2002–03 Ukrainian First League

The 2002–03 Ukrainian First League was the twelfth season of the Ukrainian First League which was won by Zirka Kirovohrad. The season started on July 6, 2002, and finished on June 21, 2003.

Ukrainian First League

Season	2002–03
Champions	Zirka Kirovohrad
Promoted	Zirka Kirovohrad, Borysfen Boryspil
Relegated	Sokil Zolochiv (withdrew)
Top goalscorer	(15) Maksym Shtayer (FC Krasyliv)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Promotion and relegation

Promoted teams

Five clubs promoted from the 2001–02 Ukrainian Second League.

Group A

• FC Krasyliv – champion (debut)
• Sokil Zolochiv – runner-up (debut)

Group B

• Systema-Boreks Borodyanka – champion (debut)

Group C

• FC Sumy – champion (returning after a season)
• Arsenal Kharkiv – runner-up (debut)

Relegated teams

One club was relegated from the 2001-02 Ukrainian Top League:

• FC Zakarpattia Uzhhorod – 14th place (returning after a season)

Renamed teams

• Before the season FC Sumy changed back to FC Spartak Sumy .
• During winter break SC Mykolaiv changed its name to MFC Mykolaiv.

Teams

In 2002-03 season, the Ukrainian First League consists of the following teams:

Shakhtar-2

Zirka

Dynamo-2
CSKA

Sokil

Borysfen

Karpaty-2

Stal

Naftovyk

Prykarpattia

Zakarpattia

Arsenal

Polissia

Spartak

Krasyliv

Systema-Boreks

Nyva

Mykolaiv

Locations of teams in First League

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Zirka Kirovohrad (C, P)	34	22	5	7	45	22	+23	71	Promoted to Vyshcha Liha
2	Borysfen Boryspil (P)	34	19	9	6	44	16	+28	66
3	Dynamo-2 Kyiv	34	18	10	6	56	28	+28	64
4	Naftovyk Okhtyrka	34	15	9	10	37	26	+11	54
5	MFC Mykolaiv	34	15	7	12	30	37	−7	52
6	Stal Alchevsk	34	14	10	10	36	33	+3	52
7	Zakarpattia Uzhhorod	34	14	9	11	27	26	+1	51
8	FC Krasyliv	34	14	7	13	42	37	+5	49
9	Arsenal Kharkiv	34	13	7	14	38	42	−4	46
10	Spartak Sumy	34	13	6	15	34	40	−6	45
11	Polissya Zhytomir	34	12	7	15	30	38	−8	43
12	Shakhtar-2 Donetsk	34	11	9	14	33	40	−7	42
13	Karpaty-2 Lviv	34	10	11	13	34	38	−4	41
14	CSKA Kyiv	34	10	11	13	33	38	−5	41
15	Systema-Boreks Borodyanka	34	9	13	12	28	28	0	40
16	FC Vinnytsia[a]	34	9	9	16	18	31	−13	36
17	Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk	34	7	8	19	25	54	−29	29	Avoided relegation
18	Sokil Zolochiv (D)	34	4	7	23	23	39	−16	19	Withdrew

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. Nyva Vinnytsia was not relegated as Olexandria has folded in the Premier League. Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk was bought out by LUKOIL, the main sponsor of LUKOR Kalush, and the new management recognized it as the first team of one club with LUKOR being its second. One a paper LUKOR got promoted and Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk got relegated, but the truth is that the teams stayed in their divisions. Sokil Zolochiv has folded.

Persha Liha 2002-03 Winners
FC Zirka Kirovohrad Second title

Top scorers

Statistics are taken from here.^[1]

Scorer	Goals (pen.)	Team
Maksym Shtayer	15 (4)	FC Krasyliv
Artem Milevskyi	11	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
Myroslav Bundash	11 (6)	Zakarpattia Uzhhorod
Bohdan Yesyp	10	Naftovyk Okhtyrka
Pavlo Parshyn	9 (3)	Polissya Zhytomyr
Oleksandr Melaschenko	8	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
Dmytro Vorobey	8 (1)	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
Oleksandr Aliyev	8 (1)	Dynamo-2 Kyiv
Ruslan Platon	8 (3)	Karpaty-2 Lviv
Ruslan Bidnenko	7	Borysfen Boryspil