2012–13 Ukrainian First League

The 2012–13 Ukrainian First League was the 22nd since its establishment. The competition commenced on 13 July 2012 when Obolon Kyiv visited Sumy and played a goalless draw against FC Sumy.^[2] The competition had a winter break that started 25 November 2012 and resumed on 23 March 2013.

Ukrainian First League

Season	2012–13
Champions	FC Sevastopol[1]
Promoted	FC Sevastopol Stal Alchevsk PFC Oleksandria
Relegated	Arsenal Bila Tserkva FC Odesa (withdrew) Krymteplitsia (withdrew) Obolon (withdrew)
Matches played	290
Goals scored	689 (2.38 per match)
Top goalscorer	18 goals – Serhiy Kuznetsov (FC Sevastopol)
Biggest home win	Mykolaiv 8–0 Arsenal (Round 34)
Biggest away win	Krymteplitsia 0–4 Sevastopol (Round 4) Olimpik 0–4 Odesa (Round 18) Arsenal 0–4 Avanhard (ppd. Round 22) Arsenal 1–5 Naftovyk-Ukrnafta (Round 32)
Highest scoring	Zirka 6–2 Arsenal (Round 29) Mykolaiv 8–0 Arsenal (Round 34)
Longest winning run	7 – Sevastopol (Round 19–21, Round 23–26)
Longest unbeaten run	11 – Naftovyk-Ukrnafta (Round 12–22)
Longest losing run	10 – Odesa (Round 14–23)
Highest attendance	12,000 Mykolaiv–Dynamo-2 (Round 32)
Lowest attendance	0[a] Sevastopol–Naftovyk-Ukrnafta (Round 1)
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

Promotion and relegation

Promoted teams

Three teams were promoted from the 2011–12 Ukrainian Second League

Group A

• FC Sumy – champion (debut, however in the 2006–07 Ukrainian First League season Spartak represented the city of Sumy)

Group B

• FC Poltava – champion (debut)
• Avanhard Kramatorsk – promotion/relegation playoff finalist^[3] (debut)

Relegated teams

Two teams were relegated from the 2011–12 Ukrainian Premier League

• Obolon Kyiv – 15th place (returning after three seasons)
• PFC Oleksandria – 16th place (returning after one season)

Withdrawn teams

Prior to the season starting Nyva Vinnytsia withdrew from the PFL.^[3]

Team locations

Map

The following displays the location of teams.

Kyiv

Kyiv teams :
Dynamo-2
Obolon

Arsenal

Avanhard

Bukovyna

Helios

Krymteplitsia

Mykolaiv

Naftovyk-Ukrnafta

Odesa

Oleksandria

Olimpik

Poltava

Sevastopol

Stal

Sumy

Tytan

Zirka

Location of teams in Ukrainian First League 2012–13

Dynamo-2

Obolon

Kyiv city home venues of teams in the League

Stadiums

The following stadiums are considered home grounds for the teams in the competition.

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Yuvileiny Stadium, Sumy	25,800	FC Sumy
2	Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, Kyiv	16,873	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
3	Central Stadium, Mykolaiv	16,700	MFK Mykolaiv
4	Zirka Stadium, Kirovohrad	13,667	Zirka Kirovohrad
5	Labor Reserve, Bila Tserkva	13,500	Arsenal Bila Tserkva
6	Bukovyna Stadium, Chernivtsi	12,000	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
7	Stal Stadium, Alchevsk	9,200	Stal Alchevsk
8	CSC Nika Stadium, Oleksandria	7,000	PFC Oleksandria
9	SK Sevastopol, Sevastopol, Crimea	5,563	FC Sevastopol
10	Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka	5,256	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka
11	Obolon Arena, Kyiv	5,100	Obolon Kyiv
12	Sonyachny Stadium, Kharkiv	4,924[4]	Helios Kharkiv	Used from Round 4 as home ground[5]
13	Spartak Stadium, Odesa	4,610	FC Odesa
14	Avanhard Stadium, Kramatorsk	4,000	Avanhard Kramatorsk
15	Khimik Stadium, Armyansk, Crimea	3,450	Tytan Armyansk
16	ST Sport Arena, Ahrarne, Crimea	3,250	Krymteplitsia Molodizhne
17	Lokomotiv Stadium, Poltava	2,500	FC Poltava
18	Helios Arena, Kharkiv	2,057	Helios Kharkiv
19	Mashynobudivnyk Stadium, Karlivka	1,300[6]	FC Poltava	Completion of Round 33 suspended match[7]
20	Dynamo Club Stadium, Chapayevka	1,250	Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Used from Round 6 onwards as home ground[8]
21	Training Base Knyazha, Schaslyve, Kyiv Oblast	1,000	Arsenal Bila Tserkva	Used in Round 24 & 26 as home ground[9]
22	Sports Complex Olimpik, Donetsk	680	Olimpik Donetsk

