The 2017–18 Ukrainian Cup was the 27th annual season of Ukraine's football knockout competition. The competition started on 9 July 2017 and concluded on 9 May 2018.
This season the competition's administration was passed on to the Football Federation of Ukraine that previously was conducted by both the Premier League and Professional Football League. The number of participants has increased to 52 and is the biggest in the last five years. The FFU also promised to introduce a system of bonuses for this season's competition, yet did not disclosed them.
All competition rounds consisted of a single game with a home field advantage granted to a team from lower league. Qualification for the competition is granted to all professional clubs and finalists of the Ukrainian Amateur Cup as long as those clubs were able to pass the season's attestation (licensing).
FC Shakhtar Donetsk was the defending winner for the last two seasons. The Donetsk club has reached the competition finals in the last seven years winning five of them. There were around 300 clubs over the history of competition and it is a debut season for seven of them, Dnipro-1, Ahrobiznes, Metalist 1925, Polissya, Tavriya Simferopol, Sudnobudivnyk, and Prykarpattia. Both qualified amateur clubs have already participated in the competition before. It should be mentioned that only 10 clubs participated in every season of the tournament.
Team allocation and schedule The competition included all professional first teams from the Premier League (12/12 teams of the league), First League (18/18), Second League (21/23) and two best teams from the previous year's Amateur Cup.
Distribution First round (26 teams)3 entrants from the First League 21 entrants from the Second League 2 entrants from the Amateur CupSecond round (28 teams)15 entrants from the First League13 winners from the First roundRound of 32 (20 teams)6 entrants from the Premier League14 winners from the Second roundRound of 16 (16 teams)6 entrants from the Premier League10 winners from the Round of 20
Rounds schedule Phase Round Draw date Game dateThe 2017–18 Ukrainian Cup: ten facts about the tournament (Кубок Украины-2017/18. Десять фактов о турнире). UA-Football. 8 July 2017 Preliminary Round 1 finals 30 June 2017 9 July 2017 Round 2 finals 13 July 2017 26 July 2017 Main event Round of 32 finals 4 August 2017 20 September 2017 Round of 16 finals 27 September 2017 25 October 2017 Quarter-finals finals 31 October 2017 29 November 2017 Semi-finals finals 2The Ukrainian Cup semifinal draw took place on 2 March (Жеребьевка полуфинала Кубка Украины состоится 2 марта). Sport Arena. 21 February 2018 March 2018The semifinals draw of the Ukrainian Cup took place in March (Жеребьевка полуфинала Кубка Украины состоится в марте). Sport Arena. 30 November 2017 18 April 2018 Final 9 May 2018
Teams
Enter in First Round Enter in Second Round Enter in Round of 32 Enter in Round of 16 AAFU2 teams PFL League 221 teams PFL League 13 teams PFL League 115 teams UPL 6 teams UPL 6 teams Chaika Petropavlivska Borshchahivka SCC Demnya Ahrobiznes Volochysk* Arsenal-Kyivshchyna Bukovyna Chernivtsi FC Dnipro SC Dnipro-1* Enerhiya Nova Kakhovka FC Lviv* Metalist 1925 Kharkiv* Metalurh Zaporizhia Myr Hornostayivka FC Nikopol Nyva Ternopil* Nyva-V Vinnytsia Podillya Khmelnytskyi Polissya Zhytomyr* Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk Real Pharma Odesa Skala Stryi Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv Tavriya Simferopol* FC Ternopil Balkany Zorya Kremin Kremenchuk Rukh Vynnyky Arsenal Kyiv Avanhard Kramatorsk Cherkaskyi Dnipro Desna Chernihiv Helios Kharkiv Hirnyk-Sport Inhulets Petrove Kolos Kovalivka MFC Mykolaiv Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Obolon-Brovar Kyiv FC Poltava PFC Sumy Volyn Lutsk Zhemchuzhyna Odesa Karpaty Lviv FC Mariupol Stal Kamianske Veres Rivne Vorskla Poltava Zirka Kropyvnytskyi Chornomorets Odesa Dynamo Kyiv FC Oleksandriya Olimpik Donetsk Shakhtar Donetsk Zorya Luhansk
Notes With the asterisk (*) are noted the Second League teams that were recently admitted to the league from amateurs and the AAFU (amateur) team(s) that qualified in place of the Amateur Cup finalist(s). Due to the FIFA sanctions, FC Dnipro, that last season was representing the Premier League, was forced to start the season as a member of the Second League. At the same time to the Second League was admitted the newly created club SC Dnipro-1 that according to SC Dnipro-1 founders had no relationship to FC Dnipro although did inherit their football academy. Two reserve teams from the Second League did not compete: Mykolaiv-2, Inhulets-2.
Only few days before the start of the competition, on 6 July 2017 number of clubs announced that they have various major issues in taking part of the competition, among which are FC Arsenal-Kyivshchyna Bila Tserkva,Arsenal-Kyivshchyna might decline from participating in the Ukrainian Cup (Арсенал-Киевщина может отказаться от участия в Кубке Украины). UA-Football. 6 July 2017 FC Metalurh Zaporizhia,Game Matalurh – Polissya might not take place (Матч Металлург – Полесье может не состояться). UA-Football. 6 July 2017 FC Sudnobudivnyk MykolaivSudnobudivnyk is unable to host Balkany in Mykolaiv (Судостроитель не может принять Балканы в Николаеве). UA-Football. 6 July 2017 (the last two, because of problems with their stadiums). On the other hand, both FC TernopilFC Ternopil may play its home game in Khmelnytskyi (ФК Тернополь может проводить домашние матчи в Хмельницком). UA-Football. 6 July 2017 and FC Lviv confirmed that they are ready for the competition.
