2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League

The 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League season was the 24th since its establishment. The competition commenced on 25 July when Metalurh Donetsk hosted Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in Lviv.^[1] Due to the war in Donbas, the league reduced the number of teams.^[1]

Ukrainian Premier League

Season	2014–15
Champions	Dynamo Kyiv 14th title
Matches played	181
Goals scored	481 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	17 – Eric Bicfalvi (Volyn) Alex Teixeira (Shakhtar)
Biggest home win	6 – Shakhtar 6–0 Olimpik (Round 17) Dynamo 6–0 Hoverla (Round 22)
Biggest away win	6 – Metalurh Donetsk 0–6 Dynamo (Round 23)
Highest scoring	10 – Hoverla 3–7 Shakhtar (Round 23)
Longest winning run	7 – Dynamo (Round 13–14,10,15–18)
Longest unbeaten run	26 – Dynamo (Round 1–26)
Longest winless run	15 – Illichivets (Round 1–15)
Longest losing run	4 – Illichivets (Round 11–14)
Highest attendance	57,502 – Dynamo–Shakhtar (Round 8)
Lowest attendance	0 – Volyn–Chornomorets (Round 16)
← 2013–14 2015–16 → All statistics correct as of 24 May 2015.

Format

Initially, a new format was proposed to be introduced for this season by FC Shakhtar Donetsk.^[1] The first stage was to be a regular round robin of home/away format. In the second stage the championship was to have an additional play-off format where participants, upon completion of the regular round robin, were to be split into three groups of 4 (1–4 places), 4 (5–8 places) and 6 (9–14 places) teams. The points earned in the first stage were to be preserved. The first two groups of four teams would each have a regular round robin home/away format, while the third group of six was to play each other only once.^[1]

However, on 22 July 2014, it was confirmed that the championship would be played using a standard double round-robin tournament system. The last team would be relegated and would be replaced by the champion of the 2014–15 Ukrainian First League.^[2]

Teams

Initially, a total of 16 teams were expected to participate in the league, the best 14 sides of the 2013–14 season and two promoted clubs from the 2013–14 Ukrainian First League. The fifteenth-placed team of the 2013–14 Ukrainian Premier League, Tavriya Simferopol was relegated to the 2014–15 Ukrainian First League at the end of the season. A second team was to be relegated but with the withdrawal of Arsenal Kyiv during the 2013–14 Ukrainian Premier League season only one team was relegated.

Teams from Crimea, namely Sevastopol and Tavriya Simferopol, will not participate in the Ukrainian competition since they ceased their existences and applied (under new names) for a Russian license after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014.^[3]

The relegated team and the vacant position were to be replaced by the champions of the 2013–14 Ukrainian First League, FC Olimpik Donetsk, and the runners-up, PFC Oleksandriya. But PFC Oleksandriya refused the promotion to the Premier League and merged with FC UkrAhroKom Holovkivka.^[4][5]

On 2 June 2014, Premier League published two preliminary projects of possible season schedule with 16 and 12 teams respectively.^[6] On 27 June 2014, it was confirmed that 14 teams will play in the 2014–15 season.^[7]

Location map

Kyiv

Kyiv teams :
Dynamo
Olimpik
Metalurh D.

Lviv

Lviv teams :
Karpaty
Shakhtar

Donetsk

Donetsk teams :
Shakhtar
Olimpik
Metalurh D.

Dnipro

Dnipro teams :
Dnipro
Illichivets

Zaporizhzhia

Zaporizhzhia teams :
Metalurh Z.
Zorya

Chornomorets

Hoverla

Illichivets

Metalist

Vorskla

Zorya

Volyn

Home venues of teams in the 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League.
Teams in italics are from cities in the conflict zone of the War in Donbas and are playing their home games in different cities.

