2024–25 Ukrainian First League

Ukrainian First League
Season	2024–25
Dates	7 August 2024 – 23 November 2024 (first stage); April 2025 – May 2025 (second stage); June 2025 (play-offs)
Matches played	22
Goals scored	58 (2.64 per match)
Biggest home win	3–0 (Poltava – Dinaz, Round 3); 5–2 (Epitsentr – Khust, Round 3)
Biggest away win	1–3 (2 matches)
Highest scoring	5–2 (Epitsentr – Khust, Round 3)
Highest attendance	1,800 (Bukovyna – Ahrobiznes, Round 2)
Lowest attendance	0 (9 matches)
Total attendance	6,363
Average attendance	489
	← 2023–24 2025–26 → All statistics correct as of 26 August 2024 .

The 2024–25 Ukrainian First League is the 34th football league since its establishment. The league competition consisted of 18 teams. The competition is conducting during the ongoing war with the Russia since late February 2022.

Format

The PFL has decided to keep the split group format of double round-robin tournaments with 9 teams in group, total 18 teams. The number of teams has been reduced to 18 compared to the 20 last season. Similar to the last season the top teams will qualify for the promotion tournament, four from each, while less fortunate teams, five from each, will qualify for the relegation tournament.^[1] Due to odd number of teams in both groups of the first stage, the second stage groups, promotion and relegation, will not have even number of teams. In total the first stage will have 18 rounds with 72 matches in each group, 16 for each team.^[1]

The second stage will have another two groups one for promotion to the top tier, another for relegation to the tier below. The promotion group tournament will consist of 8 teams, top 4 teams from each group (A and B) of the first stage.^[1] The teams' record from the previous stage will be grandfathered in full.^[1] Each team in the promotion group will play 8 matches with the best four teams of the other group of the first stage (home and away).^[1] In total there will be 32 matches.^[1] The top two teams of the promotion group will get promotion rights to the Ukrainian Premier League, while the next two teams (3rd and 4th places) would receive a chance to get promotion rights through play-off match-up with the top tier teams.^[1]

The teams that would place 5th through 9th in each group (A and B) in the first stage will form the relegation group.^[1] The teams' record from the previous stage will be grandfathered in full as well.^[1] Each 10 teams of the relegation group will play 10 matches with the 5 teams of the other group of the first stage (home and away).^[1] In total there will be 50 matches.^[1] The bottom three teams (places 8-10) will gain direct relegation to the tier below (Druha Liha/Ukrainian Second League), while teams that would place 6th and 7th will meet with runners-up of the Druha Liha in play-off match-ups to contest their place in the league.^[1]

Teams

This season, Ukrainian First League consisted of 18 teams.

Promoted teams

Two teams were promoted at the end of the 2023–24 Ukrainian Second League.

UCSA Tarasivka – playoff winner (debut)
FC Kudrivka – placed 7th (debut, replacing "Kudrivka-Nyva")

Relegated teams

Two teams were relegated at the end of the 2023–24 Ukrainian Premier League.

Metalist 1925 Kharkiv – 16th placed (returning after three seasons)
FC Mynai – 15th placed (returning after four seasons)

Administrative issues

Temporary relocation

Due to the Russian military aggression, three clubs in the league were forced to relocate.

FC Metalist Kharkiv moved to Uzhhorod
FSC Mariupol moved to Boryspil
FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv moved to Zolocha community (Kyiv suburb)

Administrative admissions

FC Kudrivka which has its teams in both Chernihiv and Kyiv regions (representing Irpin) merged and took over Nyva Buzova (Irpin city area). The club withdrew its original team from the lower tier for this season.
Due to withdrawal of the Ukrainian Second League (tier 3) champion Druzhba Myrivka, FC Khust, which was defeated in play-off match-up against PFC Zviahel, was allowed to remain in the Persha Liha (tier 2) competitions.
On 21 June 2024, it was announced that Podoliany Ternopil (2023–24 AAFU debutants) are merging with FC Khust as FC Khust-Podoliany.^[2]^[3]

Withdrawn

PFC Zviahel – promoted as a playoff winner to debut, but withdrawn before the season started
Kudrivka-Nyva – partially merged during the last season's winter break, the club completed merger
Druzhba Myrivka – winner of the 2023–24 Ukrainian Second League withdrawn from competitions

Location map

The following displays the location of teams.

Home venues of teams in the 2024–25 Ukrainian First League.

