The 2019–20 Ukrainian Premier League season was the 29th top-level football club competitions since the fall of the Soviet Union and the 12th since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League.
The tournament has been set to start on 28 July 2019.There was approved calendar of the 2019–20 UPL championship first half (Затверджено календар першого кола Чемпіонату УПЛ 2019/20). Ukrainian Premier League. 12 June 2019 The same day there took place the game for the Ukrainian Super Cup. The UPL General Assembly also adopted a post season play-off mini-tournament for the last fifth berth of Ukraine in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League competition which would involve the best team(s) of the relegation group.Changes in the regulation: the UPL fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth teams will play-off the trip ticket to the Europe League (Изменения в регламенте: пятая, шестая, седьмая и восьмая команды УПЛ розыграют путевку в Лигу Европы). UA-Football. 12 June 2019 The assembly also agreed to implement the Video assistant referee (VAR) position in 2020.In UPL voted to introduce VAR from 2020 (В УПЛ проголосовали за введение VAR с 2020 года). UA-Football. 12 June 2019 With the ongoing competition, on 7 August 2019 the league adopted new name FavBet Liha after its main sponsor as well as its new logo.The Ukrainian championship changed its logo and now is called as Favbet liha (Чемпионат Украины сменил логотип и теперь называется Favbet лига). Football.ua. 7 August 2019 For promotional purpose, the Ukrainian Premier League introduced an own copy of virtual fantasy league on the Real Manager game platform.Real Manager. Real Manager.The Real Manager: there starts a struggle for the first prizes of the official UPL fantasy league (Real Manager: розпочинається боротьба за перші призи офіційної фентезі-ліги УПЛ). Ukrainian Premier League. 12 September 2019
The defending champion was the 12-times winner Shakhtar Donetsk. On 20 June 2020, Shakhtar won the league again by beating Oleksandriya in the Round 27 home game gaining its 13th title record five rounds before the finish.The UPL collective congratulates FC Shakhtar with becoming the champions (Колектив УПЛ вітає ФК «Шахтар» із чемпіонством!). Ukrainian Premier League. 20 June 2020
Competition prolongation caused by the emergency break introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic made the season the longest in history, lasting 1 year and 1 day in total.The longest season in history (Найдовший сезон в історії). Ukrainian Premier League. 27 July 2020 The season also has set a record as a highest-scoring season in the history of the competition, with an average of 2.78 goals scored per game.The highest-scoring season in history (Найрезультативніший сезон в історії). Ukrainian Premier League. 30 July 2020
Summary For next 2020–21 season, Ukrainian Premier League will expand to 14 teams. The lowest ranked team from Ukrainian Premier League will get relegated to Ukrainian First League. However, the top three teams from Ukrainian First League will gain promotion to Ukrainian Premier League next season.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine and based on resolutions of the Cabinet of Ukraine and the UAF Executive Committee, on 11 March 2020 the UPL adopted a decision to conduct games of the league's championship as well as under-21 and under-19 championships without spectators until 3 April 2020 (the first two rounds of the season's second stage).The games of the Favbet Liha, the under-21 and under-19 championships will be conducted without spectators until 3 April (Матчі Favbet Ліги, Чемпіонатів U-21 та U-19 до 3 квітня пройдуть без глядачів). Ukrainian Premier League. 12 March 2020
On 17 March 2020, the Ukrainian Association of Football adopted its decision to pause all football competitions in the country since 18 March 2020 for unspecified period of time (until adaptation of its next decision to resume all football events) due to the coronavirus pandemic.Vsevolod Mazur. The UAF paused all football competitions in Ukraine (УАФ приостановила все футбольные соревнования в Украине). Sport Arena. 17 March 2020 On 14 May 2020 in the House of Football took place a working conference between leaders of UAF and UPL with representatives of the UPL club where it was decided not to renew competitions among U-21 and U-19 teams.There took place a working meeting among leader of UPL and UAF with representatives of clubs (Відбулася робоча зустріч керівників УПЛ та УАФ із представниками клубів). Ukrainian Premier League. 14 May 2020 The decision was approved on 27 May 2020 by the UAF Executive Committee.Official. The UAF EC approved decision about completion of the Ukrainian football championships among U-21 and U-19 teams (Офіційно. Виконком УАФ затвердив рішення про завершення чемпіонатів України серед команд U-21 та U-19). Ukrainian Association of Football. 27 May 2020 On 26 May 2020 the Ministry of Healthcare granted its permission to conduct games of the Favbet Liha and the Ukrainian Cup without spectators starting 30 May 2020 and the UAF Executive Committee supported the decision to renew the Championship and the Ukrainian Cup from 30 May 2020.The Favbet Liha is restarting on 30 May (Favbet Ліга відновиться 30 травня). Ukrainian Premier League. 26 May 2020 Next day the Ministry of Health Care updated some of its restricting recommendations in regards to coordination of competitions among professional clubs.No more 200 individuals at stadium and 5 substitutions per game (updated)! (Не більше 200 осіб на стадіоні та 5 замін за матч (оновлено)!). Ukrainian Premier League. 27 May 2020
