2011–12 Ukrainian First League

The 2011–12 Ukrainian First League was the 21st since its establishment. Eighteen teams competed in the competition. Two teams were promoted from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Second League. Two teams were relegated from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Premier League

Ukrainian First League

Season	2011–12
Champions	Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod
Promoted	Hoverla-Zakarpattia Metalurh Zaporizhia
Relegated	Nyva V. (withdrew) Enerhetyk (withdrew) Lviv (withdrew)
Matches played	292
Goals scored	761 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	19 goals: Oleksandr Kosyrin (Odesa/Hoverla-Zakarpattia)
Biggest home win	Hoverla-Zakarpattia 6–0 Odesa (Round 28)
Biggest away win	Enerhetyk 0–4 Metalurh (Round 2) Naftovyk-Ukrnafta 0–4 Nyva (Round 18) Lviv 0–4 Olimpik (Round 19) Enerhetyk 1–5 Sevastopol (Round 22) Lviv 1–5 Metalurh (Round 28)
Highest scoring	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta 3–4 Stal Alchevsk (Round 11) Krymteplitsia 4–3 Helios (Round 19) Metalurh 5–2 Arsenal (Round 23)
Longest winning run	13 – Sevastopol (Round 21–33)
Longest unbeaten run	14 – Sevastopol (Round 21–34)
Longest losing run	13 – Lviv (Round 10, 12–15, ppd. 11, 16–22)
Highest attendance	7,100 Mykolaiv – Dynamo-2 (Round 22)
Lowest attendance	150 Dynamo-2 – Arsenal (Round 3)
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The competition began on July 16, 2011 with seven matches. The competition had a winter break starting on November 22, 2011 and the competition resumed on March 24, 2012 and completed on May 30, 2012.

Team changes

Promoted teams

These two teams were promoted from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Second League

Group A

• MFK Mykolaiv – Second League champion (returning after three seasons)

Group B

• Olimpik Donetsk – Second League champion (debut)

Relegated teams

Two teams were relegated from the 2010–11 Ukrainian Premier League

• FC Sevastopol – 15th place (returning after a season)
• Metalurh Zaporizhzhia – 16th place (debut)

Renamed teams

• Dnister Ovidiopol moved their operations to Odesa and renamed themselves to FC Odesa.^[1]
• Zakarpattia Uzhhorod was renamed to Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod.^[2]

Team locations

Map

The following displays the location of teams.

Arsenal

Bukovyna

Dynamo-2

Nyva

Sevastopol

Metalurh

Mykolaiv

Olimpik

Hoverla-Zakarpattia

Krymteplitsia(Ahrarne)

Lviv

Stal

Tytan

Zirka

Helios

Naftovyk-Ukrnafta

Enerhetyk

Odesa

Location of teams in Ukrainian First League 2011–12

Stadiums

The following stadiums were used during the season.

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Ukraina Stadium	28,051	FC Lviv	Used as home ground in Round 28[3]
2	Central Stadium, Vinnytsia	24,000	Nyva Vinnytsia
3	Army Sports Club Stadium, Lviv	23,040	FC Lviv	Used as home ground in Round 21[4]
4	Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium	16,873	Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Used as home ground in Round 23[5]
5	Central Stadium, Mykolaiv	16,700	MFK Mykolaiv
6	Zirka Stadium, Kirovohrad	13,667	Zirka Kirovohrad
7	Labor Reserve, Bila Tserkva	13,500	Arsenal Bila Tserkva
8	Avanhard Zakarpattya, Uzhhorod	12,000	Zakarpattya Uzhhorod
9	Bukovyna Stadium, Chernivtsi	12,000	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
10	Slavutych Arena	11,983	Metalurh Zaporizhzhia
11	Stal Stadium, Alchevsk	8,632	Stal Alchevsk
12	Kolos Stadium, Boryspil	5,654	Arsenal Bila Tserkva	Used by Arsenal as home ground after the winter break[a]
13	SK Sevastopol, Sevastopol, Crimea	5,511	FC Sevastopol
14	Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka	5,256	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka
15	Spartak Stadium, Odesa	4,610	FC Odesa
16	Khimik Stadium, Krasnoperekopsk, Crimea	4,116	Tytan Armyansk	Used as home ground after the winter break[b]
17	Khimik Stadium, Armyansk, Crimea	3,450	Tytan Armyansk
18	ST Sport Arena, Ahrarne, Crimea	3,250	Krymteplitsia Molodizhne
19	Lofort Arena, Dobromyl	3,220	FC Lviv
20	Enerhetyk Stadium, Burshtyn	3,000	Enerhetyk Burshtyn
21	Helios Arena, Kharkiv	2,057	Helios Kharkiv
22	Dukov Dnister Stadium, Ovidiopol	1,500	FC Odesa	Used as home ground in Round 23[5]
23	Avanhard Stadium (artificial turf), Luhansk	1,000	Stal Alchevsk	Reserve ground - Used as home ground in Round 26[8]
24	Dynamo Club Stadium, Chapayevka	750	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
25	Sports Complex Olimpik, Donetsk	680	Olimpik Donetsk

