayerGames1 Tetyana Hromovska2402 Yuliya Vashchenko208 3 Nataliya Zhdanova 188 4 Tetyana Oznobikhina 184 5 Anzhela Chernobay 182 6 Natalia Sukhorukova 180 7 Nataliya Ihnatovych 178 8 Halyna Mykhaylenko 177 9 Inesa Titova 159 10 Oksana Revzin 157Players in bold are still playing in Premier LeagueData as of 23 April 2012The Ukrainian football championship. Runners and record holders (Чемпіонат України з футболу. Призери і рекордсменки). Galsport. 23 April 2012
+All-time Higher League scorersRankPlayerGoals1 Halyna Mykhaylenko1372 Yuliya Korniyevets1213 Svitlana Frishko1154 Olena Khodyryeva875 Hanna Mozolska776 Lyudmyla Pekur757 Khrystyna Botyuk648 Vira Dyatel599 Olha Boychenko5010 Hanna Tatarynava48Players in bold are still playing in Premier LeagueData as of 23 April 2012
All-time table at the end of the 2025–26 season