Ukrainian First League
The Persha Liha or Ukrainian First League is a professional football league in Ukraine and the second tier of national football competitions. Members of the league also participate in the Ukrainian Cup. It is the highest division of Professional Football League pyramid and unlike Premier League, Persha Liha does not conduct a parallel tournament for junior teams of its clubs.
History
The league was set up by the newly reorganized Football Federation of Ukraine with the falling apart Soviet Union as a second tier, lower than Ukrainian Higher League and higher that Ukrainian Transitional League.The very first round of games that took place for this league was on 14 March 1992. The league itself was organised just a few months before that and consisted mostly of all the Ukrainian clubs that previously competed in the one of groups of the Soviet Lower Second League. To the league were also added some Soviet Top League reserve squads of the Soviet Top League reserve squads competition and the three best performers of the Ukrainian football championship among amateurs, KFK.
The Persha Liha is lower than the Vyshcha Liha and is the second division of the Ukrainian professional football league system.
The First League was incorporated into the PFL organisation that combined all the football leagues of non-amateur clubs. On 26 May 1996 the Constituent Conference of non-amateur clubs took place which created the professional league, and confirmed its statute as well as its administration. Most of the clubs that had previously participated in the Ukrainian football league competitions were reorganized as professional, a process that actually started in the late 1980s. On 17 July the professional league signed an agreement with several other national football organizations to organize competitions among the professional clubs. According to the newspaper Halychyna the annual budget of league's clubs varied between 6 mln to 30 mln hryvnias in 2010.
The League officially became the top league of the Professional Football League from 15 April 2008 when the Ukrainian Premier League reorganized itself into a self-governed entity. Usually the top two teams from the First League are promoted to the Premier League, while the two lowest teams from the Premier League are demoted to the First League. Because each club is only allowed to be represented with a single squad per each league, the second squad's promotion often is voided, thus, allowing the promotion of the third placed club during a season. One of the most successful second squads is of Dynamo Kyiv.
Current composition
The following teams are competing in the 2019–20 season. Note, in parenthesis shown the actual home cities and stadiums.| Team | Home city | Stadium | Capacity | Position in 2018–19 | First season in 1L | Seasons in 1L |
| Ahrobiznes | Volochysk | Yunist Stadium | 2,700 | 13th | 2018-19 | 2 |
| Avanhard | Kramatorsk | Avanhard Stadium | 4,000 | 5th | 2012-13 | 7 |
| Balkany | Zorya, Sarata Raion | Tropanets Stadium | 1,854 | 8th | 2017-18 | 3 |
| Cherkashchyna | Cherkasy | Central City Stadium | 10,321 | 2L A:2nd | 2015-16 | 4 |
| Chornomorets | Odesa | Chornomorets Stadium | 34,164 | PL:11th | 1998-99 | 5 |
| Hirnyk-Sport | Horishni Plavni | Yunist Stadium | 2,500 | 12th | 2014-15 | 6 |
| Inhulets | Petrove | Inhulets Stadium | 1,720 | 7th | 2016-17 | 4 |
| Kremin | Kremenchuk | Oleh Babayev Kremin Arena | 1,500 | 2L B:1st | 1997-98 | 4 |
| Metalist 1925 | Kharkiv | Metalist Stadium | 40,003 | 4th | 2018-19 | 2 |
| Metalurh | Zaporizhia | Slavutych Arena | 11,883 | 2L B:2nd | 2011–12 | 2 |
| Mykolaiv | Mykolaiv | Central City Stadium | 15,600 | 9th | 1992–93 | 21 |
| Mynai | Mynai | Mynai Arena | 1,300 | 2L A:1st | debut | 1 |
| Obolon-Brovar | Kyiv | Obolon Arena | 5,100 | 6th | 1999–2000 | 12 |
| Prykarpattia | Ivano-Frankivsk | Rukh Stadium | 6,500 | 10th | 2018–19 | 2 |
| Rukh | Lviv | Skif Stadium | 3,742 | 11th | 2017–18 | 3 |
| Volyn | Lutsk | Avanhard Stadium | 12,080 | 3rd | 1996–97 | 13 |
Format of competition
General description
The league conducts its competition in a regular double round-robin format where each team plays with every other one twice. The league conducts its competitions from fall to springs, however due to climate conditions in Ukraine, a mid-season winter break is usually longer than the summer break between competition seasons. Since 1995 the league also follows the same system of points calculation that is adopted throughout the whole European continent, 3 points for win, one for draw, and none for loss.Number of participants
During its history the number of members in the league has fluctuated. In its first years before 1999 the league consisted of 20 or more participants. Later there was an idea to decrease the number of members in all leagues in order to improve the quality of competition. Until 2013 the number of participants was reduced to 18 except for couple of season in 2006–2008. Recently since 2013 the number was reduced further to 16 where it remains.Relegation and promotion
The amount of relegated clubs was changing also almost annually and several times reaching up to five. The amount of promoted clubs usually stays at two. Only once three teams were promoted to the top division. The league's winner and usually the second placed runner-up get accepted to the Premier League. However, there is a well established understanding that a second team of the club cannot be promoted when its senior team plays in a higher tier. Due to the rule, on few occasions the third placed runner up was admitted to the top division. In 2013 there was set a precedent when a club on its own will has refused to be promoted. In 2017 there was created another precedent when a club that earned promotion was denied it based on administrative speculations.The relegation or promotion play-offs were previously usually organized under unforeseen circumstances such as a team's withdrawal from the league and often were not scheduled until after the season had concluded. Since 2011 relegation play-offs has become a well established tradition.