FC Lviv announced that it will play its first game of Ukrainian Cup competition in Rava-Ruska.FC Lviv will play the nearest home games in Rava-Ruska (ФК Львов ближайшие домашние матчи проведет в Раве-Русской). UA-Football. 6 July 2017 Earlier on 5 July 2017 it was announced that Metalist 1925 answered to the call of Nyva Ternopil to switch the draw arrangement and agreed to play the game in Kharkiv.There changed a location of the game Nyva T – Metalist 1925 (Изменилось место проведения матча Нива Т – Металлист 1925). UA-Football. 5 July 2017 Nyva was not able to find consensus to play at the Ternopil city stadium (Miskyi) as FC Ternopil was scheduled to play at the stadium that day as well. Related documents were sent up to the Football Federation of Ukraine. On 7 July 2017 the Football Federation of Ukraine approved to conduct the game between Metalurh and Polissya at Kolos Stadium in Chkalove, Nikopol RaionMelaurh will host Polissya in Chkalove (Металург прийме Полісся у Чкалове). UA-Football. 7 July 2017 as well as the game between Sudnobudivnyk and Balkany that took place on 10 July 2017 at Ivan Stadium in Odesa.The game Sudnobudivnyk – Balkany is postponed for a day and will take place in Odesa (Матч Суднобудівник – Балкани перенесений на один день і відбудеться в Одесі). UA-Football. 7 July 2017 Also the match arrangements between Metalist 1925 and Nyva to play in Kharkiv instead of Ternopil was approved and Metalist 1925 hosted Nyva at Sonyachny Training Center.Metalist 1925 will host Nyva at Sonyachnyi Stadium (Металіст 1925 прийме Ниву на стадіоні Сонячний). UA-Football. 7 July 2017
Bracket The following is the bracket which the Ukrainian Cup resembled. Numbers in parentheses next to the match score represent the results of a penalty shoot-out.
Competition schedule Legends: AM – AAFU (amateur) competitions (IV tier), 2L – Second League (III tier), 1L – First League (II tier), PL – Premier League (I tier)
First Preliminary round (1/64)
In this round entered three representatives from the First League, 21 clubs from the Second League, two representatives from the Amateur Cup. The draw for this round that took place 30 June 2017 at the House of Football in Kyiv was announced on 27 June 2017. The round matches were played on 9 July 2017.
Notes: On 5 July 2017 the club director of Skala Stryi confirmed that the club will not show up for the cup game against Tavriya as they pressed for time to gather a team.Skala won't play in the Ukrainian Cup (Скала не будет играть в Кубке Украины). UA-Football. 5 July 2017 On 24 July 2017 it was announced that the FFU Control and Disciplinary Committee awarded a technical loss to Skala (0:3) and fined it for 5,000 hryvnias.FFU CDC awarded a technical loss to Skala for failing to appear to the game against Tavriya in the Ukrainian Cup (КДК ФФУ засчитал Скале техническое поражение за неявку на матч против Таврии в Кубке Украины). UA-Football. 24 July 2017
Second Preliminary round (1/32) In this round will include 15 more representatives from the First League in addition to the two that advanced from the previous round as well as 10 clubs from the Second League and one representatives from the Amateur Cup. The draw for this round that took place on 13 July 2017 at the House of Football in Kyiv was announced on 11 July 2017.The draw of the second preliminary round of Ukrainian Cup took place on 13 July (Жеребьевка второго предварительного этапа Кубка Украины состоится 13 июля). UA-Football. 11 July 2017 Later (21 July 2017) it was confirmed that the date for the game Tavriya – Nyva-V should be 27 July 2017.There was announced a schedule of games to be played as part of the second preliminary stage of the Ukrainian Cup (Оголошено розклад матчів другого попереднього етапу Кубку України). Football Federation of Ukraine. 21 July 2017Game results of the second preliminary stage of the Ukrainian Cup (Being updated) (Результати матчів другого попереднього етапу Кубку України (Оновлюється)). Football Federation of Ukraine. 26 July 2017
Round of 32 (1/16) In this round the first 6 representatives from the Premier League will enter the competition along with the 14 teams that advanced from the previous round including 8 clubs from the First League, 5 clubs from the Second League, and one representatives from the Amateur Cup. The draw for this round was held on 4 August 2017 at the House of Football in Kyiv and was announced on 1 August 2017.The draw of the third round of Ukrainian Cup will take place on 4 August The round matches were played on 20 September 2017.
Round of 16 (1/8) In this round the final 6 representatives from the Premier League will enter the competition along with the 10 teams that advanced from the previous round including 4 teams from the Premier League, 2 teams from the First League and 4 teams from the Second League.The -final of the Ukrainian Cup draw took place on 27 September (Жеребьевка 1/8 финала Кубка Украины состоится 27 сентября). Sport Arena. 22 September 2017 The draw was without seeds and was held on 27 September 2017.Ukrainian Cup. How it was (Кубок Украины. Как это было). UA-Football. 20 September 2017 The round matches were played on 25 October 2017.
Quarterfinals (1/4) In this round advanced 5 representatives from the Premier League, a team from the First League and 2 teams from the Second League. The draw was without seeds and was held on 31 October 2017 in the House of Football, Kyiv.Quarterfinals draw of the Ukrainian Cup will take place on 31 October 2017 (Жеребьевка четвертьфинала Кубка Украины состоится 31 октября). Sport Arena. 26 October 2017 The round matches were played on 29 November 2017.
Semifinals (1/2) In this round advanced 3 representatives from the Premier League and a team from the Second League. The draw was without seeds and was held on 2 March 2018. SC Dnipro-1 will play its semifinal game at home as being from the lowest league. The round matches are scheduled to be played on 18 April 2018.
Final
Top goalscorers The competition's top ten goalscorers including qualification rounds.