The 2011–12 Ukrainian First League was the 21st since its establishment. Eighteen teams competed in the competition. Two teams were promoted from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Second League. Two teams were relegated from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Premier League
The competition began on July 16, 2011 with seven matches. The competition had a winter break starting on November 22, 2011 and the competition resumed on March 24, 2012 and completed on May 30, 2012.
Team changes
Promoted teams
These two teams were promoted from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Second League Group A MFK Mykolaiv – Second League champion (returning after three seasons)
Group B Olimpik Donetsk – Second League champion (debut)
Relegated teams Two teams were relegated from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Premier League
FC Sevastopol – 15th place (returning after a season) Metalurh Zaporizhzhia – 16th place (debut)
Renamed teams Dnister Ovidiopol moved their operations to Odesa and renamed themselves to FC Odesa. Zakarpattia Uzhhorod was renamed to Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod.
Team locations
Map The following displays the location of teams.
Stadiums The following stadiums were used during the season.
Rank Stadium Capacity Club Notes 1 Ukraina Stadium 28,051 FC Lviv Used as home ground in Round 28 2 Central Stadium, Vinnytsia 24,000 Nyva Vinnytsia 3 Army Sports Club Stadium, Lviv 23,040 FC Lviv Used as home ground in Round 21 4Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium 16,873 Dynamo-2 Kyiv Used as home ground in Round 23 5 Central Stadium, Mykolaiv 16,700 MFK Mykolaiv 6 Zirka Stadium, Kirovohrad 13,667 Zirka Kirovohrad 7 Labor Reserve, Bila Tserkva 13,500 Arsenal Bila Tserkva 8 Avanhard Zakarpattya, Uzhhorod 12,000 Zakarpattya Uzhhorod 9 Bukovyna Stadium, Chernivtsi 12,000 Bukovyna Chernivtsi 10 Slavutych Arena 11,983 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia 11 Stal Stadium, Alchevsk 8,632 Stal Alchevsk 12 Kolos Stadium, Boryspil 5,654 Arsenal Bila Tserkva Used by Arsenal as home ground after the winter break 13 SK Sevastopol, Sevastopol, Crimea 5,511 FC Sevastopol 14 Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka 5,256 Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka 15 Spartak Stadium, Odesa 4,610 FC Odesa 16 Khimik Stadium, Krasnoperekopsk, Crimea 4,116 Tytan Armyansk Used as home ground after the winter break 17 Khimik Stadium, Armyansk, Crimea 3,450 Tytan Armyansk 18 ST Sport Arena, Ahrarne, Crimea 3,250 Krymteplitsia Molodizhne 19 Lofort Arena, Dobromyl 3,220 FC Lviv 20 Enerhetyk Stadium, Burshtyn 3,000 Enerhetyk Burshtyn 21 Helios Arena, Kharkiv 2,057 Helios Kharkiv 22 Dukov Dnister Stadium, Ovidiopol 1,500 FC Odesa Used as home ground in Round 23 23 Avanhard Stadium (artificial turf), Luhansk 1,000 Stal Alchevsk Reserve ground - Used as home ground in Round 26 24 Dynamo Club Stadium, Chapayevka 750 Dynamo-2 Kyiv 25 Sports Complex Olimpik, Donetsk 680 Olimpik Donetsk
Managers ClubCoachReplaced coachArsenal Bila Tserkva Ihor Artymovych Bukovyna Chernivtsi Vadym ZayatsDynamo-2 Kyiv Andriy Husin Enerhetyk Burshtyn Volodymyr Kovalyuk Mykola Vitovskiy (caretaker) Bohdan BlavatskyiHelios Kharkiv Volodymyr Shekhovtsov (caretaker) Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod Oleksandr Sevidov Krymteplytsia Molodizhne Mykola Fedorko (caretaker) FC Lviv Volodymyr Zhuravchak Roman Marych (caretaker) Roman Laba (caretaker)Metalurh Zaporizhzhia Serhiy Zaytsev (caretaker) MFC Mykolaiv Ruslan Zabranskyi Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka Yevhen Yarovenko Vadym Kolesnyk (caretaker) Serhiy MizinNyva Vinnytsia Oleh Shumovytskyi (caretaker) Oleh FedorchukFC Odesa Andriy ParkhomenkoOlimpik Donetsk Ihor Petrov FC Sevastopol Serhiy Puchkov Oleksandr RyabokonStal Alchevsk Anatoliy VolobuyevTytan Armyansk Oleksandr Haydash Serhiy Kozlov (interim) Mykola FedorenkoZirka Kirovohrad Vadym Yevtushenko Anatoliy Buznyk Ihor Zhabchenko Andriy Antonov (caretaker)
