The 2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League season was the 21st since its establishment and fourth since its reorganisation. The season began on 8 July 2011 when newly promoted PFC Oleksandria visited FC Vorskla Poltava. FC Shakhtar Donetsk were the defending champions, having won their 6th league title in the 2010–11 season and they successfully defended their title by winning the championship in the last round of the competition.
A total of sixteen teams participated in the league, the best fourteen sides of the 2010–11 season and two promoted clubs from the 2010–11 Ukrainian First League.
The competition had a winter break which began on 11 December 2011 and the season resumed on 3 March 2012. The season concluded on 10 May 2012.
Teams Promoted PFC Oleksandria, champion of the 2010–11 Ukrainian First League – (returning after absence of 8 seasons) FC Chornomorets Odesa, runner-up of the 2010–11 Ukrainian First League – (returning after absence of a season)
Location map
Stadiums The following stadiums were used during the season.
Rank Stadium Club Capacity HighestAttendance Notes 1 NSC Olimpiysky Dynamo Kyiv 70,050 68,014 Round 23 (Dnipro)Dynamo's home ground from Round 21 onwards 2 Donbas Arena Shakhtar Donetsk 52,518 52,207 Round 26 (Dynamo) 3 OSK Metalist Metalist Kharkiv 38,656 38,656 Round 11 (Dnipro) 4 Arena Lviv Karpaty Lviv 34,915 32,600Round 20 (Dynamo) First home game for FC Karpaty Lviv in the Stadium built for Euro 2012 on 10 December 2011 against Dynamo Kyiv 5 Chornomorets Stadium Chornomorets Odesa 34,164 31,060Round 17 (Karpaty) The inaugural match played on 19 November 2011, against FC Karpaty Lviv. 6 Dnipro Arena Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 31,003 31,003 Round 6 (Shakhtar) 7 Metalurh Stadium Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih 29,783 25,000 Round 20 (Shakhtar) 8 Ukraina Stadium Karpaty Lviv 28,051 13,000 Round 2 (Chornomorets) 9RSK OlimpiyskiyZorya Luhansk 25,831 700Round 17 (Metalist)Used as home ground in Round 17 and 19 due to Stal Stadium having no underground heating. 10 Vorskla Stadium Vorskla Poltava 25,000 13,500Round 25 (Shakhtar) 11 Avanhard Stadium Zorya Luhansk 22,288 20,000Round 27 (Shakhtar) 12Lokomotiv Stadium Tavriya Simferopol 19,978 15,100 Round 13 (Shakhtar) 13 Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium Dynamo Kyiv 16,873 17,000 Round 11 (Shakhtar)Arsenal Kyiv 13,000Round 10 (Oleksandria)Used as home ground in first half of the season(Rounds 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 & 15) 14 Illichivets Stadium Illichivets Mariupol 12,680 11,000Round 24 (Dynamo) 15 Avanhard Stadium Volyn Lutsk 12,080 11,000Round 28 (Dynamo) 16 Dynamo Stadium (Kharkiv) Metalist Kharkiv 9,000 8,450Round 2 (Zorya)Used as home ground in Round 2 due to main stadium turf resewn. 17 Stal Stadium, Alchevsk Zorya Luhansk 8,632 6,000Round 5 (Metalurh)Used as home ground in the first half of the season (Rounds 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 & 16) due to main stadium turf resewn. 18 CSC Nika Stadium PFC Oleksandria 7,000 7,000Round 2 (Dynamo)Round 15 (Shakhtar) 19 Metalurh Stadium Metalurh Donetsk 5,300 4,700Round 2 (Shakhtar) 20 Obolon Arena Obolon Kyiv 5,100 5,100Round 11 (Arsenal)Round 18 (Dynamo) 21 Spartak Stadium Chornomorets Odesa 4,610 4,610Eight gamesFirst eight home games were sold out
Managers and captains ClubCoachCaptainReplaced coach(es)FC Arsenal KyivLeonid Kuchuk Maksim Shatskikh Yuriy BakalovFC Chornomorets OdesaRoman Hryhorchuk Dmytro BezotosnyiFC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Juande Ramos Ruslan RotanFC Dynamo Kyiv Yuri Semin Oleksandr ShovkovskyiFC Illichivets Mariupol Ihor Leonov (caretaker) Adrian Pukanych Valeriy YaremchenkoFC Karpaty Lviv Yuriy Dyachuk-Stavytskyi (interim) Andriy Tlumak Volodymyr Sharan Pavel Kucherov (interim) Aleh KonanawFC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Yuriy Maksymov Vitaliy Lysytskyi FC Metalist Kharkiv Myron Markevych Xavier FC Metalurh Donetsk Volodymyr Pyatenko Vyacheslav ChecherFC Obolon Kyiv Serhiy Konyushenko Serhiy Sibiryakov Vasyl Rats (interim) Serhiy KovaletsPFC Oleksandria Andriy Kuptsov (interim) Yuriy Pankiv Leonid Buriak Volodymyr SharanFC Shakhtar Donetsk Mircea Lucescu Darijo Srna SC Tavriya Simferopol Semen Altman Volodymyr Yezerskyi Oleksandr Shudryk (interim)FC Volyn Lutsk Anatoliy Demyanenko Oleksandr Pyschur Vitaliy KvartsyanyiFC Vorskla Poltava Mykola Pavlov Serhiy Dolhansky FC Zorya Luhansk Yuriy Vernydub (interim) Mykyta Kamenyuka Anatoly Chantsev
Notes: Mircea Lucescu was injured in a car accident in his native Bucharest on 6 January 2012. Two days later he was operated on because of blood in his chest and broken ribs.
