The 2016–17 Ukrainian First League was the 26th since its establishment. The fixtures were announced on 16 July 2016, and the competition commenced on 24 July 2016. The spring session started on 12 March 2017 with the competition ending on 2 June 2017.
Teams
Promoted teams Originally, as per competition regulations the top three teams were promoted from the 2015–16 Ukrainian Second League. However, prior to the season commencing at the Conference of the PFL in preparation for the season the committee decided to expand the competition to eighteen teams and include the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams. Six teams promotion beat the previous record of five teams that was set back in 2002 (14 years ago).
Kolos Kovalivka – champion of the 2015–16 Ukrainian Second League (debut) Veres Rivne – runner-up (returning for the first time since 1996–97 season, 19 seasons absence) Inhulets Petrove – 3rd placed (debut) Bukovyna Chernivtsi – 4th placed (returning after one season) Skala Stryi – 5th placed (debut, however a club from Stryi namely FC Hazovyk-Skala Stryi competed in the 2005–06 season) Arsenal Kyiv – 6th placed (debut, however a predecessor of Arsenal Kyiv, CSKA-Borysfen Kyiv, competed in the 1994–95 season)
Relegated teams
No teams were relegated from the Ukrainian Premier League
Withdrawn teams Two teams were withdrawn before the season: Dynamo-2 KyivThe management of the senior club FC Dynamo Kyiv announced that the reserve club, Dynamo-2 Kyiv would be cease to exist prior to the start of the season. Hirnyk Kryvyi RihPrior to the start of the season club's administration announced that the club would withdraw from the PFL.
Location map The following displays the location of teams.
Stadiums
The following stadiums are considered home grounds for the teams in the competition.
Rank Stadium Capacity Club Notes 1 Yuvileiny Stadium, Sumy 25,800 PFC Sumy 2 Vorskla Stadium, Poltava24,795FC PoltavaUsed in Round 28 3 Central City Stadium, Mykolaiv 16,700 MFC Mykolaiv 4City Stadium, Ternopil 12,750 FC Ternopil 5 Illichivets Stadium, Mariupol 12,680 Illichivets Mariupol 6 Chernihiv Stadium, Chernihiv 12,060 Desna Chernihiv 7 Bukovyna Stadium, Chernivtsi 12,000 Bukovyna Chernivtsi 8 Central Stadion, Cherkasy 10,321 Cherkaskyi Dnipro 9 Sokil Stadium, Stryi 6,000 Skala Stryi 10 Kolos Stadium, Boryspil 5,654 Arsenal Kyiv 11 Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka 5,256 Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka 12 Obolon Arena, Kyiv 5,100 Obolon-Brovar Kyiv Desna ChernihivUsed in Round 2, 11 and Spring session. 13 Sonyachny Stadium, Kharkiv 4,924 Helios Kharkiv Desna ChernihivUsed in Round 4, 6 and 8 14 Avanhard Stadium, Rivne 4,500 Veres Rivne 15 Avanhard Stadium, Kramatorsk 4,000 Avanhard Kramatorsk 16 Kolos Stadium, Berezne 3,800 Veres Rivne Used in Round 19 17 Izotop Stadium, Varash 3,000 Veres Rivne Used in the Spring session 18Lokomotyv Stadium, Poltava 2,500 FC Poltava Yunist Stadium, Horishni Plavni 2,500 Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni 20Kolos Stadium, Kovalivka 1,850 Kolos Kovalivka 21Inhulets Stadium, Petrove 1,720 Inhulets Petrove 22Knyazha Arena, Shchaslyve 1,000 Arsenal Kyiv 23 Ltava Stadium, Poltava640FC PoltavaUsed in Round 30 24FC Viktorya Stadium, Mykolayivka, Bilopillia Raion, Sumy Oblast 500 FC Sumy Used in Round 6Poltava Training Base Stadium, Kopyly, Poltava Raion, Poltava Oblast 500 FC Sumy Used in Round 20