— Group A

— Group B

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.^[4]

Rank	Stadium	Location	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Yuvileinyi	Sumy	25,830	Viktoriya Sumy	^[5]
2	Miskyi imeni Shukhevycha	Ternopil	15,150	Nyva Ternopil
3	Bukovyna	Chernivtsi	12,000	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
4	Slavutych Arena	Zaporizhia	12,000	Metalurh Zaporizhia
5	Avanhard	Uzhhorod	10,383	Metalist Kharkiv	used as home ground during the season
6	Podillia	Khmelnytskyi	6,800	Podillia Khmelnytskyi
7	Rukh	Ivano-Frankivsk	6,200	Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk
8	Kolos	Boryspil	5,400	FSC Mariupol	used as home ground during the season
9	Karpaty	Khust	5,200	FC Khust
10	Arena Livyi Bereh	Zolochivska hromada	4,700	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	used as home ground during the season
11	Yunist	Volochysk	2,700	Ahrobiznes Volochysk
12	imeni Tonkocheyeva	Kamianets-Podilskyi	2,500	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	^[6]
12	Yunist Stadium	Horishni Plavni	2,500	Kremin Kremenchuk	used as home ground during the season
13	imeni Bannikova	Kyiv	1,678	UCSA Tarasivka
14	Mynai Arena	Mynai	1,312	FC Mynai
15	Yuvileinyi	Bucha	1,028	Kudrivka
16	Molodizhnyi	Poltava	680	SC Poltava
17	Dinaz	Demydiv	550	Dinaz Vyshhorod

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	President	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Ahrobiznes Volochysk	Oleh Sobutskyi	Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi	Andrey Popovich	Nike	Ahrobiznes
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	Andriy Safronyak	Valeriy Kryventsov	Maksym Lopyryonok	Nike	Тайстра
Dinaz Vyshhorod	Yaroslav Moskalenko	Oleksandr Ryabokon	Andriy Voloshyn	Nike	Цар Хліб^[7]
Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	Ivan Chernonoh	Serhiy Nahornyak	Andriy Bezhenar	Macron	Епіцентр
Khust	Mykhaylo Madyarchyk	Volodymyr Tsytkin	Bohdan Pavlych	Joma	—
Kremin Kremenchuk	Serhii Kovnir	Ihor Klymovskyi	Oleksandr Dykhtiaruk	SWIFT	TERMINAL-MK
Kudrivka	Roman Solodarenko	Roman Loktionov	Yevhen Misiura	Nike	—
Mariupol	Oleksandr Yaroshenko	Oleh Krasnopyorov	Ivan Mochevinskyi	Joma	KOD Zdorovia
Metalist Kharkiv	Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi	Andriy Anishchenko	Gabriel Gomes	Joma	DCH
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	Volodymyr Nosov	Patrick van Leeuwen	Artem Habelok	Puma	WhiteBIT
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	Maksym Lupashko	Volodymyr Shapovalov	Volodymyr Blyznyuk^[a]	Legea	Weltum
Mynai	Valeriy Peresolyak	Željko Ljubenović	Oleksandr Bandura	Kelme	FavBet
Nyva Ternopil	Oleksandr Stadnyk	Yevhen Kalynychenko	Roman Volokhatyi	Jako	—
Podillya Khmelnytskyi	Yevhen Beiderman	Vitaliy Kostyshyn	Oleksandr Tsybulnyk	Kelme	—
Poltava	Serhiy Ivashchenko	Volodymyr Sysenko	Dmytro Shcherbak	Joma	КВП
Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk	Vasyl Olshanetskyi	Oleh Rypan	Vasyl Tsyutsyura	Joma	Morshynska
UCSA Tarasivka	Serhiy Lesnyk	Dmytro Chyrykal
Viktoriya Sumy	Serhiy Bondarenko	Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi	Andriy Nelin	Puma	—

Notes:

^ Since the second half of the season FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia does not have an established team captain and a footballer with such designation changes from one match to another.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
Nyva Ternopil	Oleksandr Stakhiv	Mutual agreement	10 June 2024^[8]	Pre-season	Yevhen Kalynychenko	19 June 2024^[9]
Metalurh Zaporizhia	Anton Hai (caretaker)	End of interim	23 June 2024		Volodymyr Shapovalov	23 June 2024^[10]
Dinaz Vyshhorod	Oleksandr Holovko	Change of role	16 July 2024		Oleksandr Ryabokon	16 July 2024^[11]
UCSA Tarasivka	Mykola Tsymbal	Sacked	23 July 2024^[12]		Dmytro Chyrykal	23 July 2024^[13]
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	Viktor Skrypnyk	Resigned	26 July 2024		Serhiy Karpenko (interim)	28 July 2024^[14]
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	Serhiy Karpenko (interim)	End of interim spell	20 August 2024	7th (group B)	Patrick van Leeuwen	20 August 2024

