The 2009–10 PFL League Cup () was the Professional Football League of Ukraine football knockout competition designated for the members of the Ukrainian Second League and amateur clubs. In March of 2010, the sports apparel brand Umbro became a title sponsor of the competition, and it was renamed as the Umbro League Cup.
The tournament was organized when the PFL was chaired by Svyatoslav Syrota.
The competition was somewhat affected by the 2009 swine flu pandemic in Ukraine, and few matches had to be postponed.
Historical scope
Earlier in 2009, a couple of mini-tournaments known as the PFL Cup took place. Those PFL Cup competitions involved participation of specially organized football teams, such as two from the second (for each group) and one from the first, as well as the Ukraine national student football team. The Second League team A was composed of players competing in the Second League Group A, while Second League team B had players competing in the Second League Group B; the First League team had players competing in the First League.
Those tournaments were supposed to be a regular event, but later in 2009 they were discontinued; instead, the Professional League organized a new competition under the same name, "League Cup", which was supposed to add more playtime for the 2009–10 Ukrainian Second League teams. A new working commission was organized in 2010 to offer an alternative to the Second League clubs' structure of competitions, which was supposed to be presented for the 2010–2011 season.
Organization In August of 2009, the PFL presented a draft of the competition, which consisted of two stages, group and knockout. The competition consisted of 24 teams, which included first teams of Second League clubs, second teams competing in the Second League, amateur teams, and a few reserve teams of First League clubs.
The group stage consisted of 8 groups, each containing 3 teams. The two best from each group would qualify for the knockout stage, Round of 16.
The winners of this competition were awarded the Cup and the prize money (150,000 Hryvnia) from Umbro, the general sponsor of the event.
Initially FC Luzhany (town of Luzhany, Chernivtsi Oblast) was set to participate in the competition, but was eventually replaced by FC Volyn-Tsement Zdolbuniv.The groups were formed as well as the dates of the competition On March 1, 2010, it was decided to suspend the competition due to a lack of funds. The clubs FC Dnister Ovidiopol, PFC Oleksandria, and FC Arsenal Bila Tserkva were represented in the competition by their junior teams (doubles). Several clubs officially quit the competition (FC Khodak Cherkasy, FC Dnister Ovidiopol, PFC Olexandria), while FC Dnipro-75 Dnipropetrovsk was excluded from the Professional Football League due to unpaid debts.The seventh declaration of the PFL Central Council (March 1) The Rivne Oblast clubs (Veres and Volyn) and Teplovyk Yuzhnoukrainsk informed the PFL during the winter break of their unwillingness to continue in the competition.
After winter break On March 16 it was decided to resume the competition. The following clubs were given until March 20 to pay off their debts to the referees: Teplovyk, Olexandria, Arsenal, Volyn-Tsement, Veres, Ros, Olympik, Tytan, and Dnipro-75. Umbro became the official partner of the competition and its title sponsor.
When the Second round pairs were formed, a few teams that finished last advanced due to numerous withdrawals of other clubs. Three teams (Lviv-2, Ros, and Myr) got a bye straight to the Quarter-finals.
Teams 2009–10 Ukrainian Second League (13/26): Bastion Illichivsk, Dnipro-75 Dnipropetrovsk, Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk, Illichivets-2 Mariupol, Karpaty-2 Lviv, Lviv-2, Morshyn, Nyva Vinnytsia, Olkom Melitopol, Ros Bila Tserkva, Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk, Shakhtar-3 Donetsk, Veres Rivne 2009–10 Ukrainian First League reserves (3/18): Arsenal Bila Tserkva, Dnister Ovidiopol, Oleksandriya AAFU-Amateurs (5): Khodak Cherkasy, Luzhany, Myr Hornostaivka, Olimpik Kirovohrad, Zenit Boyarka Non-AAFU-Amateurs (3): Spartak Molodizhne, Teplovyk Yuzhnoukrainsk, Tytan Donetsk, (later Volyn-Tsement Zdolbuniv)
Location map
Group stage
Key to colours in group tablesAdvanced to the second roundQualified, but withdrewExpelled
Group A TeamLFC 2421162+47 Karpaty-2421165+17Skala Morshyn410327−53 K2LLV2SKMKarpaty-2–1–43–0LFC 20–0–0–1Skala Morshyn1–20–2–
Notes:
Group B Team Nyva Vinnytsia4400113+812Veres Rivne42021110+16Volyn Zdolbuniv4004211−90 NYVVRSVTZNyva Vinnytsia–4–13–0Veres Rivne2–4–5–0Volyn Zdolbuniv– : +2–3–
Notes: Both Veres Rivne and Volyn-Tsement withdrew from the competition during the winter break.
Group C Team Bastion Illichivsk4400152+1312Dnister-d Ovidiopol420288+06Teplovyk4004013−130 BSTDSTTPLBastion Illichivsk–5–03–0Dnister-d Ovidiopol2–3–2–0Teplovyk0–40–4–
Notes: On March 1, 2010, Dnister withdrew from the competition, while Teplovyk withdrew earlier during the winter break.
Group D Team Myr Hornostaivka421154+17Spartak412134−15Olkom Melitopol411244+04 MYROLKSPRMyr Hornostaivka–2–02–1Olkom Melitopol2–0–0–1Spartak1–11–1–
Notes:
Group E Team Khodak Cherkasy421192+77Olexandria-d412145−15Hirnyk-Sport411217−64 HSKKDKOLXHirnyk-Sport–+ : –1–2Khodak Cherkasy3–1–5–0Olexandria-d1–10–0–
Notes: On March 1, 2010, both Oleksandriya and Khodak Cherkasy withdrew from the competition. Hirnyk-Sport was offered and accepted a placed in the next round.