Dynamo(Bannikov)

(Obolon)

Kyiv city home venues of teams in the League

(Lviv)

Karpaty

Lviv city home venues of teams in the League

Stadiums

The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:

Rank	Stadium	Club	Capacity	Highest Attendance		Notes
1	NSC Olimpiyskiy	Dynamo Kyiv	70,050	57,502	Round 8 (Shakhtar)
		Metalurh Donetsk		12,869	Round 23 (Dynamo)	Used as home ground in Round 23.
2	OSC Metalist	Metalist Kharkiv	40,003	21,546	Round 6 (Dnipro)
3	Arena Lviv	Shakhtar Donetsk	34,915	32,509	Round 21 (Dynamo)	Used as home ground.[8]
		Metalurh Donetsk		7,527	Round 1 (Dnipro)	Used as home ground in Round 1.[9]
4	Chornomorets Stadium	Chornomorets Odesa	34,164	25,182	Round 6 (Shakhtar)
5	Dnipro-Arena	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	31,003	17,444	Round 25 (Shakhtar)
6	Ukraina Stadium	Karpaty Lviv	28,051	7,800	Round 2 (Metalurh D.)
7	Vorskla Stadium	Vorskla Poltava	24,795	10,600	Round 9 (Metalist)
8	Meteor Stadium	Illichivets Mariupol	24,381	8,000	Round 8(Dnipro)	Used as temporary home ground
9	Dynamo Stadium	Dynamo Kyiv	16,873	10,000	Round 17 (Metalurh Z.)	Used as home ground in return match
		Chornomorets Odesa		5,314	Round 18 (Dynamo)	Used as home ground in Round 18.
10	Avanhard Stadium	Volyn Lutsk	12,080	8,700	Round 20 (Dynamo)
11	Slavutych-Arena	Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	12,000	10,000	Round 4 (Dnipro)
		Zorya Luhansk		4,100	Round 6 (Dynamo)	Used as home ground during season.[9]
12	Avanhard Stadium	Hoverla Uzhhorod	12,000	8,800	Round 9 (Dynamo)
13	Obolon Arena	Metalurh Donetsk	5,100	2,500	Round 3 (Metalurh Z.)	Used as temporary home ground[10]
		Illichivets Mariupol		2,700	Round 18 (Shakhtar)	Used as home ground in Round 18.
		Shakhtar Donetsk		3,200	Round 26 (Karpaty)	Used as home ground in Round 26.
14	Bannikov Stadium	Olimpik Donetsk	1,678	1,200	Round 4 (Shakhtar)	Used as temporary home ground[11]
		Shakhtar Donetsk		1,100	Round 7 (Zorya)	Used as home ground in Round 5.

Note:

Round when attendance is noted as highest is the chronological number of the round, not the published round by the Ukrainian Premier League since some rounds were rescheduled for a later date.

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Home city	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Chornomorets Odesa	Odesa	Oleksandr Babych (interim)	Anatoliy Didenko	Nike	Imexbank
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Dnipropetrovsk	Myron Markevych	Ruslan Rotan	Nike	Biola
Dynamo Kyiv	Kyiv	Serhii Rebrov	Oleksandr Shovkovskyi	adidas	Ostchem
Hoverla Uzhhorod	Uzhhorod	Vyacheslav Hrozny	Maksim Shatskikh	adidas	—
Illichivets Mariupol	Mariupol	Mykola Pavlov	Serhiy Yavorskyi	Nike	AIG
Karpaty Lviv	Lviv	Igor Jovićević (interim)	Oleh Holodyuk	Joma	Favbet / Limo
Metalist Kharkiv	Kharkiv	Ihor Rakhayev	Serhiy Pohorilyi	adidas	VETEK
Metalurh Donetsk	Donetsk	Volodymyr Pyatenko	Vyacheslav Checher	Umbro	ISD
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	Zaporizhzhia	Anatoliy Chantsev	Vitaliy Lysytskyi	Nike	Zaporizhstal
Olimpik Donetsk	Donetsk	Roman Sanzhar	Dmytro Hryshko	Puma	Altkom
Shakhtar Donetsk	Donetsk	Mircea Lucescu	Darijo Srna	Nike	SCM
Volyn Lutsk	Lutsk	Vitaliy Kvartsyanyi	Eric Bicfalvi	adidas	Vodafone
Vorskla Poltava	Poltava	Vasyl Sachko	Armend Dallku	adidas	Ferrexpo
Zorya Luhansk	Luhansk	Yuriy Vernydub	Mykyta Kamenyuka	Nike	Holsten