Managers

Club	Coach	Replaced coach
Arsenal Bila Tserkva	Yevhen Feschenko (caretaker)	Oleh Lutkov Oleh Sokyrko (caretaker) Ihor Artymovych
Avanhard Kramatorsk	Serhiy Shevchenko
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	Vadym Zayats
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Andriy Husin
Helios Kharkiv	Serhiy Yesin (caretaker)	Anatoliy Chantsev Serhiy Yesin (caretaker) Volodymyr Shekhovtsov (caretaker)
Krymteplytsia Molodizhne	Serhiy Shevtsov
PFC Oleksandria	Vitaliy Pervak (caretaker)	Andriy Kuptsov (caretaker)
MFC Mykolaiv	Ruslan Zabranskyi[10]
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	Yevhen Yarovenko
Obolon Kyiv	Serhiy Konyushenko
FC Odesa	Andriy Parkhomenko
Olimpik Donetsk	Roman Sanzhar (caretaker)	Roman Pylypchuk Ihor Petrov
FC Poltava	Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi
FC Sevastopol	Aleh Konanaw
Stal Alchevsk	Anatoliy Volobuyev
FC Sumy	Andriy Kononenko (caretaker)	Serhiy Strashnenko (caretaker) Ihor Zakharyak
Tytan Armyansk	Oleh Leshchynskyi	Oleksandr Haydash
Zirka Kirovohrad	Samir Hasanov	Ilya Blyznyuk

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
Zirka Kirovohrad	Vadym Yevtushenko[11]	Leaves for Vorskla Poltava	6 June	Pre-season	Ilya Blyznyuk[12]	7 June
PFC Sevastopol	Serhiy Puchkov[13]	Replaced	12 June		Aleh Konanaw	12 June
Krymteplytsia Molodizhne	Mykola Fedorko (caretaker)	Replaced	15 June		Serhiy Shevtsov[14]	15 June
Tytan Armyansk	Oleksandr Haydash	Resigned	7 September	18th	Oleh Leshchynskyi[15]	7 September
Olimpik Donetsk	Ihor Petrov	Resigned	7 September	8th	Roman Pylypchuk[16]	7 September
Arsenal Bila Tserkva	Ihor Artymovych	Resigned	29 September	16th	Oleh Sokyrko (caretaker)[17]	29 September
Helios Kharkiv	Volodymyr Shekhovtsov (interim)[18]	Resigned	10 November	11th	Serhiy Yesin (interim)	10 November
Krymteplytsia Molodizhne	Serhiy Shevtsov[19]	Replaced	3 December	14th	Mykhailo Sachko[20]	5 January
Helios Kharkiv	Serhiy Yesin (interim)	End of interim	9 January	9th	Anatoliy Chantsev[21]	9 January
Arsenal Bila Tserkva	Oleh Sokyrko (caretaker)	End of interim	15 January	16th	Oleh Lutkov[22]	16 January
Sumy	Ihor Zakharyak[23]	Sacked	11 April	14th	Serhiy Strashnenko (caretaker)[24]	11 April
	Serhiy Strashnenko (caretaker)	End as interim	18 April	11th	Andriy Kononenko (caretaker)[25]	18 April
Olimpik Donetsk	Serhiy Pylypchuk	Sacked	17 April	12th	Roman Sanzhar (caretaker)[26]	17 April
Arsenal Bila Tserkva	Oleh Lutkov[27]	Sacked	21 April	17th	Yevhen Feschenko (caretaker)[28]	26 April
Helios Kharkiv	Anatoliy Chantsev	Resigned	27 April	12th	Serhiy Yesin (caretaker)[29]	29 April
Oleksandria	Andriy Kuptsov (caretaker)	Resigned	13 May	4th	Vitaliy Pervak (caretaker)[30]	13 May
Zirka Kirovohrad	Ilya Blyznyuk	Sacked	4 June	5th	Samir Hasanov[31]	4 June

