2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League


The 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League season is the 25th top level football competitions since the fall of the Soviet Union and the eighth since the establishment of the Ukrainian Premier League. Because of sponsorship the league changed its title for 2015–16 season to League Parimatch. The competition commenced on 17 July when Metalurh Zaporizhia hosted Zorya Luhansk in Zaporizhia. The first sixteen rounds were played before the winter break which began 6 December 2015; the competition resumed on 5 March 2016. The season concluded on 15 May 2016. Dynamo Kyiv are the defending champions.
With the continuation of the Ukrainian crisis in the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, the league remained at 14 teams after being cut from 16 in the 2013–14 season.

Format

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 2015–16 Ukrainian First League. In the event of a decision being made to expand the league to 16 teams next season, the last team will play a play-off game with a team that takes the third place of the 2015–16 Ukrainian First League, while the champion and runner-up would be promoted.

Teams

Promotions

After the previous season 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 due to the fact that both clubs are owned by the Industrial Union of Donbas. On 11 July 2015, the owners of FC Metalurh Donetsk have sent a letter to the Football Federation of Ukraine announcing their withdrawal from the competitions. Right before the start of competitions it was uncertain which club will replace Metalurh either FC Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk or FC Illichivets Mariupol. On 14 July 2015, the administration of Illichivets released a letter explaining its reason why the club should remain in the league. Due to the fact that the Premier League members did not manage to gather a quorum, on 16 July 2015, the Football Federation of Ukraine Executive Committee voted on to include Stal to the Premier League.

Metalurh Zaporizhya case

On 7 October 2015, FC Metalurh Zaporizhya petitioned to the Premier League to withdrew the club from the competition's participation due to the lack of financing. On 24 November 2015, Metalurh Zaporizhya informed the Premier League about decision of a deliberate assembly of the Metalurh Zaporizhya members in regards to liquidation of the club. On 2 March 2016, the Premier League cancelled the 17th-round game for Metalurh Zaporizhya due to the fact that there are only four players were registered for the second half and only five more are allowed to be registered outside of a transfer window. Also the club failed to inform the league and the visiting team about place and time of the upcoming game.
On 13 March 2016, it was announced that the club's academy the Sports School Metalurh, was handed over to the city authorities after the liquidation of the club.
On 7 April 2016, another Zaporizhya city club "Rosso Nero" successfully changed its name to Metalurh Zaporizhya and will participate in the 2016 Ukrainian Football Amateur League.

Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk scandal

On 19 November 2015, there was appointed a new president of the club Vardan Israelian as the previous president Maksym Zavhorodniy changed his place of work. In a protest of appointing Vardan Israelian, the club's vice-president Mykola Kolyuchy resigned and replaced with Bohdan Napolov. On 24 December 2015, took place a meeting of members of FC Stal Dniprodzerzhynsk which decided discontinue contract with its U-19 team due to "a lack of patriotism" as well as liquidate contracts with number of players from the U-21 who were involved in corruption along with the team's head coach Serhiy Shyshchenko. Israelian informed that during his talk with Mazyar, the latter said that he will not work without Kolyuchy in the club.

Location map

Stadiums

The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:
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

Managerial changes

Qualification for 2016–17 European competitions


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League table

Results

Positions by round

The following table represents the teams position after each round in the competition played chronologically. Originally scheduled Round 12 has been scheduled to be played after Round 16.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 Alex TeixeiraShakhtar Donetsk22
2 Pylyp BudkivskyiZorya Luhansk14
3 Andriy YarmolenkoDynamo Kyiv13
4 Eduardo da SilvaShakhtar Donetsk12
5 Yevhen SeleznyovDnipro Dnipropetrovsk10
5 Oleh HusyevDynamo Kyiv10
7 Oleksandr KaravayevZorya Luhansk8
7 MarlosShakhtar Donetsk8
7 Anton ShynderVorskla Poltava8
10 Júnior MoraesDynamo Kyiv7
10 Dmytro KhlyobasVorskla Poltava7
10 Vitaliy PonomarFC Oleksandriya7
10 MatheusDnipro Dnipropetrovsk7
10 Volodymyr PryyomovMetalist Kharkiv7

Notes:
4 Player scored four goals

Awards

The laureates of the 2015–16 UPL season were:
NumberRegionTeam
2Shakhtar and Olimpik
2Dnipro and Stal
1Metalist
1Dynamo
1Oleksandriya
1Zorya
1Karpaty
1Chonomorets
1Vorskla
1Volyn
1Hoverla
1Metalurh
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--

NumberRegionTeam
2Dnipro and Stal
2Dynamo and Olimpik
2Karpaty and Shakhtar
2Metalurh and Zorya
1Metalist
1Oleksandriya
1Chonomorets
1Vorskla
1Volyn
1Hoverla
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--
1--