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing head coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming head coach	Date of appointment
Dynamo Kyiv	Serhii Rebrov (interim)[12]	Change of contract	May 18	Pre-season	Serhii Rebrov	May 18
Metalist Kharkiv	Ihor Rakhayev (interim)[13]	Change of contract	May 19		Ihor Rakhayev	May 19
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Juande Ramos[14]	End of contract	May 22		Myron Markevych[15]	May 26
Metalurh Donetsk	Sergei Tashuyev[16]	Signed by Anzhi Makhachkala	May 22		Volodymyr Pyatenko[17]	June 16
Vorskla Poltava	Anatoliy Momot[18]	Interim coach	June 10		Vasyl Sachko[18]	June 10
Karpaty Lviv	Oleksandr Sevidov[19]	Mutual agreement	June 17		Igor Jovićević (interim)[20]	June 18
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	Oleh Taran[21]	Sacked	November 7	11th	Oleksandr Tomakh (interim)[21]	November 7
Chornomorets Odesa	Roman Hryhorchuk[22]	Mutual consent	December 16	9th	Oleksandr Babych (interim)[22]	December 16
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	Oleksandr Tomakh (interim)	End as interim	February 24	11th	Anatoliy Chantsev[23]	February 24

Qualification to European competitions for 2015–16

• Since Ukraine finished in ninth place of the UEFA country ranking after the 2013–14 season,^[24] the league should have received the same number of qualifiers for 2015–16 UEFA Europa League. However, due to the recent format change, Ukraine will have only three teams entering the UEFA Europa League. The Ukrainian Cup winner qualifies for the Group stage.

Qualified teams

• After the 20th Round, Dynamo Kyiv qualified for European football for the 2015–16 season.^[25]
• After the 21st Round, both Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for European football for the 2015–16 season.^[26]
• After the 24th Round, Dynamo Kyiv qualified for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League Group Stage after they defeated Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.^[27]
• After the Ukrainian Cup Semi-finals, with both finalists having qualified for European football the fifth placed team will be able to qualified for 2015–16 UEFA Europa League. Zorya Luhansk can finish no worse than fifth and therefore qualify for Europa League third qualifying round.
• After the 25th Round, Vorskla Poltava qualified for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, entering in the third qualifying round.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dynamo Kyiv (C)	26	20	6	0	65	12	+53	66	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Shakhtar Donetsk	26	17	5	4	71	21	+50	56	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	26	16	6	4	47	17	+30	54	Qualification for the Europa League group stage[a]
4	Zorya Luhansk[b]	26	13	6	7	40	31	+9	45	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[a]
5	Vorskla Poltava	26	11	9	6	35	22	+13	42
6	Metalist Kharkiv	25	8	11	6	34	32	+2	35
7	Metalurh Zaporizhya	26	6	8	12	20	40	−20	26
8	Olimpik Donetsk	26	7	5	14	24	64	−40	26
9	Volyn Lutsk[c]	26	9	7	10	38	44	−6	25
10	Metalurh Donetsk[d]	26	6	10	10	27	38	−11	22	Club folded after the season
11	Chornomorets Odesa	25	3	11	11	15	31	−16	20
12	Hoverla Uzhhorod	26	3	10	13	22	47	−25	19
13	Karpaty Lviv[e]	26	5	9	12	22	31	−9	15
14	Illichivets Mariupol (R)	26	3	5	18	25	55	−30	14	Relegation to Ukrainian First League

