The 2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League season was the eighteenth since its establishment. The league was restructured and split off from the Professional Football League of Ukraine. It was officially named as the EpiCentre Championship of Ukraine in football.
Shakhtar Donetsk were the defending champions of the past season, having won their fourth league title. The season began on 16 July 2008 with a scoreless draw between Tavriya Simferopol and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. The last round of matches were played on 26 May 2009. A total of 16 teams participated in the league, 14 of which had contested in the 2007–08 season, and two of which were promoted from the Persha Liha.
Vorskla Poltava's Ahmed Januzi scored the first goal of the tournament on 18 July 2008 in the 72nd minute of an away match against FC Kharkiv. Dynamo Kyiv won their title several games before the end of the season after a home win against Tavriya Simferopol. Dynamo finished with a 15-point lead over the defending champions and current runners-up Shakhtar Donetsk.
Teams Promoted FC Illichivets Mariupol, champion of the 2007–08 Ukrainian First League – (returning after absence of a season) FC Lviv, runner-up of the 2007–08 Ukrainian First League – (debut)
Location map
Managers and captains ClubCoachCaptainReplaced coachArsenal Kyiv Oleksandr Zavarov Vitaliy Reva Chornomorets Odesa Viktor Hryshko Vitaliy Rudenko Vitaly Shevchenko Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Volodymyr Bezsonov Andriy Rusol Oleh Protasov Dynamo Kyiv Yury Syomin Badr El KaddouriIllichivets Mariupol Illya Blyznyuk Ihor Shukhovtsev Oleksandr Ishchenko Karpaty Lviv Oleg Kononov Serhiy Pshenychnykh FC Kharkiv Mykhailo Stelmakh Vitaliy Komarnytskyi Volodymyr Bezsonov Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih Oleh Taran Dorian Bylykbashi FC Lviv Serhiy Kovalets Maryan Marushchak Stepan Yurchyshyn Metalist Kharkiv Myron Markevych Oleksandr Horyainov Metalurh Donetsk Nikolay Kostov Vyacheslav Checher Metalurh Zaporizhzhia Oleh Lutkov Oleksiy Hodin Anatoliy ChantsevShakhtar Donetsk Mircea Lucescu Darijo Srna Tavriya Simferopol Serhiy Puchkov Oleksandr Kovpak Mykhaylo Fomenko Vorskla Poltava Mykola Pavlov Hennadiy Medvedyev Zorya Luhansk Yuriy Dudnyk Oleksiy Khramtsov Anatoliy Volobuyev
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing head coachManner of departureDate of vacancyTableIncoming head coachDate of appointmentTableDnipro Oleh ProtasovResigned29 August 2008Бессонов заменил Протасова. football.ua. 29 August 20086th Volodymyr Bezsonov (acting)29 August 20086thDnipro Oleksandr IshchenkoSacked5 September 2008Александр Ищенко - причины увольнения. terrikon.com. 5 September 200816th Illya Blyznyuk (acting)5 September 200816thChornomorets Vitaly ShevchenkoResigned4 November 2008Головний тренер одеського "Чорноморця" подав у відставку. gazeta.ua. 3 November 20089th Viktor Hryshko (acting)4 November 2008Гришко вместо Шевченко. UEFA. 4 November 20089th
Qualification to European competitions for 2009–10 After the 23rd Round, Dynamo Kyiv qualified for European football for the 2009–10 season. After the 26th Round, Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for European football for the 2009–10 season, while Dynamo Kyiv – for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League with an away 1–0 win over Zorya Luhansk. After the 27th Round, Metalist Kharkiv qualified for European football for the 2009–10 season, while Dynamo Kyiv won the League's title with 3–2 home win over Tavriya Simferopol. After the 28th Round, Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League with an away 3–0 win over Zorya Luhansk. After the 30th Round, Metalurh Donetsk qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League with the 0–0 home draw against Arsenal Kyiv. After beating Shakhtar Donetsk in the final of the 2008–09 Ukrainian Cup (1–0), Vorskla qualified for the Europa League play-off round, which qualified Metalist for the Europa League third qualification round and Metalurh for the second qualification round
Timeline of qualification
League table
Results
Round by round The following table is a historic representation of the team's position in the standings after the completion of each round.
