2013–14 Ukrainian First League

The 2013–14 Ukrainian First League was the 23rd since its establishment. The competition commenced on 14 July 2013.^[2] Due to sponsorship reasons the league was called Favbet League 1. The competition had a winter break that started on 30 November 2013^[3] and resumed on 28 March 2014.^[2] The completion concluded on 31 May 2014.

Ukrainian First League

Season	2013–14
Champions	Olimpik Donetsk
Promoted	Olimpik Donetsk Oleksandriya
Relegated	Avanhard (suspended) Tytan (withdrew) UkrAhroKom (withdrew)
Matches played	221
Goals scored	542 (2.45 per match)
Top goalscorer	13 – Oleksandr Akymenko (Stal)
Biggest home win	6 – Dynamo-2 6–0 Tytan (Round 23)
Biggest away win	4 – Sumy 0–4 Dynamo-2 (Round 28)
Highest scoring	7 – Oleksandriya 4–3 Naftovyk-Ukrnafta (Round 1) Tytan 4–3 Mykolaiv (Round 6)
Longest winning run	4 – Naftovyk-Ukrnafta (Round 12–15)
Longest unbeaten run	20 – Olimpik (Round 4–23)
Longest winless run	13 – Dynamo-2 (Round 1–8, 10–13, 15)
Longest losing run	5 – Desna (Round 6–10)
Highest attendance	8,300 – Mykolaiv–Avanhard (Round 5) Mykolaiv–Helios (Round 7)
Lowest attendance	0[1] – 5 matches (Round 27)
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

Promotion and relegation

Promoted teams

Group 1

• Desna Chernihiv^[4] – Second League champion (returning after an absence of 3 seasons)
• Nyva Ternopil – Promotion/relegation play-off winner (returning after an absence of 3 seasons)

Group 2

• UkrAhroKom Holovkivka^[5] – Second League (debut)

Relegated teams

No teams were relegated from the 2012–13 Ukrainian Premier League.

Originally Hoverla Uzhhorod and Metalurh Zaporizhzhia were to be relegated from the Ukrainian Premier League after finishing in 15th and 16th places. However, Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih failed attestation and their license was withdrawn by the Ukrainian Premier League.^[6] Number of clubs refused promotion leaving two vacant positions in the 2013–14 Ukrainian Premier League which were awarded to the relegating clubs.

Team reduction

The competition was reduced by two teams to sixteen at the PFL Conference on 26 June 2013.^[7] Krymteplytsia Molodizhne withdrew from the PFL after the previous season^[7] and Shakhtar Sverdlovsk bid for promotion was refused.^[7]

Location map

The following displays the location of teams.

Oleksandriya

Oleksandriya teams :
Oleksandriya
UkrAhroKom

Avanhard

Bukovyna

Desna

Dynamo-2

Helios

Mykolaiv

Naftovyk-Ukrnafta

Nyva

Olimpik

Poltava

Stal

Sumy

Tytan

Zirka

Location of teams in the 2013–14 Ukrainian First League

Stadiums

The following stadiums are considered home grounds for the teams in the competition.^[8]