Group F Team Ros Bila Tserkva4310124+810Arsenal-d Bila Tserkva421196+37Zenit Boyarka4004314−110 ARSROSZNTArsenal-d Bila Tserkva–1–24–2Ros Bila Tserkva2–2–+ : –Zenit Boyarka1–50–2–
Notes: The game Ros – Zenit originally finished 0:1 (Zenit's victory), however due to the fact that Zenit fielded an unregistered player 'Zaza Tsotskhalashvili' the Bila Tserkva's club was awarded a technical victory (3:0) by the decision of the Disciplinary Committee of PFL on October 22, 2009.Protocol #16 of October 22, 2009 (pdf) Game Ros – Arsenal-d 2:2 took place at the training ground of FC Arsenal Bila Tserkva in the town of Shkarivka.Draw in Bila Tserkva derby
Group G Team Illichivets-2413043+16Shakhtar-3412176+15Tytan Donetsk411235−24 I2MS3DTYTIllichivets-2–2–21–0Shakhtar-31–1–4–1Tytan Donetsk0–02–0–
Notes:
Group H TeamDniprodzerzhynsk422073+48 Dnipro-75412153+25Olympik Kirovohrad4022410−62 D75SDDOLYDnipro-75–– : +4–2Dniprodzerzhynsk1–1–5–1Olympik Kirovohrad0–01–1–
Notes: On 18 March 2010, Dnipro-75 were excluded from all competitions organized by the PFL for their unpaid debts. The place of Dnipro-75 was granted to and excepted by Olympik.
Knockout stage Bracket
Round of 16
Notes:
Quarterfinals
Notes: In the game Hirnyk-Sport – Ros Dorohan (Ros) was not able to score a penalty in the 61st minute. In the same game Skliarenko (Hirnyk-Sport) was sent off in the 43rd minute for his second caution.
Semifinals
This stage was scheduled to take place in two-leg (home-away) match-ups. The first leg was played on April 28, 2010, and the second leg – May 5, 2010.The League Cup semifinals draw took place
First leg
Second leg
Illichivets-2 1–1 Hirnyk-Sport on aggregate. Hirnyk-Sport won on away goals.
Myr Hornostaivka 0–2 Nyva Vinnytsia on aggregate.
Notes: In the game Myr – Nyva Dotsenko was not able to convert his penalty kick opportunity in the 15th minute, due to an excellent save on the part of Nyva's goalie Skybenko.
Final
Initially set for 29 May, the final took place on a neutral ground on 6 June 2010. Surprisingly the PFL picked Oleksandia's Nika Stadium which is 71 km (~46 mi) or about an hour drive from the city of Komsomolsk and 387 km (~255 mi) from Vinnytsia. As a justification, the main reason can be drawn from the fact that it lies in the heartland of Ukraine, and, thus, such a match could draw a greater audience.
Nyva Vinnytsia: GK 12 Vasyl Skybenko DF 22 Fedir Prokhorov DF 4 Oleksandr Herhelyuk DF 10 Volodymyr Naiko DF 5 Serhiy Voronin 90'+2MF 13 Serhiy Herasymets FW 6 Bohdan Varchenko MF 9 Andriy Pylyavskyi MF 11 Vadym Bovtruk FW 18 Ruslan Kachur FW 21 Dmytro Kozban Substitutes:FW 8 Andriy Veretynsky FW 18 Serhiy Kushka MF 7 Pavlo Lukyanets GK 1 Oleksandr Haidarzhy MF 15 Oleksiy Pyvovar MF 14 Bohdan Adamenko MF 2 Chaus Manager: Oleh FedorchukHirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk: GK 1 Denys Machulin DF 17 Volodymyr Tkachenko FW 5 Andriy Kondrashov DF 22 Illya KhodulyaMF 3 Maksym PoltavetsFW 9 Ruslan Dekhtyar DF 2 Yaroslav Kalinichenko DF 8 Kostyantyn Krutenko MF 13 Yevhen Slyva MF 11 Serhiy Kravchenko DF 7 Roman Malynochka Substitutes:GK 18 Andriy Bakhmetiev MF 23 Yaroslav Bakhmach FW 4 Taras Malyuk MF 10 Oleh Fil DF 14 Oleksandr Zabula DF 20 Vladyslav Ivashchenko FW 12 Dmytrenko Manager: Serhiy Muradyan
MATCH OFFICIALSProtocol of the final Assistant referees: V.Fedan A.Skrypka Fourth official: O.KatsmanMATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes
Ukrainian League Cup 2010 WinnersNyva VinnytsiaFirst title
Top goalscorers
In parentheses are goals scored from a penalty spot.
ScorerGoalsTeamKachur5Nyva VinnytsiaKozban5Nyva VinnytsiaPolishchuk5Veres RivneBredis3Bastion IllichivskLiubar3Veres RivnePetruk3 (2)Zenit Boyarka
Note: Petruk scored three goals in the tournament, with one of his scored in the game Ros – Zenit which was later recognized void. That goal is included in this record as the result's cancellation is a mere administrative formality. Polusmak (Zenit) managed to score two goals in four games (one was recognized void). Please, note that Bredis (Bastion Illichivsk) is a veteran of Odesa football. He used to compete for the predecessor of Bastion, FC Portovyk Illichivsk in the Second League as well as various national cup competitions.
See also Ukrainian Second League 2009–10 Ukrainian First League 2009–10 2009–10 Ukrainian Cup Ukrainian Second League Cup
External links Official website Competition Statute
References