Source: uafootball.net.ua
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) head-to-head goals scored; 7) fair play rating
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since winners of 2014–15 Ukrainian Cup, Dynamo Kyiv, qualified for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, the place in the Europa League group stage for the cup winner will be given to the third-placed team and the spots to Europa League third qualifying round will be given to the fourth-placed and fifth-placed teams.
2. Zorya Luhansk were initially deducted a total of 3 points on decision of the FFU Control Disciplinary Committee on 18 February 2015,^[28] but the decision was reversed and the FFU reinstated the three points to Zorya Luhansk. (17 June 2015) ^[29]
3. Volyn Lutsk were deducted a total of 9 points on decision of the FFU Control and Disciplinary Committee (24 February 2015)^[28]
4. Metalurh Donetsk were deducted a total of 6 points on decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee (9 September 2014).^[28]
   After the season completed the president of FC Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk announced that the club will be merged with FC Metalurh Donetsk and replace them in the Premier League for the 2015–16 season. (14 June 2015)^[30][31]
5. Karpaty Lviv were deducted a total of 9 points. Initially three points were deducted^[32] and then additional 6 points for non compliance with contractual agreements with player agents (regarding Martin Bogatinov).^[33]

Results

Home \ Away	CHO	DNI	DYK	HOV	ILL	KAR	MET	MDO	MZA	OLD	SHA	VOL	VOR	ZOR
Chornomorets Odesa	—	0–3	0–2[a]	1–1	0–0	0–0	dnp[b]	2–2	0–0	4–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–0
Dnipro	2–1	—	0–3	1–1	1–0	4–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	5–0	3–2	5–0	1–1	0–2
Dynamo Kyiv	2–0	1–0	—	6–0	5–0	0–0	3–0	3–0	2–2	0–0	1–0	4–1	1–0	2–2
Hoverla Uzhhorod	0–0	0–0	0–4	—	2–1	2–2	2–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	3–7	0–0	0–0	1–2
Illichivets Mariupol[c]	3–3	0–1	1–4	2–2	—	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	4–1	2–6	1–2	1–2	2–1
Karpaty Lviv	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	—	3–3	0–1	1–2	4–1	0–2	0–2	0–0	1–2
Metalist Kharkiv	0–0	2–5	1–2	1–0	3–1	0–0	—	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–2	3–3	0–2	4–2
Metalurh Donetsk	1–0	0–2	0–6	0–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	—	1–1	4–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–0
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	0–0	0–1	2–4	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	—	2–2	0–4	1–1	0–3	0–1
Olimpik Donetsk	2–1	0–5	0–1	1–2	3–2	1–0	2–1	3–2	0–0	—	0–5	1–3	1–1	1–0
Shakhtar Donetsk	5–0	0–0	0–0	4–1	3–0	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–0	6–0	—	6–2	3–0	0–1
Volyn Lutsk	1–1[d]	0–1	1–3	4–2	3–1	0–2	0–3[e]	1–1	3–0	4–0	0–0	—	2–2	1–2
Vorskla Poltava	2–0	1–3	0–3	2–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	5–0	3–1	1–2	2–0	—	2–0
Zorya Luhansk	1–0	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	4–2	3–0	5–1	1–4	1–2	1–1	—

Source: uafootball.net.ua
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. The game was played at the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium in Kyiv where Chornomorets Odesa officially relocated due to security concerns over terrorist attacks.^[34]
2. The Round 26 match between Chornomorets Odesa and Metalist Kharkiv was not played as per recommendation of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.^[35]
3. Mariupol's first three scheduled home games, in rounds 1, 2 and 4 against Volyn Lutsk, Chornomorets and Dynamo were instead played away, with Mariupol hosting the fixture later in the season.
4. Round 16 match between Volyn Lutsk and Chornomorets Odesa played in an empty stadium as ruled by the Ukrainian Football Federation Disciplinary Committee as punishment for invasion of the pitch in the Round 14 home match against Metalist Kharkiv.^[36]
5. Round 14 match between Volyn Lutsk and Metalist Kharkiv was abandoned in the 88th minute after fans invaded the pitch with the score 1–2.^[37] The FFU Control-Disciplinary Committee annuls the score of the game and awards Metalist a 3–0 technical win.^[38] (23 January 2015)