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyTableIncoming head coachDate of appointmentFC Arsenal Kyiv Yuriy BakalovEnd of contract2 Junepre-seasonLeonid Kuchuk2 JuneSC Tavriya Simferopol Oleksandr Shudryk (interim)End as interim9 Junepre-seasonSemen Altman9 JuneFC Illichivets Mariupol Valeriy YaremchenkoResigns6 October15thIhor Leonov (interim)6 OctoberFC Karpaty Lviv Oleg KononovResigns17 October14thPavel Kucherov (interim)19 OctoberFC Obolon Kyiv Serhiy KovaletsSacked31 October16thVasyl Rats (interim)31 OctoberFC Obolon KyivVasyl Rats (interim)Dismissed for health reasons26 November16thSerhiy Konyushenko26 NovemberFC Zorya Luhansk Anatoly ChantsevSacked27 November15th Yuriy Vernydub (interim)27 NovemberPFC Oleksandria Volodymyr SharanResigns22 December(winter break)14th Leonid Buriak27 December(winter break)FC Volyn Lutsk Vitaliy KvartsyanyiSacked27 December(winter break)12th Anatoliy Demyanenko8 January(winter break)FC Karpaty LvivPavel Kucherov (interim)End as interim21 January(winter break)13thVolodymyr Sharan21 January(winter break)FC Karpaty LvivVolodymyr SharanSacked25 March14thYuriy Dyachuk-Stavytskyi (interim)25 MarchPFC Oleksandria Leonid BuriakResigns3 April16thAndriy Kuptsov (interim)3 April
Qualification to European competitions for 2012–13 Since Ukraine finished in eighth place of the UEFA country ranking after the 2010–11 season, the league will have the same number of qualifiers for 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. The Ukrainian Cup winner qualifies for the play-off round.
Qualified teams After the 22nd Round, Dynamo Kyiv qualified for European football for the 2012–13 season. During the 23rd Round, Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for European football for the 2012–13 season. During the 25th Round, Metalist Kharkiv qualified for European football for the 2012–13 season. After the 27th Round, Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League. After the 27th Round Metalist Kharkiv qualified for the 2012–13 Europa League Play-off round. Before the 29th Round Metalurh Donetsk qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League after advancing to the 2012 Ukrainian Cup Final. After the 29th Round Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Arsenal Kyiv qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. Before the 30th Round Metalurh Donetsk qualified for the 2012–13 Europa League 2nd qualification round. After the 30th Round Arsenal Kyiv qualified for the 2012–13 Europa League 3rd qualification round. After the 30th Round Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk qualified for the 2012–13 Europa League Play-off round. After the 30th Round Dynamo Kyiv qualified for the 2012–13 Champions League 3rd qualification round. After the 30th Round Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for the 2012–13 Champions League Group stage.
League table
Round by round
The following table represents the teams position after each round in the competition.
Results
Top goalscorers
The competition's top ten goalscorers.
#ScorerGoals (Pen.)Team1 Yevhen Seleznyov14Shakhtar Donetsk Maicon14 (2)Volyn Lutsk3 Brown Ideye12Dynamo Kyiv Andriy Yarmolenko12Dynamo Kyiv Luiz Adriano12 (3)Shakhtar Donetsk6 Anton Shynder11Tavriya Simferopol Marko Devich11 (2)Metalist Kharkiv8 Cristaldo10Metalist Kharkiv Henrikh Mkhitaryan10 Shakhtar Donetsk Nikola Kalinić10 (1)Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Cleiton Xavier10 (1)Metalist Kharkiv
Season awards The laureates of the 2011–12 UPL season were:Названо лауреатів сезону 2011/2012 рр.! Best player: Yevhen Konoplyanka (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk) Best coach: Mircea Lucescu (Shakhtar Donetsk) Best goalkeeper: Oleksandr Shovkovskyi (Dynamo Kyiv) Best arbiter: Anatoliy Abdula (Kharkiv) Best young player: Roman Bezus (Vorskla Poltava) Best goalscorer: Yevhen Seleznyov (Shakhtar Donetsk)
See also 2011–12 Ukrainian First League 2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League Reserves 2011–12 Ukrainian Second League 2011–12 Ukrainian Cup 2011–12 UEFA Europa League List of Ukrainian football transfers winter 2011–12
References
External links Goalscorer section