The 2020–21 Ukrainian First League was the 30th since its establishment. The league competition consists of 16 teams according to the decision of the PFL Council of Leagues.The council of leagues adopted its decision to finish season in the First League in originally adopted format (Совет лиг принял решение доиграть сезон Первой лиги в привычном формате). Sport Arena. 5 June 2020 The season commenced on 5 September 2020.Official. The UAF Executive Committee approved calendar of the 2020–21 season (Офіційно. Виконком УАФ затвердив план-календар сезону-2020/2021). Ukrainian Association of Football. 12 August 2020 The final composition and regulations of the Professional Football League of Ukraine both leagues were adopted at the PFL Conference on 21 August 2020.The 28th PFL Conference agenda (Порядок денний XХVІІІ Конференції ПФЛ). PFL. 20 August 2020
Summary In this season, the bottom two teams of the First League are to be relegated to the Second League. The top two teams from each group of the Second League will gain promotion to the First League for the next season.
Promotion and/or relegation play-off games that were in place since 2011 (with exclusion in 2013) were discontinued altogether for the season.
This league's season was expected to have number of team increased to eighteen, however due to financial situation with both FC Karpaty Lviv and FC Balkany Zorya the PFL reinstated the sixteen team competition as per last season(see "Teams" section).
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic attendance restriction in the league is still in effect, but was partially eased. The postponed gamesArtur Malkin. (У Першій та Другій лізі через захворювання на COVID-19 перенесені одразу три матчі). Footboom. 2 October 2020Aleksandr Oleinik. The PFL postponed the game Alians and Polissia (ПФЛ перенесла матч Альянса и Полесья). Sport Arena. 12 October 2020Vlad Vlasenko. The postponed due to coronavirus among Lutsk players game Volyn – Nyva will take place on 1 October (Перенесенный из-за коронавируса у лучан матч Волынь — Нива состоится 1 октября). Sport Arena. 25 September 2020The First League: three games of starting round were postponed (Перша ліга: три матчі стартового туру перенесені). Professional Football League. 2 September 2020 that the PFL was not able to reschedule for the later dates of fall half of the season, on 30 November 2020 were rescheduled for the spring half of 2021.The 2021 season calendar for the First League. PFL.
Teams This season, Ukrainian First League consist of 16 teams, which includes top two teams from the both groups of 2019–20 Ukrainian Second League and two relegation/promotion play-offs winners.
Promoted teams The following teams have been promoted from the 2019–20 Ukrainian Second League: Nyva Ternopil – first place in Group A (returning after 5 seasons, last competed in the 2015–16 season) Polissia Zhytomyr – second place in Group A (debut, however another club named as Polissia Zhytomyr last competed in the 2004–05 season) Veres Rivne – play-off winner (returning after 3 seasons) VPK-Ahro Shevchenkivka – first place in Group B (debut) Krystal Kherson – second place in Group B (returning after 28 seasons, last competed in the 1992 league's inaugural season) Alians Lypova Dolyna – play-off winner (debut)
Relegated teams None – Karpaty Lviv that placed 12th in the 2019–20 Ukrainian Premier League, were excluded from the league for repeated absence from scheduled games.Premier League. Standings after the decision of the UAF CDC on FC Karpaty Lviv. Ukrainian Association of Football. 23 July 2020 A possibility was declared at first that the club might be admitted to the First League nonetheless,Karpaty can start the next season in the First League (Карпати можуть почати наступний сезон у Першій лізі). Sport Arena. 9 July 2020 but later it was announced that Karpaty will be admitted the Second League instead.Karpaty will live! Smaliychuk announced the return to UPL (Карпаты будут жить! Смалийчук проанонсировал возвращение в УПЛ). Sport.ua. 31 July 2020Karpaty will be able to play in the First League only if regulations are broken (Карпати зможуть грати в Першій лізі лише за умови порушень регламенту). Football 24. 10 July 2020 About a month later on 14 August 2020, Tribuna.ua informed that Karpaty never applied for certification for the next season in first or second leagues.Mass media: Karpaty never applied for certification for the next season (СМИ: Карпаты не подавали заявку на аттестацию на следующий сезон). UA-Football. 14 August 2020
Legal and other issues FC Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni was approved by the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) to play, after the UAF Chamber of Dispute Resolution order the club to pay compensation to its former player and the club completely ignored it.Yuriy Samotkan. Aleksei Pinchuk: In UEFA we will find out, based on what the UAF issued its certification to "Hirnyk-Sport" (Алексей Пинчук: "В УЕФА узнаем, на каком основании УАФ выдала аттестат "Горняку-Спорт"). Footboom. 19 August 2020 FC Balkany Zorya announced that it was considering withdrawing from the league as it is too expensive for the club.Artur Malkin. "Balkany" is ready to withdraw from the First League and enter the Second ("Балканы" готовы сняться с первой лиги и заявиться во вторую). Footboom. 18 August 2020Artur Malkin. Andrei Parkhomenko: Financial situation of "Balkany" does not allow to compete in the First League (Андрей Пархоменко: "Финансовое положение "Балкан" не позволяет продолжить выступление в первой лиге"). Footboom. 19 August 2020
Renamed teams FC Obolon-Brovar Kyiv changed its name to FC Obolon Kyiv before the start of the season.FC Obolon-Brovar renamed to FC Obolon (ФК «Оболонь Бровар» перейменовано ФК «Оболонь»!). FC Obolon Kyiv. 21 August 2020 FC Veres Rivne changed its name to RNK Veres Rivne before the start of the season. MFC Kremin Kremenchuk changed its name to FC Kremin Kremenchuk before the start of the season. FC Avanhard Kramatorsk changed its name to Avanhard-SK Kramatorsk at the during the latter (May 30) part of the season.ПЕРША ЛІГА. 15 ТУР. «ПРИКАРПАТТЯ» - «АВАНГАРД» - 3:1. FC Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk. 30 May 2021
Location map The following displays the location of teams.