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
FC Dynamo Kyiv	6	3	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Shakhtar Donetsk	2	1	2	1	1	1	2	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2
Dnipro	3	2	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	3
Zorya Luhansk	10	14	10	7	11	10	9	6	6	4	4	4	7	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Vorskla Poltava	11	13	13	6	9	7	4	5	5	6	7	6	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	6	6	5	5	5	5	5
Metalist Kharkiv	4	5	8	5	5	8	10	7	7	8	5	8	6	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6
Volyn Lutsk	5	6	9	12	8	5	7	9	10	10	9	7	5	7	7	8	6	6	6	7	8	8	7	7	7	7
Metalurh Donetsk	12	8	6	8	10	11	8	10	8	7	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	7	7	8	8	8	8
Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	13	7	5	9	6	9	11	11	11	11	11	12	12	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	9
Olimpik Donetsk	14	9	7	11	7	4	5	4	4	5	6	5	4	5	6	6	8	8	9	9	9	9	10	9	9	10
Chornomorets Odesa	1	4	3	4	4	6	6	8	9	9	8	9	9	9	9	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
Hoverla Uzhhorod	7	11	11	13	13	13	13	12	13	12	12	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Karpaty Lviv	8	12	14	10	12	12	12	13	12	14	14	14	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	14	13	14	13	13	13	13
Illichivets Mariupol	9	10	12	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	13	14	13	14	14	14	14

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Season statistics

Teixeira

Bicfalvi

in 2014

Top goalscorers

As of matches played on 30 May 2015.^[39]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals (pen.)
1	Alex Teixeira	Shakhtar Donetsk	17 (1)
	Eric Bicfalvi	Volyn Lutsk	17 (4)
3	Artem Kravets	Dynamo Kyiv	15
4	Andriy Yarmolenko	Dynamo Kyiv	14 (3)
5	Nikola Kalinić	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	12 (2)
6	Oleksandr Hladkyi	Shakhtar Donetsk	11
7	Luiz Adriano	Shakhtar Donetsk	9 (1)
	Đorđe Lazić	Metalurh Donetsk	9 (2)
9	Pylyp Budkivskyi	Zorya Luhansk	8
	Oleksandr Kovpak	Vorskla Poltava	8 (1)
	Željko Ljubenović	Zorya Luhansk	8 (1)
	Yevhen Seleznyov	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	8 (1)
	Cleiton Xavier[a]	Metalist Kharkiv	8 (3)

1. During the winter break Cleiton Xavier signed with Palmeiras.

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Artem Kravets	Dynamo Kyiv	Illichivets Mariupol	4–1	17 August 2014[40]
Bruno Gama	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Metalist Kharkiv	5–2	13 September 2014[41]
Cleiton Xavier	Metalist Kharkiv	Illichivets Mariupol	3–1	9 November 2014[42]
Jajá	Metalist Kharkiv	Zorya Luhansk	4–2	30 November 2014[43]
Serhiy Hryn	Illichivets Mariupol	Olimpik Donetsk	4–1	30 May 2015[44]

  away win

  home win

  tie

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	UA-Football Player of the Month
	Player	Club	Reference
August	Oleksandr Hladkyi	Shakhtar Donetsk	[45]
September	Andriy Yarmolenko	Dynamo Kyiv	[46]
October	Serhiy Sydorchuk	Dynamo Kyiv	[47]
November	Andriy Yarmolenko	Dynamo Kyiv	[48]
March	Andriy Yarmolenko	Dynamo Kyiv	[49]
April	Oleksandr Shovkovskyi	Dynamo Kyiv	[50]
May	Denys Boyko	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	[51]

Season awards

The laureates of the 2014–15 UPL season were:^[52]

• Best player: Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kyiv)
• Best coach: Serhii Rebrov (Dynamo Kyiv)
• Best goalkeeper: Denys Boyko (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk)
• Best arbiter: Yevhen Aranovsky (Kyiv)
• Best young player: Valeriy Luchkevych (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk)
• Best goalscorer: Alex Teixeira (Shakhtar Donetsk)
• Fair play prize: Zorya Luhansk

See also

• 2014–15 Ukrainian First League
• 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League Reserves and Under 19
• 2014–15 Ukrainian Second League
• 2014–15 Ukrainian Cup
• 2014–15 UEFA Europa League
• 2014–15 UEFA Champions League