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Sevastopol (C, P)	34	22	8	4	71	22	+49	74	Promoted to Ukrainian Premier League
2	Stal Alchevsk	34	20	6	8	58	35	+23	66	Refused promotion[b]
3	Oleksandriya	34	17	9	8	48	35	+13	60
4	Bukovyna Chernivtsi	34	16	10	8	49	33	+16	58	Not allowed for promotion[b]
5	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	34	15	9	10	39	31	+8	54
6	Mykolaiv[c]	34	16	9	9	45	41	+4	54
7	Avanhard Kramatorsk	34	15	8	11	37	26	+11	53
8	Zirka Kirovohrad	34	14	10	10	46	37	+9	52
9	Sumy	34	14	8	12	32	35	−3	50
10	Helios Kharkiv	34	12	13	9	33	21	+12	49
11	Olimpik Donetsk	34	15	4	15	34	37	−3	49
12	Tytan Armyansk	34	13	9	12	44	40	+4	48
13	Poltava	34	11	12	11	35	35	0	45
14	Krymteplytsia Molodizhne (D)	34	9	8	17	30	45	−15	35	Withdrew from PFL[d]
15	Dynamo-2 Kyiv (O)	34	8	6	20	31	55	−24	30	Qualification for relegation play-off
16	Odesa (D)	34	7	3	24	21	63	−42	24	Relegation play-off – Withdrew from PFL
17	Obolon Kyiv (D)	34	5	7	22	19	28	−9	22	Withdrew from PFL[e]
18	Arsenal Bila Tserkva (R)	34	5	5	24	23	76	−53	20	Relegated to Ukrainian Second League

Source: Professional Football League of Ukraine^[39]
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference; 6th head-to-head goals scored; 7th fair play; 8th draw^[40]
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. See results
2. Stal Alchevsk finished in second place were to be promoted to the Ukrainian Premier League but their club administration refused promotion indicating that they did not have adequate resources and infrastructure and would have to play to their games away from Alchevsk.^[32] PFC Oleksandria that placed third also refused promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League. The reason is that the club did not earn the promotion on the sports principle.^[33] Bukovyna Chernivtsi submitted all required documentation to the Football Federation of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Premier League on June 13, 2013.^[34] On June 14, 2013 the Attestation Committee of FFU refused to issue attestation for Bukovyna. The reason is that the club never applied for the Premier League attestation.^[35] On June 18, 2013 the Executive Committee of FFU allowed both Hoverla Uzhhorod and Metalurh Zaporizhzhia to stay in the Premier League.
3. MFK Mykolaiv was given one month by the PFL to pay their league dues. The club failed to pay the dues in time and were deducted 3 points. (21 August 2012)^[36]
4. Krymteplitsia Molodizhne completed the season but withdrew from the PFL. The team's administration informed the PFL that their club will exist only with a youth sports program.^[37] (11 June 2013)
5. Obolon Kyiv withdrew from the PFL during the attestion meeting held in the winter break. The team's administration informed the PFL that they lack sufficient funds to continue participating in the league.^[38] (21 February 2013)