Group A league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Ahrobiznes Volochysk	3	3	0	0	5	2	+3	9	Qualified to the Promotion group
2	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	2	2	0	0	6	2	+4	6
3	Bukovyna Chernivtsi	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4^[a]
4	Nyva Ternopil	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4^[a]
5	Podillia Khmelnytskyi	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4^[a]	Qualified to the Relegation group
6	Mynai	2	1	0	1	5	4	+1	3
7	Metalist Kharkiv	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2
8	Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk	2	0	1	1	3	5	−2	1
9	Khust	3	0	0	3	4	9	−5	0

Updated to match(es) played on 26 August 2024. Source: PFL.ua
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference in all games; 6) Goals scored in all games (Note: calculation by criteria indicated in rules 2, 3, 4 is conducted with consideration of all teams that have an equal number of tournament points at the moment of calculation and not only among those which after preliminary criteria have appeared more successful).^[4]
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c Head-to-head points (goal difference): Bukovyna 3 (+1), Nyva 0 (0), Podillia 0 (-1)

Group A results

Home \ Away	AHR	BUK	EPC	XST	MET	MIN	NYV	POD	PRY
Ahrobiznes Volochysk					2–1	2–1
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	0–1
Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi				5–2
FC Khust							2–3
Metalist Kharkiv								1–1
FC Mynai									4–2
Nyva Ternopil			0–1		1–1
Podillya Khmelnytskyi		0–1		1–0
Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk		1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 26 August 2024. Source: Calendar (in Ukrainian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group A results by week

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3
Team ╲ Round
Ahrobiznes Volochysk	W	W	W
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	D	L	W
Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	W		W
Khust	L	L	L
Metalist Kharkiv	L	D	D
Mynai		W	L
Nyva Ternopil	L	W	D
Podillia Khmelnytskyi	W	D	L
Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk	D	L

Updated to match(es) played on 26 August 2024. Source: pfl.ua
W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Group A goalscorers

As of 26 August 2024^[update]^[15]

Rank	Scorer	Team	Goals (Pen.)
1	Danylo Kravchuk	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	3 (0)
2	Dmytro Haladey	Nyva Ternopil	2 (0)
	Artur Remenyak	FC Mynai	2 (0)
	Andriy Riznyk	Nyva Ternopil	2 (0)
5	25 player(s)		1

Group A clean sheets

As of 25 August 2024^[update]^[16]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Oleh Bilyk	Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi	1
	Danylo Kanevtsev	Bukovyna Chernivtsi	1
	Dmytro Nepohodov	Podillia Khmelnytskyi	1
	Roman Pidkivka	Ahrobiznes Volochysk	1

Group B league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Poltava	2	2	0	0	6	1	+5	6	Qualified to the Promotion group
2	UCSA Tarasivka	3	2	0	1	5	5	0	6
3	Kudrivka	3	1	1	1	3	1	+2	4
4	Viktoriya Sumy	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2	3^[a]
5	Mariupol	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3^[a]	Qualified to the Relegation group
6	Metalurh Zaporizhia	3	1	0	2	2	6	−4	3^[a]
7	Kremin Kremenchuk	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
8	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
9	Dinaz Vyshhorod	2	0	1	1	0	3	−3	1

Updated to match(es) played on 26 August 2024. Source: PFL.ua
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference in all games; 6) Goals scored in all games (Note: calculation by criteria indicated in rules 2, 3, 4 is conducted with consideration of all teams that have an equal number of tournament points at the moment of calculation and not only among those which after preliminary criteria have appeared more successful).^[4]
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c Head-to-head points (goal difference): Viktoriya 3 (+2), Mariupol 0 (0), Metalurh 0 (-2)

Group B results

Home \ Away	DIN	KRE	M25	MET	POL	UCS	VKT
Dinaz Vyshhorod
Kremin Kremenchuk			1–1
FC Kudrivka	0–0			3–0		0–1
FSC Mariupol			1–0			2–3
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv
Metalurh Zaporizhia		1–0					1–3
SC Poltava	3–0
UCSA Tarasivka					1–3
Viktoriya Sumy	ppd^[a]	ppd^[b]

Updated to match(es) played on 26 August 2024. Source: Calendar (in Ukrainian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ The game scheduled to be played on 7 August 2024 was postponed to later due to air raid siren.^[17] The game was rescheduled to take place on 24 September 2024.^[18]
^ The game scheduled to be played on 26 August 2024 was postponed to later due to air raid siren.^[19]

Group B Results by week

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3
Team ╲ Round
Dinaz Vyshhorod		D	L
Kremin Kremenchuk	L	D
Kudrivka	L	D	L
Mariupol	W		L
Metalist 1925 Kharkiv	L	D
Metalurh Zaporizhia	W	L	L
Poltava		W	W
UCSA Tarasivka	W	L	W
Viktoriya Sumy		W