1. After the winter break Arsenal Bila Tserkva played their Round 22 fixture at Kolos Stadium in Boryspil due to not having a lease signed to use Trudovi Reservy.^[6]
2. After the winter break Tytan Armyansk played their home games at Khimik Stadium, Krasnoperekopsk, Crimea due to reseeding of the pitch at their stadium.^[7]

Managers

Club	Coach	Replaced coach
Arsenal Bila Tserkva	Ihor Artymovych
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	Vadym Zayats
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Andriy Husin
Enerhetyk Burshtyn	Volodymyr Kovalyuk	Mykola Vitovskiy (caretaker) Bohdan Blavatskyi
Helios Kharkiv	Volodymyr Shekhovtsov (caretaker)
Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod	Oleksandr Sevidov
Krymteplytsia Molodizhne	Mykola Fedorko (caretaker)
FC Lviv	Volodymyr Zhuravchak	Roman Marych (caretaker) Roman Laba (caretaker)
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	Serhiy Zaytsev (caretaker)
MFC Mykolaiv	Ruslan Zabranskyi
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	Yevhen Yarovenko	Vadym Kolesnyk (caretaker) Serhiy Mizin
Nyva Vinnytsia	Oleh Shumovytskyi (caretaker)	Oleh Fedorchuk
FC Odesa	Andriy Parkhomenko
Olimpik Donetsk	Ihor Petrov
FC Sevastopol	Serhiy Puchkov	Oleksandr Ryabokon
Stal Alchevsk	Anatoliy Volobuyev
Tytan Armyansk	Oleksandr Haydash	Serhiy Kozlov (interim) Mykola Fedorenko
Zirka Kirovohrad	Vadym Yevtushenko	Anatoliy Buznyk Ihor Zhabchenko Andriy Antonov (caretaker)

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	Hryhoriy Nehiryev (caretaker)	End as caretaker	1 June	Pre-season	Serhiy Zaytsev (caretaker)[9]	13 June
FC Sevastopol	Angel Chervenkov[10]	Resigned	14 June		Oleksandr Ryabokon[11]	28 June
FC Lviv	Oleksandr Ryabokon[11]	Leaves for PFC Sevastopol	28 June		Roman Laba (caretaker)	28 June
Zirka Kirovohrad	Anatoliy Buznyk[12]	Resigned	22 August	13th	Ihor Zhabchenko[13]	22 August
Enerhetyk Burshtyn	Bohdan Blavatskyi[14]	Resigned	16 September	18th	Mykola Vitovskiy (caretaker)[15]	17 September
FC Lviv	Roman Laba (caretaker)[16]	End as caretaker	24 September	16th	Roman Marych (caretaker)	24 September
FC Sevastopol	Oleksandr Ryabokon[17]	Sacked	17 October	4th	Serhiy Puchkov[18]	18 October
Nyva Vinnytsia	Oleh Fedorchuk[19]	Resigned	20 October	17th	Oleh Shumovytskyi (caretaker)	20 October
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta	Serhiy Mizin[20]	Resigned	5 November	9th	Vadym Kolesnyk (caretaker)	7 November
Zirka Kirovohrad	Ihor Zhabchenko[21]	Sacked	9 November	15th	Andriy Antonov (caretaker)	9 November
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta	Vadym Kolesnyk (caretaker)	End as caretaker	30 November	8th	Yevhen Yarovenko[22]	30 November
Zirka Kirovohrad	Andriy Antonov (caretaker)	End as caretaker	9 December	15th	Vadym Yevtushenko[23]	9 December
FC Lviv	Roman Marych (caretaker)	End as caretaker	1 February	18th	Volodymyr Zhuravchak[24]	1 February
Enerhetyk Burshtyn	Mykola Vitovskiy (caretaker)	End as caretaker	16 February	16th	Volodymyr Kovalyuk[25]	16 February
Tytan Armyansk	Mykola Fedorenko[26]	Resigned	16 May	13th	Serhiy Kozlov[26] (interim)	16 May
	Serhiy Kozlov (caretaker)	End as caretaker	23 May	13th	Oleksandr Haydash[27]	23 May