Managers ClubHead coachПервая лига. Превью сезона (First League. Season preview). UA-Football. 24 July 2016Replaced coach Arsenal Kyiv Serhiy Litovchenko Avanhard Kramatorsk Oleksandr Kosevych Yakiv KripakBukovyna Chernivtsi Oleh Ratiy Serhiy ShyshchenkoCherkaskyi Dnipro Vadym Yevtushenko Ihor Stolovytskyi Oleksandr Kyrylyuk Vitaliy Kobzar (caretaker)Desna Chernihiv Oleksandr Ryabokon Helios Kharkiv Serhiy Syzykhin Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni Serhiy Puchkov Ihor ZhabchenkoIllichivets Mariupol Oleksandr Sevidov Inhulets Petrove Serhiy Lavrynenko Eduard KhavrovKolos Kovalivka Ruslan Kostyshyn MFC Mykolaiv Ruslan Zabranskyi Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka Volodymyr Knysh Obolon-Brovar Kyiv Oleh Mazurenko Sergei SoldatovFC Poltava Volodymyr Prokopynenko Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi Andrei Zavyalov (caretaker) Yuriy YaroshenkoSkala Stryi Roman Hnativ Vasyl Malyk PFC Sumy Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi Yuriy Yaroshenko Pavlo Kikot (caretaker) Volodymyr LyutyiFC Ternopil Petr Badlo Ivan Marushchak Vasyl Matviykiv (caretaker)Veres Rivne Yuriy Virt (caretaker) Volodymyr Mazyar
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyTableIncoming head coachDate of appointment Bukovyna Chernivtsi Viktor Mhlynets Resigns 29 May 2016 Pre-season Serhiy Shyshchenko 29 June 2016 FC Ternopil Vasyl Ivehesh Work with the youth teams 30 June 2016 Ivan Marushchak 1 July 2016 Inhulets Petrove Eduard Khavrov Sacked 21 August 2016 16th Serhiy Lavrynenko 31 August 2016 FC Poltava Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi Sacked 5 September 2016 13th Andrei Zavyalov (caretaker) 5 September 2016 Avanhard Kramatorsk Yakiv Kripak Resigned 9 September 2016 15th Oleksandr Kosevych 9 September 2016 PFC Sumy Yuriy Yaroshenko Sacked 16 September 2016 14th Pavlo Kikot 16 September 2016 FC Ternopil Ivan Marushchak Sacked 16 September 2016 18th Vasyl Matviykiv (caretaker) 16 September 2016 FC Poltava Andrei Zavyalov (caretaker) End of interim spell 21 September 2016 11th Yuriy Yaroshenko 21 September 2016 Cherkaskyi Dnipro Ihor Stolovytskyi Sacked 23 September 2016 6th Oleksandr Kyrylyuk 23 September 2016 Obolon-Brovar Kyiv Sergei Soldatov Resigned 24 October 2016 10th Oleh Mazurenko 24 October 2016Cherkaskyi Dnipro Oleksandr Kyrylyuk Sacked 10 November 2016 7th Vitaliy Kobzar (caretaker) 10 November 2016 Vitaliy Kobzar (caretaker) End of interim duty 26 November 2016 7th Vadym Yevtushenko 26 November 2016 Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni Ihor Zhabchenko End of contract 20 December 2016 15th Serhiy Puchkov 21 December 2016 Bukovyna Chernivtsi Serhiy Shyshchenko Resigns 28 December 2016 14th Oleh Ratiy 5 February 2017Ratiy will become a head coach of Bukovyna (Ратий станет главным тренером Буковины). Sport Arena. 5 February 2017Bukovyna will play an exhibition game under the leadership of ex-coach of the national team («Буковина» під керівництвом екс-тренера збірної зіграє контрольний матч). Sportive Bukovyna. 12 February 2017 FC Skala Stryi Vasyl Malyk Contract terminated 27 January 2017 17th Roman Hnativ 27 January 2017PFC Sumy Pavlo Kikot end of interim duty 25 January 2017 16th Volodymyr Lyutyi 25 January 2017 Volodymyr Lyutyi Resigns 4 March 2017Bezsmertnyi: PFC Sumy does not have time on preparation (Безсмертний: у ПФК Суми немає часу на розкачку). Professional Football League of Ukraine. 4 March 2017 16th Anatoliy Bezsmertnyi 4 March 2017 Veres Rivne Volodymyr Mazyar Family circumstancesbreach of contract (fired) 25 April 2017Вирт будет готовить "Верес" к ближайшим матчам, Мазяр ушел в отпуск16 June 2017Veres dismissed Mazyar because of breaching contract conditions (Верес уволил Мазяра из-за нарушения условий контракта). UA-Football. 16 June 2017 3rd Yuriy Virt (caretaker) 25 April 2017 FC Ternopil Vasyl Matviykiv (caretaker) Interim 1 May 2017 18th Petr Badlo 1 May 2017 FC Poltava Yuriy Yaroshenko Sacked 5 May 2017 11th Volodymyr Prokopynenko 5 May 2017
League table
Results
Position by round
Relegation play-off
The draw for relegation play-off scheduling was held on 3 June 2017.