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Yuvileiny Stadium, Sumy	25,800	FC Sumy
2	Central City Stadium, Mykolaiv	16,700	MFC Mykolaiv
3	Zirka Stadium, Kirovohrad	13,667	Zirka Kirovohrad
4	City Stadium, Ternopil	12,750	Nyva Ternopil
5	Yuri Gagarin Stadium, Chernihiv	12,060	Desna Chernihiv
6	Bukovyna Stadium, Chernivtsi	12,000	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
7	Stal Stadium, Alchevsk	9,200	Stal Alchevsk
8	CSC Nika Stadium, Oleksandria	7,000	PFC Oleksandriya
			UkrAhroKom Holovkivka[a]
			Zirka Kirovohrad	Used as home ground in Round 29[10]
9	Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka	5,256	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka
10	Sonyachny Stadium, Kharkiv	4,924[11]	Helios Kharkiv
11	Prapor Stadium, Kramatorsk	4,000	Avanhard Kramatorsk
12	Khimik Stadium, Armyansk	3,450	Tytan Armyansk
13	Sports Complex Olimpik, Donetsk	3,000 [12]	Olimpik Donetsk
14	Lokomotiv Stadium, Poltava	2,500	FC Poltava
			Avanhard Kramatorsk	Used as home ground in Round 27[1]
15	Helios Arena, Kharkiv	2,057	Helios Kharkiv
16	Stadium Educational Training Base Center FC Poltava, Kopyly Poltava Oblast	1,500[13]	FC Poltava	Used as home ground Round 24[14] & 26[15]
17	Mashynobudivnyk Stadium, Karlivka	1,300[16]	FC Poltava	Used as home ground in Round 14[17]
			Helios Kharkiv	Used as home ground in Round 27[1]
			Stal Alchevsk	Used as home ground in Round 28[18]
18	Dynamo Training Center, Kyiv	1,200	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
19	Enerhiya Stadium, Berdyansk	700[19]	Olimpik Donetsk	Used as home ground Round 30[20]
20	Holovkivskyy Stadium, Holovkivka	580	UkrAhroKom Holovkivka
			Zirka Kirovohrad[b]	Used as home ground in spring session[10]

1. UkrAhroKom Holovkivka to play their home games at CSC Nika Stadium due to limited capacity and lighting at their traditional home ground, Holovkivskiy Stadium, Holovkivka.^[9] (28 June 2013)
2. Zirka Kirovohrad to play their spring session home games at Holovkivskyy Stadium, Holovkivka due to reconstruction of their home ground, Zirka Stadium.^[21] (29 December 2013)

Managers

Club	Coach	Replaced coach
Avanhard Kramatorsk	Yakiv Kripak	Serhiy Shevchenko
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	Yuriy Hiy	Vadym Zayats
Desna Chernihiv	Oleksandr Ryabokon
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Alyaksandr Khatskevich
Helios Kharkiv	Serhiy Yesin
PFC Oleksandriya	Volodymyr Sharan
MFC Mykolaiv	Vyacheslav Mazarati	Volodymyr Ponomarenko Oleh Fedorchuk
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	Vadym Kolesnyk	Yevhen Yarovenko
Nyva Ternopil	Bohdan Samardak	Ihor Yavorskyi
Olimpik Donetsk	Roman Sanzhar
FC Poltava	Ilya Blyznyuk
Stal Alchevsk	Vadym Plotnikov
FC Sumy	Serhiy Strashnenko	Andriy Kononenko
Tytan Armyansk	Serhiy Kozlov	Oleh Lutkov
UkrAhroKom Holovkivka	Yuriy Hura
Zirka Kirovohrad	Anatoliy Buznyk	Mykola Fedorenko

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
PFC Oleksandriya	Vitaliy Pervak	End caretaker	7 June	Pre season	Volodymyr Sharan[22]	8 June
Stal Alchevsk	Anatoliy Volobuyev[23]	Sporting Director in Club	13 June		Vadym Plotnikov[23]	21 June
Tytan Armyansk	Oleh Leshchynskyi	Resigned	21 June		Oleh Lutkov[24]	21 June
FC Poltava	Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi	Moves to Club Administration	21 June		Ilya Blyznyuk[25]	21 June
Zirka Kirovohrad	Samir Hasanov	End caretaker	21 June		Mykola Fedorenko[26]	21 June
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	Andriy Husin	Replaced	2 July		Alyaksandr Khatskevich[27]	2 July
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	Vadym Zayats[28]	Resigned	31 August	9th	Yuriy Hiy[29]	5 September
MFC Mykolaiv	Oleh Fedorchuk[30]	Resigned	4 November	15th	Volodymyr Ponomarenko (interim)[30]	4 November
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	Yevhen Yarovenko[31]	Resigned	27 November	4th	Vadym Kolesnyk[32]	9 December
Avanhard Kramatorsk	Serhiy Shevchenko[33]	Resigned	27 November	11th	Yakiv Kripak[34]	3 December
MFC Mykolaiv	Volodymyr Ponomarenko (interim)	End as interim	11 March	15th	Vyacheslav Mazarati[35]	11 March
Nyva Ternopil	Ihor Yavorskyi[36]	Resigned	17 March	5th	Bohdan Samardak[37]	26 March
Zirka Kirovohrad	Mykola Fedorenko[38]	Resigned	7 April	11th	Anatoliy Buznyk[39]	9 April
Tytan Armyansk	Oleh Lutkov[40]	Resigned	13 April	15th	Serhiy Kozlov (interim)	13 April
FC Sumy	Andriy Kononenko[41]	Sacked	13 May	10th	Serhiy Strashnenko (interim)	13 May