Results

As of 8 June 2013

Home \ Away	ABT	AVK	BUK	DK2	HEL	KRM	MYK	NAF	OBO	ODS	OLK	OLD	POL	SEV	STA	SUM	TYA	ZIR
Arsenal Bila Tserkva		0–4[a]	3–4[b]	1–0	0–3	1–3	1–3	1–5	+:-	1–3	1–4	2–0	1–4	2–1	0–3	1–2	1–1[b]	1–2
Avanhard Kramatorsk	2–1		1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–1[c]	0–0	+:-	4–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	0–2
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	2–0	1–1		0–2	1–1	2–1	4–0	2–1[d]	3–0[e]	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	5–2	1–0
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	1–0	0–2	1–1[f]		0–2	2–1	1–2	0–2	+:-	3–0	1–2	1–2	1–3	2–4	0–0	1–3	1–3	1–2
Helios Kharkiv	0–0	2–2	0–2	2–0		2–0	2–2	0–1	2–1	3–0	2–0	1–2	0–0	1–0[g]	1–1	0–1	2–0	0–0
Krymteplytsia Molodizhne	1–0	0–1	0–0	3–1	1–0		2–0	1–2	+:-	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–4	1–3	2–0	0–3	0–2
MFC Mykolaiv	8–0	2–0	0–0	2–0	0–2	1–1		0–2	1–1	4–2	1–0	2–0[h]	0–0	0–3[i]	3–2	1–0	0–2	2–2
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	0–0	0–3	2–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	3–1		0–0	1–0	2–3	3–0	2–2	2–1	1–2	1–0[j]	0–0	0–1
Obolon Kyiv	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–2[k]	-:+	1–1	-:+	-:+		-:+	1–3	-:+	-:+	-:+	2–3	1–0	1–2	2–1
FC Odesa	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	3–2	0–2	1–2	0–1	1–3		0–1	0–4	1–0	0–1	1–2	1–3	1–0	0–3
PFC Oleksandriya	0–0	2–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	+:-	4–1		2–1	2–1	1–4	1–0	2–0	0–3	1–1
Olimpik Donetsk	4–1	0–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–3	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–4		3–0	1–3	0–1	1–0	0–2	4–0
FC Poltava	0–0	1–0[l]	2–3	1–1	0–0	1–1	5–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–0		1–2	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–0
Sevastopol	3–0	1–0	3–0	0–0	0–0	5–2	0–0	2–2[m]	+:-	6–0	3–0	3–0	3–0		2–0	5–1	2–1	2–0
Stal Alchevsk	2–0	2–1	1–1	4–0[c]	1–1	4–0	0–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–4	1–0	3–3	2–2		3–1	2–0	3–1
PFC Sumy	3–1[n]	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–0		0–0	1–0
Tytan Armyansk	0–1	1–3	1–3	2–4	1–0	2–1	2–2	3–2	3–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–1[o]	1–2	2–2		0–0
Zirka Kirovohrad	6–2	1–1	3–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	+:-	4–1	1–4	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	4–0	1–1[p]

Updated to match(es) played on 8 June 2013. Source: Calendar
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Match initially scheduled for Round 22 matches postponed due to the frigid weather.^[41][42] Match played after Round 30.^[43] (15 May 2013)
2. Round 24 and 26 fixture played at Training Base Knyazha in Schaslyve, Kyivska Oblast.^[9]
3. Matchеs initially scheduled for Round 22 was postponed due to the frigid weather.^[41] Two matches were played after Round 26.^[44] (23 April 2013)
4. Match initially scheduled for Round 23 matches postponed due to the inclement weather.^[45] Match played after Round 30.^[43] (16 May 2013)
5. The President of Obolon Kyiv indicated that the team is to withdraw from the PFL and that they would not be playing their Round 19 match against Bukovyna Chernivtsi since the sponsorship of the club was withdrawn.^[46] However, several days later the President of the PFL informed that the club will pay their players and will continue to play.^[47] Control-Disciplinary Committee of the FFU awards a 3–0 technical victory to Bukovyna Chernivtsi. (15 November 2012)^[48]
6. Match initially scheduled for Round 22 was postponed due to the frigid weather.^[41] Match played after Round 24.^[45] (9 April 2013)
7. Round 22 match postponed because players from FC Sevastopol were participating for the Ukraine national under-21 football team in UEFA U21 qualification matches.^[49] Match played after Round 30.^[43] (16 May 2013)
8. Match initially scheduled for Round 22 matches postponed due to the frigid weather.^[41] Match played after Round 30.^[43] (15 May 2013)
9. Players from MFC Mykolaiv boycotted the Round 20 match due to not being paid.^[50] Control-Disciplinary Committee of the FFU awards a 3–0 technical victory to FC Sevastopol. (22 November 2012)^[51]
10. Match initially scheduled for Round 22 was postponed due to the frigid weather.^[41] Match played after Round 23.^[45] (31 March 2013)
11. Round 9 match postponed because players from both teams were participating for the Ukraine national under-21 football team in UEFA U21 qualification matches.^[52] The fixture was played after Round 17 on 31 October.
12. Round 33 match was suspended in the 14th minute with the score 0–0 due to torrential rain. Both clubs agreed to continue the match the next day starting at the 15th minute at Karlivka.^[7] (1 June 2013)
13. Match was played in an empty stadium after the PFL imposed sanctions due to fan violence that occurred in the 2011–12 season in a match against Metalurh Zaporizhzhia.^[53]
14. Match initially scheduled for Round 23 was postponed due to the frigid weather.^[45] Match played after Round 25.^[54] (17 April 2013)
15. Match initially scheduled for Round 29 was postponed due to FC Sevastopol's Ukrainian Cup semi final match on 8 May was played after Round 32. (29 May 2013)
16. Match initially scheduled for Round 22 was postponed due to the frigid weather.^[41] Match played after Round 25.^[54] (17 April 2013)

