The 2014–15 Ukrainian First League was the 24th since its establishment. The competition commenced on 26 July 2014 with seven matches. Due to sponsorship reasons the league is called Favbet League 1. The competition was on winter recess from 17 November until 20 March when the competition resumed with the Round 18 match between FC Ternopil and MFC Mykolaiv.
Teams The number of teams for the competition was confirmed on 7 July 2014.
Promoted teams Four teams were promoted from the 2013–14 Ukrainian Second League.
Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk – champion (debut) Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk – 2nd placed runner-up (returning after an absence of 6 seasons) FC Ternopil – 3rd placed runner-up (debut) Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih – 4th placed runner-up (debut)
Relegated teams No teams were relegated from the 2013–14 Ukrainian Premier League. Tavriya Simferopol was to be relegated from the Ukrainian Premier League but the team terminated its existence after the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
Withdrawn teams Tytan Armyansk withdrew from the PFL and later terminated their existence due to the annexation of Crimea.
Suspended teams FC Avanhard Kramatorsk were suspended from the PFL due to the war in Donbas.
Merged teams
PFC Oleksandriya refused promotion to the Premier League. Prior to the season PFC Oleksandriya and UkrAhroKom Holovkivka merged into one club renaming themselves to FC Oleksandriya.
Location map The following displays the location of teams.
Stadiums
The following stadiums are considered home grounds for the teams in the competition.
Rank Stadium Capacity Club Notes 1Metalurh Stadium, Kryvyi Rih29,783Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih 2 Yuvileiny Stadium, Sumy 25,800 FC Sumy 3Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, Kyiv 16,873 Dynamo-2 KyivUsed as home ground in Round 9 4 Central City Stadium, Mykolaiv 16,700 MFC Mykolaiv 5 Zirka Stadium, Kirovohrad 13,667 Zirka Kirovohrad 6 City Stadium, Ternopil 12,750 Nyva Ternopil FC Ternopil 7 Yuri Gagarin Stadium, Chernihiv 12,060 Desna Chernihiv 8 Bukovyna Stadium, Chernivtsi 12,000 Bukovyna Chernivtsi 9CSC Nika Stadium, Oleksandria 7,000FC Oleksandriya 10 Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka 5,256 Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka 11 Sonyachny Stadium, Kharkiv 4,924 Helios Kharkiv 12Metalurh Stadium, Dniprodzerzhynsk 2,900 Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk 13Lokomotov Stadium, Poltava 2,500 FC Poltava 14Yunist Stadium, Komsomolsk 2,500 Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk 15Mashynobudivnyk Stadium, Karlivka 1,300 Stal Alchevsk Used as home ground 16 Dynamo Training Center, Kyiv 1,200 Dynamo-2 Kyiv
Managers ClubCoachReplaced coach Bukovyna Chernivtsi Yuriy Hiy Desna Chernihiv Oleksandr Ryabokon Dynamo-2 Kyiv Vadym Yevtushenko Alyaksandr KhatskevichHelios Kharkiv Serhiy Syzykhin (interim) Serhiy YesinHirnyk Kryvyi Rih Hennadiy Prykhodko Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk Ihor Zhabchenko FC Oleksandriya Volodymyr Sharan MFC Mykolaiv Vyacheslav Mazarati Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka Vadym Kolesnyk Nyva Ternopil Roman Tolochko Bohdan SamardakFC Poltava Oleh Fedorchuk Ilya BlyznyukStal Alchevsk Vadym PlotnikovStal Dniprodzerzhynsk Volodymyr Mazyar FC Sumy Yuriy Yaroshenko FC Ternopil Vasyl Ivehesh Zirka Kirovohrad Serhiy Lavrynenko Anatoliy Buznyk Samir Hasanov
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyTableIncoming head coachDate of appointment FC Sumy Serhiy Strashnenko (interim) End interim Pre-season Yuriy Yaroshenko Zirka Kirovohrad Anatoliy Buznyk Fired October 28 11th Samir Hasanov October 28 Zirka Kirovohrad Samir Hasanov Resigns November 12 14th Serhiy Lavrynenko November 12 Dynamo-2 Kyiv Alyaksandr Khatskevich Leaves for Belarus December 4 5th Vadym Yevtushenko December 15 FC Poltava Ilya Blyznyuk January 11 7th Oleh Fedorchuk January 11 Helios Kharkiv Serhiy Yesin Fired April 1 Serhiy Syzykhin (interim) April 1 Nyva Ternopil Bohdan Samardak Resigns April 27 13th Roman Tolochko April 30
League table
Results
Position by round
Promotion/relegation play-off A promotion/relegation home and away play-off is to be played by the 3rd place team of 2014–15 Ukrainian Second League against the 14th placed team of the 2014–15 Ukrainian First League competition. Seedings for the playoff were announced in Ukrainian House of Football on May 29. First leg
Second leg
MFC Mykolaiv wins 1–0 on aggregate and remains in First League
Top goalscorers
#ScorerGoals(Pen.)Team1 Stanislav Kulish21Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk2 Bohdan Semenets14FC Ternopil3 Oleksiy Chychykov11Zirka Kirovohrad4 Dmytro Bohachov10FC Sumy Vitaliy Ponomar10FC Oleksandriya6 Serhiy Herasymets9Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk Serhiy Kravchenko9 (3)Helios Kharkiv8 Volodymyr Korolkov8 (3)Hirnyk-Sport Komsomolsk Anton Kotlyar8 (6)Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk10 Maksym Kalenchuk7Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk Yehor Kartushov7Desna Chernihiv Oleksiy Khoblenko7Dynamo-2 Kyiv Roman Loktionov7 Stal Alchevsk / Zirka Kirovohrad Ihor Zahalskyi7 (2)Zirka Kirovohrad Petro Kondratyuk7 (3)Desna Chernihiv Yuriy Solomka7 (3)FC Poltava
See also 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League Reserves and Under 19 2014–15 Ukrainian Second League 2014–15 Ukrainian Cup
References