Since the turn of the millennium the frequency of withdrawals in the First League has increased among the competing clubs. In order to fight this, the league has been applying a stricter approach to every club's financial situation to avoid withdrawals during a season.
League's popularity
Since the 2009–10 season the First League has started to broadcast selected matches over the internet in order to increase its popularity.The most successful clubs in the league are FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv, FC Hoverla Uzhhorod, and FC Zirka Kropyvnytskyi. All of those teams were either disbanded or went through some sort of reorganizations. In 2016 Dynamo Kyiv withdrew its second team from professional competitions, while FC Hoverla was refused in attestation. Previously in 2008 FC Zirka that went through reorganization was re-established based on a local youth football club FC Olimpik Kropyvnytskyi and in 2016 won its third championship in the league.
Past winners and runners
Promoted teams are indicated in bold.Post-season play-offs
Post-season play-offs are not common feature of the First League competition. Over the years there were several instances when clubs contested promotion or relegation berths. The first post-season feature consisted of a relegation mini tournament that took place in July 1998 in Kiev and Boryspil. It involved three group winners of the Second League and Bukovyna that placed 18th place in the First League. The tournament identified clubs which would qualify for the 1998–99 Ukrainian First League. The next year the league featured its first promotion play-off.Promotion play-offs
Relegation play-offs
Statistics
Performance by club
Notes:- ‡ – indicates a phoenix club of the original
League winners by region
| Number | Region | Winners |
| 5 | Kirovohrad Oblast | Zirka Kropyvnytskyi, FC Oleksandriya |
| 4 | Donetsk Oblast | Illichivets Mariupol, Metalurh Donetsk, Olimpik Donetsk |
| 4 | Kiev | Dynamo-2 Kyiv, Arsenal Kyiv |
| 3 | Zakarpattia Oblast | Hoverla Uzhhorod |
| 2 | Sevastopol | FC Sevastopol |
| 2 | Luhansk Oblast | Stal Alchevsk, Zorya Luhansk |
| 2 | Dnipropetrovsk Oblast | Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, SC Dnipro-1 |
| 1 | Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast | Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk |
| 1 | Mykolaiv Oblast | Mykolaiv |
| 1 | Poltava Oblast | Vorskla Poltava |
| 1 | Rivne Oblast | Veres Rivne |
| 1 | Sumy Oblast | Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka |
| 1 | Vinnytsia Oblast | Nyva Vinnytsia |
| 1 | Volyn Oblast | Volyn Lutsk |
All-time table
Top-20. All figures are correct through the 2018–19 season. Club status is current of the 2019–20 season:| 2019–20 Ukrainian Premier League | |
| 2019–20 Ukrainian First League | |
| 2019–20 Ukrainian Second League | |
| 2019–20 Ukrainian Football Amateur League | |
| 2020 Regional competitions | |
| Club is defunct |
People
Players
Among notable players of the league are its top scorers. The title of the league's top scorer earned on multiple occasions the following players, Serhiy Chuichenko, Oleh Hrytsai, Oleksandr Aliyev, Matviy Bobal, Oleksandr Akymenko.Managers
Stadiums
Considered to be as second tier competitions, the league has number of big stadiums with capacity of 20,000+, among which the most notable are Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv, Dnipro-Arena in Dnipro, Ukraina Stadium in Lviv, Yuvileiny Stadium in Sumy and Shakhtar Stadium in Donetsk. Just before the Euro 2012, the First League clubs also played at the RSC Olimpiyskiy also located in Donetsk. Among smaller stadiums are Central Stadium in Mykolaiv, Dynamo Stadium in Kiev, Avanhard Stadium in Lutsk, Chernihiv Stadium in Chernihiv and Central Stadium in Cherkasy.Attendance
Most attended games in the league recorded at Yuvileiny Stadium.| # | Season | Attendance | Home team | Score | Visiting team | Stadium | Ref |
| 1 | 2002–03 | 29,300 | Spartak Sumy | 1:0 | Naftovyk Okhtyrka | Yuvileiny Stadium | |
| 2 | 1997–98 | 27,000 | Mykolaiv | 1:0 | Dynamo-2 Kyiv | Tsentralnyi Stadion | |
| 3 | 2002–03 | 25,200 | Spartak Sumy | 2:1 | Shakhtar-2 Donetsk | Yuvileiny Stadium | |
| 4 | 2002–03 | 23,000 | Spartak Sumy | 1:0 | Zirka Kirovohrad | Yuvileiny Stadium | |
| 5 | 2018–19 | 22,362 | Metalist 1925 Kharkiv | 1:2 | Dnipro-1 | OSC Metalist | |
| 6 | 2005–06 | 21,000 | Zorya Luhansk | 1:0 | Karpaty Lviv | Avanhard Stadium |
The most attended seasons were in the beginning of 1990s and the beginning of 2000s.