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyTableIncoming head coachDate of appointment Metalurh Zaporizhzhia Hryhoriy Nehiryev (caretaker) End as caretaker Pre-season Serhiy Zaytsev (caretaker) FC Sevastopol Angel Chervenkov Resigned Oleksandr Ryabokon FC Lviv Oleksandr Ryabokon Leaves for PFC Sevastopol Roman Laba (caretaker) Zirka Kirovohrad Anatoliy Buznyk Resigned 13th Ihor Zhabchenko Enerhetyk Burshtyn Bohdan Blavatskyi Resigned 18th Mykola Vitovskiy (caretaker) FC Lviv Roman Laba (caretaker) End as caretaker 16th Roman Marych (caretaker) FC Sevastopol Oleksandr Ryabokon Sacked 4th Serhiy Puchkov Nyva Vinnytsia Oleh Fedorchuk Resigned 17th Oleh Shumovytskyi (caretaker) Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Serhiy Mizin Resigned 9th Vadym Kolesnyk (caretaker) Zirka Kirovohrad Ihor Zhabchenko Sacked 15th Andriy Antonov (caretaker) Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Vadym Kolesnyk (caretaker) End as caretaker 8th Yevhen Yarovenko Zirka Kirovohrad Andriy Antonov (caretaker) End as caretaker 15th Vadym Yevtushenko FC Lviv Roman Marych (caretaker) End as caretaker 18th Volodymyr Zhuravchak Enerhetyk Burshtyn Mykola Vitovskiy (caretaker) End as caretaker 16th Volodymyr Kovalyuk Tytan Armyansk Mykola Fedorenko Resigned 13th Serhiy Kozlov (interim) Serhiy Kozlov (caretaker) End as caretaker 13th Oleksandr Haydash
League table
Withdrawn Teams
Enerhetyk Burshtyn On 22 May the president of Enerhetyk Burshtyn informed that the Round 32 match in Vinnytsia was the last match as a professional club and that the will not be competing in the last two games of the season. The rest of Enerhetyk's fixtures (2 games) are considered technical losses. The club played 32 games in the League and had a record of 5 wins, 4 draws and 23 losses with 26 goals scored and 72 against.
FC Lviv Prior to the start of the 2012–13 Ukrainian Second League season the Sporting Director of the club informed the PFL that they are withdrawing from the league due to termination of their financial sponsor.
Nyva Vinnytsia
The club originally informed the PFL that they were to withdraw from the league when the draw for the 2012–13 season was made due to insufficient funds.(5 July 2012) However, the city and the oblast administration informed the PFL guaranteeing sufficient funds for the next season.(10 July 2012) The club was to participate in the 2012–13 Ukrainian Second League competition after readmission to the PFL but was dissolved not submitting proper documentation or license fees and was omitted from the competition.(13 July 2012)
Promotion/relegation playoff The playoff consisted of the match played between the 16th place team of the First League and the winner of another playoff game between the second placed clubs from each group of the 2011–12 Ukrainian Second League. For the matchup qualified MFC Mykolaiv (First League) and Avanhard Kramatorsk (Second League).
MFK Mykolaiv remained in the First League. Avanhard Kramatorsk promoted to First League after Nyva Vinnystia withdrew from PFL (5 July 2012)
Playoff bracket
1L – First League 2L – Second League
Results
Top scorers
ScorerGoals (Pen.)Team1 Oleksandr Kosyrin19FC Odesa/Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod 2 Serhiy Kuznetsov16 (1)FC Sevastopol3 Oleksandr Kochura14 (1)Zirka Kirovohrad4 Viktor Raskov13Helios Kharkiv Oleksiy Byelik13 (2)Metalurh Zaporizhzhia6 Ivan Matyazh12 (1)Olimpik Donetsk/Metalurh Zaporizhzhia Artur Karnoza12 (5)Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka8 Yevhen Pisotskyi10Metalurh Zaporizhia Lasha Jakobia10 (1)Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod Ruslan Hunchak10 (3)Bukovyna Chernivtsi Valentyn Poltavets10 (3)FC Odesa
See also 2011–12 Ukrainian Second League 2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League
References