On 22 July 2020 Ministry of Healthcare granted the permission to allow spectators on the Europa League play-off matches in a test mode, with up to 25% of stadium capacity open for attending.Spectators return to the stadiums (Глядачі повертаються на стадіони). Ukrainian Premier League. 22 July 2020
The term of the UPL president expired on 5 April 2020.Thomas Grimm will head the UPL until 5 April (Томас Грімм очолюватиме УПЛ до 5 квітня). Ukrinform. 20 December 2019 Due to pandemic situation worldwide, the election of the League's president was postponed to 27 April 2020. The current president Thomas Grimm stated that he will not run for the post as the members of the league are not interested to work together.Andreas Böni. The Grimm's crazy life experiences in Ukraine (Grimms verrückte Erlebnisse in der Ukraine). Blick. 27 March 2020 Grimm: "There are many different picaresque stories in Ukrainian football that do not ease the work for the League's president (Гримм: «В украинском футболе есть много разных авантюрных историй, которые не облегчают работу президента лиги»). Sport Arena. 28 March 2020 On 4 May 2020 the league's executive director Yevhen Dykyi announced that there were registered three candidates for elections of the UPL president.On the post of the UPL president registered 3 candidates and two more people were interested (На посаду президента УПЛ зареєструвалися 3 кандидати. Цікавились ще 2 осіб). UA-Football. 4 May 2020 On 18 May 2020 the league announced that elections for the league's president were postponed and their date will be announced later.The UPL president elections were postponed (Вибори президента УПЛ перенесені). Ukrainian Premier League. 18 May 2020The UPL announced its decision about presidential elections (УПЛ оголосила рішення щодо виборів президента). Football Hub. 18 May 2020 Until then as the UPL president is acting the league's executive director Yevhen Dykyi.
Teams
Promoted teams SC Dnipro-1 – the champion of the 2018–19 Ukrainian First League (debut) Kolos Kovalivka – 2nd place of the 2018–19 Ukrainian First League, play-off winners (debut)
Other issues Olimpik Donetsk's participation in the season was under question because both of its youth teams (U-21 and U-19) were expelled from the Ukrainian Premier League due to match fixing, and are banned from competitions until the end of 2019–20 season.
Location map The following displays the location of teams.
Stadiums Three teams play their matches outside of home towns. The minimum threshold for the stadium's capacity in the UPL is 5,000 (Article 10, paragraph 7.2).Locations where completion is conducted (Місця проведення змагань). 2018–19 Ukrainian Premier League regulations.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, after quarantine break clubs from Lviv were forced to conduct all their home matches in the other regions until the Round 30.Karpaty moved their match from Lviv to Lutsk (ФК «Карпати» перенесли свій домашній матч зі Львова до Луцька). ZAXID.NET. 19 June 2020."Made an agreement for four matches": why Lviv footballers decided to loan the stadium in Ternopil («Домовилися на чотири матчі»: чому львівські футболісти вирішили орендувати тернопільський стадіон). 20 hvylyn. 7 July 2020.
The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds (clubs in bold indicate that the respective stadium was their main home ground during the season):
RankStadiumPlaceClubCapacityNotes1NSC OlimpiyskiyKyivDynamo Kyiv 70,050Shakhtar Donetskused as home ground following COVID-19 quarantineKolos Kovalivkaused as home ground in Rounds 26, 32 and playoff2OSC MetalistKharkivShakhtar Donetsk 40,003used as home ground before COVID-19 pandemic3Arena LvivLvivFC Lviv 34,915used as home ground in Rounds 2 and 44Dnipro-ArenaDniproSC Dnipro-1 31,003FC Lvivused as home ground in Round 255Ukraina StadiumLvivKarpaty Lviv 28,051FC Lviv6Vorskla StadiumPoltavaVorskla Poltava 24,7957Lobanovsky Dynamo StadiumKyivOlimpik Donetsk 16,873used as home ground during the seasonDynamo Kyivused as home ground in Round 198Ternopilsky Misky StadionTernopilFC Lviv 15,150used as home ground in Round 29SC Dnipro-1used as home ground in Round 309Volodymyr Boiko StadiumMariupolFC Mariupol 12,68010Avanhard StadiumLutskKarpaty Lviv 12,080used as home ground in Round 2811Chernihiv StadiumChernihivDesna Chernihiv 12,06012Slavutych-ArenaZaporizhzhiaZorya Luhansk 12,000used as home ground during the season13CSC Nika StadiumOleksandriyaFC Oleksandriya 7,00014Obolon ArenaKyivKolos Kovalivka 5,100used as home ground during the season
Notes:
The Round 19 game between Dynamo and Vorskla was played on February 22, 2020, at the Dynamo Stadium imeni Lobanovskoho becoming a historical mark when there first was implemented the system of video assistant referee (VAR).Dynamo – Vorskla 2:1 («Динамо» — «Ворскла» — 2:1). Ukrainian Premier League. 22 February 2020Greetings to all fans, coaches, players with resuming of the Ukrainian championship (Вітаємо всіх уболівальників, тренерів, гравців з поновленням чемпіонату України!). Ukrainian Premier League. 22 February 2020 Due to critical situation in the city of Lviv with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Lviv city club's do not play at home from Round 24 till Round 30.
Personnel and sponsorship