League table

As of 31 May 2014^[42]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Olimpik Donetsk (C, P)	30	16	7	7	45	33	+12	55	Promoted to Ukrainian Premier League
2	PFC Oleksandriya	30	14	10	6	47	28	+19	52	Refused promotion[a]
3	Stal Alchevsk	30	16	3	11	41	33	+8	51
4	FC Poltava	30	14	4	12	36	34	+2	46
5	Desna Chernihiv	30	14	2	14	33	27	+6	44
6	Zirka Kirovohrad	30	12	8	10	36	34	+2	44
7	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	30	12	7	11	40	35	+5	43
8	UkrAhroKom Holovkivka (D)	30	11	9	10	27	27	0	42	Merged after season
9	Helios Kharkiv	30	10	11	9	29	35	−6	41
10	Nyva Ternopil	30	10	9	11	33	32	+1	39
11	FC Sumy	30	11	6	13	29	39	−10	39
12	Tytan Armyansk (D)	30	10	8	12	32	41	−9	38	Withdrew after season[b]
13	Bukovyna Chernivtsi	30	10	6	14	26	36	−10	36
14	Dynamo-2 Kyiv	30	8	8	14	29	30	−1	32
15	Avanhard Kramatorsk (D)	30	7	10	13	23	27	−4	31	Suspended after season[c]
16	MFC Mykolaiv	30	9	4	17	34	49	−15	31	Avoided relegation[d]

Source: Professional Football League of Ukraine^[47]
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 head-to-head fair play (all games); 8th draw or playoff^[8]
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. PFC Oleksandriya were to be promoted after finishing second but the president of the club refused promotion citing instability in the country and business reasons with the cost of keeping a team in the Premier League.^[43]
2. FC Tytan Armyansk completed the season but the team was dissolved due to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.^[44]
3. FC Avanhard Kramatorsk completed the season but the team's participation in competitions was suspended due to the war in Donbas.^[45]
4. Relegation to the Ukrainian Second League for the next season was canceled.^[46] The Central Council of Professional Football League of Ukraine considered the force majeure circumstances that were created due to war conditions in Kramatorsk as the reason for the cancellation. With the goal to preserve the maximum integrity of the League, considering that a direct threat to the life of footballers, coaching staff, and club's administration, those games, that were to be conducted with participation of Avanhard Kramatorsk to the end of the season, were recognized that they were not going to take place because of those unforeseen events.^[46] (21 May 2014)