First leg
Second leg
PFC Sumy wins 3–1 on aggregate and remains in First League. FC Balkany Zorya loses but later was promoted to the 2017–18 Ukrainian First League, due to sanctions against FC Dnipro.
Top goalscorers The season top goalscorers were: RankScorerTeamGoals(Pen.)1 Ruslan StepanyukVeres Rivne24 (5)2 Ruslan KisilIllichivets Mariupol17 (1)3 Oleksandr BondarenkoKolos Kovalivka134 Illya KovalenkoObolon-Brovar Kyiv / Desna12 (2) Viktor BerkoMFC Mykolaiv12 (4)6 Oleksandr FilippovDesna Chernihiv 11 (1)7 Levan ArveladzeNaftovyk-Ukrnafta / Desna10 (5) Oleksandr PozdeyevKolos Kovalivka10 (8)9 Ruslan FominIllichivets Mariupol9 Aderinsola Habib EseolaArsenal Kyiv 9 (1)
Awards Round awards
RoundPlayerCoachPlayerClubReferenceCoachClubReferenceRound 21 Oleksandr YarovenkoPFC Sumy Oleksandr RyabokonDesna ChernihivRound 22 Vyacheslav RyabovKolos Kovalivka Serhiy PuchkovHirnyk-Sport Horishni PlavniRound 23 Denys KozhanovIllichivets Mariupol Oleksandr Ryabokon (2)Desna ChernihivRound 24 Ruslan StepanyukVeres Rivne Ruslan KostyshynKolos KovalivkaRound 25 Vasyl ProdanObolon-Brovar Kyiv Oleksandr Ryabokon (3)Desna ChernihivRound 26 Viktor BerkoMFC Mykolaiv Vadym YevtushenkoCherkaskyi DniproRound 27 Oleksiy MoyseyenkoHirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni Oleksandr SevidovIllichivets MariupolRound 28 Levan ArveladzeDesna Chernihiv Volodymyr KnyshNaftovyk-Ukrnafta OkhtyrkaRound 29 Serhiy KravchenkoHelios Kharkiv Oleksandr Ryabokon (4)Desna ChernihivRound 30 Andriy ShevchukHirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni Oleksandr KosevychAvanhard KramatorskRound 31 Oleksandr BondarenkoKolos Kovalivka Ruslan Kostyshyn (2)Kolos KovalivkaRound 32 Denys KozhanovIllichivets Mariupol Volodymyr Knysh (2)Naftovyk-Ukrnafta OkhtyrkaRound 33 Ihor PoruchynskyiSkala Stryi Anatoliy BezsmertnyiPFC SumyRound 34 Artem StarhorodskyiArsenal-Kyiv Serhiy SyzykhinHelios Kharkiv
Season awards The laureates of the 2016–17 season were: Best player: Ruslan Stepanyuk (Veres Rivne) Best coach: Oleksandr Ryabokon (Desna Chernihiv) Best goalscorer: Ruslan Stepanyuk (Veres Rivne)
See also 2016–17 Ukrainian Premier League 2016–17 Ukrainian Second League 2016–17 Ukrainian Cup
References