Stadiums The following stadiums were used as home grounds for the teams in the competition. The minimum capacity for stadiums of the First League clubs is set at 1,500 spectators. Rank Stadium Location Capacity Club Notes 1OSC Metalist Kharkiv 40,003 Metalist 1925 Kharkiv 2 Arena Lviv Lviv 34,915 Ahrobiznes Volochysk Round 18 3 Chornomorets Stadium Odesa 34,164 Chornomorets Odesa 4 Yuvileiny Stadium Sumy 25,830 Alians Lypova Dolyna Rounds 1, 3, 14, 5 5 Meteor Stadium Dnipro 24,381 VPK-Ahro Shevchenkivka 6Ternopil City Stadium Ternopil 15,150 Nyva Ternopil 7Avanhard Stadium Lutsk 12,080 Volyn Lutsk Nyva Ternopil Round 18 8 MCS Rukh Ivano-Frankivsk 6,500 Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk Under passive reconstruction since 1986, only one stand out of four is active 9 Prapor Stadium Kramatorsk 6,000 Avanhard Kramatorsk 10 Central Stadium Zhytomyr 5,928 Polissia Zhytomyr Returned for round 18 11 Naftovyk Stadium Okhtyrka 5,256 Alians Lypova Dolyna Rounds 8, 10, 12 12 Obolon Arena Kyiv 5,100 Obolon Kyiv 13 Metalurh Stadium Bakhmut 4,000 Avanhard Kramatorsk Round 1214 Skif Stadium Lviv 3,742 Veres Rivne Rounds 11, 19Nyva TernopilRound 16 15 Krystal Stadium Kherson 3,400 Krystal Kherson 16 Enerhetyk Stadium Burshtyn 3,000 Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk Round 1117 Yunist Stadium Volochysk 2,700 Ahrobiznes Volochysk home stadiumNyva TernopilRound 15 18 Yunist Stadium Horishni Plavni 2,500 Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni 19 Spartak-Arena Zhytomyr 2,500 Polissia Zhytomyr Round 8 20Bannikov Stadium Kyiv 1,678 Polissia Zhytomyr temporary home stadium 21 Kremin Stadium Kremenchuk 1,500 Kremin Kremenchuk 22 Vyshnivets Stadium Vyshnivets 1,500 Nyva Ternopil Round 10 23 Yuvileynyi Stadium Bucha 1,028 Polissia Zhytomyr Round 6 24 Bohdan Markevych Stadium Vynnyky 900 Ahrobiznes Volochysk Round 10, 12 25 Kolos Stadium Mlyniv 850 Veres Rivne temporary home stadium 26 Alians-Arena Bairak 520 Alians Lypova Dolyna Round 19, 21 27 Central Stadium Mykolaiv 500 MFC Mykolaiv temporary home stadium 28 Metalist Educational Training Base Vysokyi 500 Metalist 1925 Kharkiv Round 8, 10, 12
Notes
Personnel and sponsorship TeamPresidentHead coachKit manufacturerShirt sponsor Ahrobiznes Volochysk Oleh Sobutskyi Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi Nike Ahrobiznes Alians Lypova Dolyna Serhiy DemchenkoVadim Samoilov. The Agro-barons are on the move: a breakthrough of agricultural football (Агробароны идут: прорыв сельскохозяйственного футбола). Terrikon. 24 September 2019 Yuriy Yaroshenko Puma Alians Avanhard Kramatorsk Maksym Yefimov Oleksiy Horodov Lotto Sport Donbasenergo Chornomorets Odesa Leonid Klimov Oleksiy Antonov Legea Hefest Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni Petro Kaplun Ihor Zhabchenko Adidas Ferrexpo Kremin Kremenchuk Serhiy Kovnir Serhiy Svystun Select Sport Alfateks Krystal Kherson Vadym YevtushenkoSergei Oleksyuk. Krystal announced about appointment of Yevtushenko as a head coach (Кристалл объявил о назначении Евтушенко главным тренером). Sport Arena. 23 February 2021 Vadym Yevtushenko Joma Ahro star Metalist 1925 Kharkiv Yaroslav Vdovenko Valeriy Kriventsov Puma AES Group MFC Mykolaiv Serhiy Kantor Illia Blyzniuk Mayner Ekvator Factory Nyva Ternopil Oleksandr Stadnyk Ihor Klymovskyi K-Sector Rodyna invest Obolon Kyiv Oleksandr Slobodian Valeriy Ivashchenko Jako Favorite Sport Polissia Zhytomyr Volodymyr Zahurskyi Serhiy Shyshchenko Erreà BGV Group Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk Vasyl Olshanetskyi Oleh Rypan Joma Adamson Veres Rivne Ivan Nadieyin Yuriy Virt Nike Ukrteplo Volyn Lutsk Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi Vasyl Sachko Joma — VPK-Ahro Shevchenkivka Volodymyr Korsun Serhiy Solovyov Nike VPK-Ahro
Managerial changes