Results

As of 31 May 2014

Home \ Away	AVK	BUK	DES	DK2	HEL	MYK	NAF	NVT	OLK	OLD	POL	STA	SUM	TYA	UAP	ZIR
Avanhard Kramatorsk[a]		0–1	2–1	0–1	-:+[b]	3–1	2–0	0–0	2–2	0–2	-:+[c]	0–2	-:+[a]	1–0	0–1	2–1
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	0–0		1–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–0[d]	1–3	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	0–1
Desna Chernihiv	1–0	2–0		0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–2	1–2	0–2	4–0	3–1	3–0	2–4
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	1–1	1–2	0–1		3–0[e]	1–2	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–2	6–0	1–1	1–0
Helios Kharkiv	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–1		2–1	3–2	3–0[f]	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–4
MFC Mykolaiv	0–0	1–2	0–1	3–0[g]	4–1		1–1	1–4	1–2	1–1	1–2	0–2[h]	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–1
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	0–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–2		1–2	1–1	2–2	1–2	3–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	4–0
Nyva Ternopil	1–2	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–3	2–2		2–4	0–1	3–0[i]	2–0	2–0	2–2	2–0	2–2
PFC Oleksandriya	3–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	5–0	4–3	1–1		0–1	1–0	3–0	1–2	2–0	2–1	0–0
Olimpik Donetsk	1–3	3–2	1–0	3–1	1–3[j]	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–2		3–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	4–2	1–2
FC Poltava	1–1	2–0	3–1	2–1	0–1	2–0[k]	1–2	1–2	1–0[k]	2–1		3–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	0–0
Stal Alchevsk	+:-[a]	3–0[l]	3–2	1–0[m]	3–1	1–0	2–2[n]	1–0	1–3	1–1	2–1		5–0	2–0	2–2	1–2
PFC Sumy	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–4	2–0	0–1	0–2	3–0	2–0	0–1	3–1	1–3		2–2	0–1	2–0
Tytan Armyansk	4–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–2	4–3	0–2	1–0	0–0	3–0[o]	0–1	2–0	1–0		1–0	1–0
UkrAhroKom Holovkivka	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	2–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–0		1–0
Zirka Kirovohrad	1–1	5–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–3	2–0	1–0	0–1	2–2	0–2

Source: Calendar (in Ukrainian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Initially the PFL ruled that matches involving Avanhard Kramatorsk were abandoned as a technical loss for both teams due to war conditions.^[46] Next day it was changed to a technical loss to Avanhard Kramatorsk in all games.^[48] (22 May 2014)
2. Round 25 match between Avanhard Kramatorsk and Helios Kharkiv is postponed due to unrest in the region.^[49] The game was to be played after Round 29^[50] but was abandoned as a technical loss for Avanhard due to war conditions.^[48] (22 May 2014)
3. Round 27 match between Avanhard Kramatorsk and FC Poltava is rescheduled due to blocked access to the city of Kramatorsk following unrest in the region.^[50] The match was to be played at Karlivka^[51] but was abandoned as a technical loss for Avanhard due to war conditions.^[48] (22 May 2014)
4. Bukovyna Chernivtsi postpones their Round 9 match home match against Nyva Ternopil due to their financial situation.^[52] Match was played after Round 19.^[3]
5. Dynamo-2 Kyiv postpones their Round 9 match at home against Helios Kharkiv since five players were called for international duty.^[52] The match was rescheduled after Round 15.^[53]
6. Round 27 match between Helios Kharkiv and Nyva Ternopil is moved due to decisions made by the FFU of not conducting matches in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Odesa oblasts because of unrest in the region.^[1] The match was played at Karlivka.^[1] Match was not completed. Nyva Ternopil players walked off the pitch as a protest to a penalty awarded against them in 90+5' of the game. Score was 1–1 at the time.^[54] Control Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine award a 3–0 technical victory to Helios .^[55]
7. PFL reschedules the Round 19 match between MFC Mykolaiv and Dynamo-2 Kyiv to after Round 20, since several Dynamo-2 Kyiv players were called for international duty.^[3]
8. Round 27 match between MFC Mykolaiv and Stal Alchevsk rescheduled until after Round 29 due to unrest in the region.^[1]
9. Administration of FC Poltava informed that the club would not travel to their Round 16 match against Nyva Ternopil^[56] as a protest against unobjective decisions by referees against the team.^[57] Control Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine award a 3–0 technical victory to Nyva.^[47]
10. Round 30 match between Olimpik Donetsk and Helios Kharkiv is moved due to decisions made by the FFU of not conducting matches in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Odesa oblasts because of unrest in the region. The match to be played at Enerhiya Stadium in Berdyansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast.^[20]
11. FC Poltava play their Round 22 and 24 matches at their Educational Sport Training Base Stadium in Kopyly, Poltava Oblast due to construction of their Lokomotiv Stadium in Poltava.^[14]
12. Administration of Bukovyna Chernivtsi informed that the club would not travel to their Round 8 match against Stal Alchevsk due to financial issues.^[58] Control Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine award a 3–0 technical victory to Stal.^[59]
13. Dynamo-2 Kyiv postpones their Round 14 away match against Stal Alchevsk since several players were called for international duty.^[60] Match was played after Round 25.
14. Round 28 match between Stal Alchevsk and Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka is moved due to decisions made by the FFU of not conducting matches in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Odesa oblasts because of unrest in the region. The match to be played at Karlivka.^[18]
15. Administration of Olimpik Donetsk informed their opponent Tytan Armyansk that the club would not travel to their Round 29 match due to instability in the region.^[61] Later the PFL administration awarded a technical win (3:0) to Tytan Armyansk and a technical loss (3:0) to Olimpik Donetsk.