Top goalscorers

The following were the top ten goalscorers.

#	Scorer	Goals (Pen.)	Team
1	Serhiy Kuznetsov	18 (3)	FC Sevastopol
2	Ruslan Platon	16 (4)	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
3	Vyacheslav Shevchenko	15	PFC Oleksandria
4	Vitaliy Prokopchenko	13 (5)	Tytan Armyansk
5	Yaroslav Halenko	12	Zirka Kirovohrad
	Ruslan Ivashko	12 (2)	FC Poltava
7	Ruslan Stepanyuk	11	Stal Alchevsk
8	Dmytro Leonov	10 (1)	Arsenal Bila Tserkva/Stal Alchevsk[a]
	Roman Loktionov	10 (1)	Stal Alchevsk
10	Oleksandr Akymenko	9	Stal Alchevsk
	Burnel Okana-Stazi	9 (2)	Stal Alchevsk

1. Stal Alchevsk signed Dmytro Leonov during the winter break.^[55]

Promotion/relegation play-off

A promotion/relegation home and away play-off were played by the 2nd team in Group 1 and 2 of 2012–13 Ukrainian Second League against the 15th and 16th placed teams of the 2012–13 Ukrainian First League competition. The draw for the play-off matches was held on 7 June.^[56]

Nyva Ternopil qualified from Ukrainian Second League.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
FC Odesa	1–6	FC Nyva Ternopil	0–2	1–4
FC Shakhtar Sverdlovsk	1–2	FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv	1–1	0–1

Match #1

First leg

12 June 2013

18:00 EEST

FC Odesa	0 – 2	Nyva Ternopil
	Report (uk)	H. Baranets 17' Melnyk 60'

Spartak Stadium, Odesa

Referee: Serhiy Skyrda (Kharkiv)

Second leg

16 June 2013

19:30 EEST

Nyva Ternopil	4 – 1	FC Odesa
Kikot 22' Yavorskyi 45+2' Danyshchuk 62' Tovkatskyi 86'	Report (uk)	Balabanov 64' (pen.)

City Stadium, Ternopil

Referee: Vitaliy Dyadenko (Kirovohrad)

6–1 on aggregate. FC Odesa after being relegated to Second League withdrew.

Match #2

First leg

12 June 2013

17:00 EEST

Shakhtar Sverdlovsk	1 – 1	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
Korobkin 57' (pen.)	Report (uk)	Morozenko 77'

Avanhard Stadium, Rovenky

Referee: Roman Bozhyk (Sevastopol)

Second leg

16 June 2013

19:00 EEST

Dynamo-2 Kyiv	1 – 0	Shakhtar Sverdlovsk
Morozenko 44'	Report (uk)

Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, Kyiv

Referee: Andriy Lisakovskyi (Odesa)

2–1 on aggregate. Dynamo-2 Kyiv remain in First League.

See also

• 2012–13 Ukrainian Premier League
• 2012–13 Ukrainian Second League
• 2012–13 Ukrainian Cup