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod (C, P)	34	27	3	4	67	16	+51	84	Promoted to Ukrainian Premier League
2	Metalurh Zaporizhzhia (P)	34	24	4	6	77	32	+45	76
3	FC Sevastopol	34	23	7	4	60	22	+38	76
4	Arsenal Bila Tserkva	34	18	8	8	51	39	+12	62
5	Krymteplitsia Molodizhne	34	17	9	8	50	38	+12	60
6	Bukovyna Chernivtsi	34	15	12	7	38	29	+9	57
7	Stal Alchevsk	34	14	8	12	51	50	+1	50
8	Dynamo-2 Kyiv	34	15	5	14	39	39	0	50
9	Helios Kharkiv	34	13	9	12	53	45	+8	48
10	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	34	12	8	14	49	43	+6	44
11	Zirka Kirovohrad	34	13	5	16	53	49	+4	44
12	Olimpik Donetsk	34	11	7	16	38	44	−6	40
13	Nyva Vinnytsia (D)	34	7	11	16	21	39	−18	32	Withdrew[a]
14	Tytan Armyansk	34	9	5	20	33	59	−26	32
15	FC Odesa	34	7	10	17	37	51	−14	31
16	MFK Mykolaiv[b] (O)	34	9	4	21	33	51	−18	28	Qualification for relegation play-off
17	Enerhetyk Burshtyn (D)	34	5	4	25	26	72	−46	19	Withdrew[c]
18	FC Lviv[d] (D)	34	6	3	25	21	79	−58	18	Withdrew[e]

Source: Professional Football League of Ukraine^[32]
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th fair play^[33]
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. Nyva Vinnystia withdrew from the PFL after the season.(13 July 2012)^[28]
2. MFK Mykolaiv were deducted 3 points for failure of payments of financial obligations ordered by the PFL. (31 May 2012)^[29]
3. Enerhetyk Burshtyn withdrew from the PFL after Round 32.^[30]
4. FC Lviv were deducted 3 points for failure of payments of financial obligations ordered by the PFL. (31 May 2012)^[29]
5. FC Lviv withdrew from the PFL after the season.(12 July 2012)^[31]

Withdrawn Teams

Enerhetyk Burshtyn

On 22 May the president of Enerhetyk Burshtyn informed that the Round 32 match in Vinnytsia was the last match as a professional club and that the will not be competing in the last two games of the season.^[34] The rest of Enerhetyk's fixtures (2 games) are considered technical losses. The club played 32 games in the League and had a record of 5 wins, 4 draws and 23 losses with 26 goals scored and 72 against.

FC Lviv

Prior to the start of the 2012–13 Ukrainian Second League season the Sporting Director of the club informed the PFL that they are withdrawing from the league due to termination of their financial sponsor.^[35]

Nyva Vinnytsia

The club originally informed the PFL that they were to withdraw from the league when the draw for the 2012–13 season was made due to insufficient funds.(5 July 2012)^[36] However, the city and the oblast administration informed the PFL guaranteeing sufficient funds for the next season.(10 July 2012)^[37] The club was to participate in the 2012–13 Ukrainian Second League competition after readmission to the PFL but was dissolved not submitting proper documentation or license fees and was omitted from the competition.(13 July 2012)^[28]

Promotion/relegation playoff

The playoff consisted of the match played between the 16th place team of the First League and the winner of another playoff game between the second placed clubs from each group of the 2011–12 Ukrainian Second League.^[38] For the matchup qualified MFC Mykolaiv (First League) and Avanhard Kramatorsk (Second League).

Team 1	Score	Team 2
MFC Mykolaiv	4–3	Avanhard Kramatorsk

3 June 2012

17:00 EEST

MFK Mykolaiv	4 – 3	Avanhard Kramatorsk
Hudzikevych 40' (pen.) Lysytsyn 71' Berko 78' Lischuk 84'		Chuchman 11' (o.g.) Shvydkyi 59' Lukyanets 90'

Podillya Stadium, Khmelnytskyi

Referee: Oleksandr Plaviuk (Kyiv)

MFK Mykolaiv remained in the First League. Avanhard Kramatorsk promoted to First League after Nyva Vinnystia withdrew from PFL (5 July 2012)^[39]

Playoff bracket

	Second League playoff					Promotion/relegation playoff
						1L	MFC Mykolaiv	4
	2L	Desna Chernihiv	0			2L	Avanhard Kramatorsk	3
	2L	Avanhard Kramatorsk	1