Positions by round

The following table represents the teams position after each round in the competition.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Olimpik Donetsk	1	6	10	7	6	4	3	4	3	1	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
PFC Oleksandriya	4	3	2	2	1	2	2	1	4	2	1	3	3	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2
Stal Alchevsk	2	1	1	1	3	1	1	2	1	3	2	1	2	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	3
FC Poltava	13	9	11	8	12	7	10	9	6	7	7	7	6	6	7	9	11	10	11	12	8	7	8	7	5	4	5	4	4	4
Desna Chernihiv	7	13	7	11	7	11	13	14	14	15	14	11	11	9	12	10	8	6	5	5	7	9	7	10	6	5	4	6	5	5
Zirka Kirovohrad	6	11	5	9	9	6	7	8	10	11	8	8	8	8	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	11	9	9	11	7	6	5	6	6
Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka	11	5	6	10	10	12	8	10	7	6	6	5	5	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	9	10	8	9	7	7
UkrAhroKom Holovkivka	14	15	15	16	16	16	14	12	12	12	10	10	10	13	11	12	10	9	9	8	9	8	10	8	8	8	9	7	8	8
Helios Kharkiv	15	16	16	12	14	15	16	15	15	13	13	14	13	10	13	13	13	13	14	14	15	15	14	12	12	13	14	15	12	9
Nyva Ternopil	5	8	4	4	8	10	12	13	13	14	15	15	15	14	14	15	14	15	13	7	5	5	4	4	4	6	7	8	9	10
PFC Sumy	3	2	3	5	2	5	6	5	5	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	7	9	12	10	11	11	7	9	10	11	10	11
Bukovyna Chernivtsi	10	14	13	14	11	13	9	11	11	8	12	13	9	11	9	8	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	10	11	12	10	11	12
Tytan Armyansk	16	10	12	13	13	9	11	7	9	9	9	9	12	12	10	7	9	11	12	13	14	14	15	15	13	14	11	12	13	13
Dynamo-2 Kyiv	8	12	14	15	15	14	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	14
Avanhard Kramatorsk	9	4	9	6	5	3	4	3	2	5	5	6	7	7	8	11	12	12	10	11	11	12	13	14	15	15	15	13	14	15
MFC Mykolaiv	12	7	8	3	4	8	5	6	8	10	11	12	14	15	15	14	15	14	15	15	13	13	12	13	14	12	13	14	15	16

Updated to match(es) played on 27 May 2014. Source: pfl.ua

Top goalscorers

As of 31 May 2014

#	Scorer	Goals (Pen.)	Team
1	Oleksandr Akymenko	13 (2)	Stal Alchevsk
3	Serhiy Starenkyi	11	PFC Oleksandriya
	Ruslan Kachur	11 (2)	Helios Kharkiv
4	Mykhaylo Serhiychuk[a]	10 (2)	MFC Mykolaiv
	Serhei Nudnii	10 (7)	Tytan Armyansk
6	Sheriff Isa	8	Olimpik Donetsk
	Vladyslav Nasibulin	8	FC Poltava
	Vasyl Palahniuk	8	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
	Vitaliy Ponomar	8	UkrAhroKom Holovkivka
	Oleksandr Sytnik	8	Olimpik Donetsk
	Vasyl Hrytsuk	8 (2)	PFC Oleksandriya

1. Ukrainian Premier League club Karpaty Lviv signed Mykhaylo Serhiychuk during the winter break.^[62]

See also

• 2013–14 Ukrainian Premier League
• 2013–14 Ukrainian Second League
• 2013–14 Ukrainian Cup