• 1L – First League
• 2L – Second League

Results

As of May 30, 2012

Home \ Away	ABT	BUK	DK2	ENE	HEL	HOV	KRM	LVI	NAF	NYV	MZA	MYK	ODS	OLD	SEV	STA	TYA	ZIR
Arsenal Bila Tserkva		1–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–1	5–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	3–2	2–1	2–1
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	0–0		2–1	2–0[a]	1–1	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	3–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	3–1	3–2
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	0–2	3–0		3–1	2–1	0–2	0–2	5–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–3	1–3	2–0	2–2
Enerhetyk Burshtyn	2–3	0–0	-:+[b]		0–3	1–3	0–2	1–0	0–2	0–0	0–4	1–2	0–1	3–2	1–5	3–0	0–2	1–0
Helios Kharkiv	2–2	0–2	1–2	3–0		2–3	2–2	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	4–2		2–1	3–2	4–0	2–1	3–2
Hoverla Uzhhorod	5–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–0		4–0	4–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	3–0	6–0	4–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	2–0
Krymteplytsia Molodizhne	1–2	0–1	0–0	2–2	4–3	1–0		2–1	3–2	2–0	0–0	2–1	4–0	3–0	0–2	4–1	2–1	2–0
FC Lviv	1–4	1–2	0–1	+:-	1–3	1–0	1–0		0–2[a]	1–1	1–5	2–1	1–4	0–4	0–2	2–3	1–3	1–0
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	1–2	1–1	3–0	3–0[c]	1–2	0–2	1–1	2–1		0–4	1–1	3–0	3–1	0–1	3–1	3–4	1–1	5–1
Nyva Vinnytsia	0–2	0–2	1–2	4–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	0–1		1–4	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–3[d]	0–1	1–1
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	5–2	3–2	2–1	4–0	4–2	1–1	4–0	4–0[e]	2–1	1–0		1–0	3–0	3–2	1–0	3–0	5–1	4–1
MFC Mykolaiv	1–2	1–2	1–2	2–0	2–0	0–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	0–1	1–2		0–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	2–0	3–1
FC Odesa	1–0	1–1	4–0	2–2	1–3	0–1	1–1	2–3	1–1	0–1	0–1	3–0		1–1	1–3	1–2	5–2	1–3
Olimpik Donetsk	2–2	0–1	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	4–0	2–1	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0		1–4	1–0	3–0	1–1
Sevastopol	1–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	4–0	3–1	5–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	0–0		2–1	2–0	2–0
Stal Alchevsk	3–2	2–2	0–2	3–0	0–0	3–2	2–3[f]	2–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	0–0		2–2	1–1
Tytan Armyansk	0–2	1–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	0–2	1–2	2–0	1–4	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–0	3–1	0–2	2–1		0–2
Zirka Kirovohrad	3–0	1–0	3–2	4–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	4–1	1–1	3–0	4–0	2–1	2–3	2–0	0–1	0–1	4–1

Updated to match(es) played on May 30, 2012. Source: PFL Persha Liha Calendar
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Two Round 3 fixtures were postponed for a day due to the mining disaster at the Suhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine when a day of mourning was announced by the President of Ukraine. (30 July 2011)^[40]
2. Round 33 match was not played. Enerhetyk Burshtyn's management informed the PFL that they would withdraw the club from the competition. (24 May 2012)^[34]
3. Round 28 match was not played. Enerhetyk Burshtyn's management informed the PFL that they would not travel to Okhtyrka due to their financial state. (27 April 2012)^[41] The PFL Disciplinary committee awards a 3–0 technical victory to Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka. (May 17, 2012) ^[42]
4. Round 16 match was not played. Stal' players and fans arrived to the ground with police and safety workers on hand at the ground. Five minutes prior to the game an announcement was made that due to Nyva Vinnytsia's financial situation the match would not take place.^[43] The PFL Disciplinary committee awards a 0–3 technical victory to Stal' Alchevsk. (October 27, 2011) ^[44]
5. Originally this fixture was scheduled in Round 11 but was postponed due to FC Lviv's financial difficulties.^[45] Match was played on 13 October 2011 after Round 15.
6. Round 22 was rescheduled to 24 April 2012 due to the state of Stal's Alchevsk home stadium.

Top scorers

As of May 30, 2012

	Scorer	Goals (Pen.)	Team
1	Oleksandr Kosyrin[a]	19	FC Odesa/Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod
2	Serhiy Kuznetsov	16 (1)	FC Sevastopol
3	Oleksandr Kochura	14 (1)	Zirka Kirovohrad
4	Viktor Raskov	13	Helios Kharkiv
	Oleksiy Byelik	13 (2)	Metalurh Zaporizhzhia
6	Ivan Matyazh[b]	12 (1)	Olimpik Donetsk/Metalurh Zaporizhzhia
	Artur Karnoza	12 (5)	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka
8	Yevhen Pisotskyi	10	Metalurh Zaporizhia
	Lasha Jakobia	10 (1)	Hoverla-Zakarpattia Uzhhorod
	Ruslan Hunchak	10 (3)	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
	Valentyn Poltavets	10 (3)	FC Odesa

1. FC Odesa did not renew its contract with Oleksandr Kosyrin during the winter break.^[46] Hoverla-Zakarpattia signed Kosyrin to a multi year deal.^[47] (17 January 2012)
2. Ivan Matyazh during the winter break signed a contract with Metalurh Zaporizhzhia.^[48] (24 February 2012)

See also

• 2011–12 Ukrainian Second League
• 2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League