Top scorers
#ScorerGoals (Pen.)Team1 Oleksandr Kovpak17 (6)Tavriya Simferopol2 Ismaël Bangoura13 (1)Dynamo Kyiv Oleksandr Aliyev13 (3) Dynamo Kyiv4 Jajá11 (1)Metalist Kharkiv5 Serhiy Kuznetsov10Karpaty Lviv Parid Xhihani10Zorya Luhansk Artem Milevskyi10 (1)Dynamo Kyiv8 Tiberiu Ghioane9 Dynamo Kyiv9 Oleksandr Kosyrin8Chornomorets Odesa Marko Dević8 (2)Metalist Kharkiv Ricardo Fernandes8 (6)Metalurh Donetsk
Season awards The laureates of the 2008–09 UPL season were:Клуби ПЛ визначили лауреатів сезону
Best player: Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk) Best coach: Mircea Lucescu (Shakhtar Donetsk) Best arbiter: Andriy Shandor (Lviv) Best goalscorer: Oleksandr Kovpak (Tavriya Simferopol) Fair play prize: Dynamo Kyiv
Stadiums FC Kharkiv played in Sumy, because Dynamo Stadium in Kharkiv which was recently bought by the club requires major renovations. The club returned to their home ground in April for their 24th Round game against Tavriya. Arsenal Kyiv, who also has a chronic problem with obtaining its own home ground, shared three stadiums in the first half of the season. Initially allowed to play at Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, Arsenal was forced to seek another home venue during its times financial hardship. Arsenal was spotted by Obolon Kyiv that let the club utilize the Obolon Stadium. As the problem continues to be unresolved with Arsenal's home field, they could possibly relocate from Kyiv, with some speculations of moving to Sumy Oblast.
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk has moved this season to the newly built Dnipro Stadium, but still played some of its games at Stadium Meteor on occasion. Also Shakhtar Donetsk plans to move to the newly built Donbass Arena once it is completely built. FC Chornomorets Odesa, due to renovations at Chornomorets Stadium played its games in the second half of the season at Spartak Stadium.
Newly promoted FC Lviv decided to use Ukraina Stadium expecting to attract extra fans in Lviv. However, economic factors as well as poor performances and lack of support in the area the club decided after the winter break to return to their original home ground Kniazha Arena in Dobromyl. After one home game in atrocious conditions in early spring which damaged the pitch the club was forced to look to other venues (including Avanhard Stadium in Lutsk and Bannikov Stadium in Kyiv).Тепер у Луцьку! (Now in Lutsk) Late in April FC Lviv returned for home fixtures at Kniazha Arena.
List of home stadiums Rank Stadium Capacity Club Notes 1 Dnipro Stadium 31,003 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Moved from Stadium Meteor (12 games)[September 14, 2008] 2 Metalurh Stadium 29,783 Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih 3 Ukraina Stadium 28,051 Karpaty Lviv Stadium under renovations 4 RSK Olimpiyskiy 25,831 Shakhtar Donetsk 5 Vorskla Stadium 25,000 Vorskla Poltava 6 OSK Metalist 22,757 Metalist Kharkiv Stadium under renovations 7 Avanhard Stadium 22,320 Zorya Luhansk 8 Lokomotiv Stadium 19,978 Tavriya Simferopol 9 Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium 16,873 Dynamo KyivArsenal Kyiv Temporarily leased to FC Arsenal 10 Illichivets Stadium 12,680 Illichivets Mariupol 11 Slavutych Arena 11,983 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia 12 Dynamo Stadium (Kharkiv)FPL: Game Report – Venue Dynamo Stadium used as home ground by FC Kharkiv 9,000 FC Kharkiv FC Kharkiv played only its last four games (all lost)At Dynamo, Kharkiv played against Tavria, Lviv, Metalurh Donetsk and Metalist. 13 Metalurh Stadium 5,300 Metalurh Donetsk 14 Spartak StadiumFPL: Game Report – Venue Spartak Stadium used as home ground 5,000 Chornomorets Odesa Chornomorets' secondary home ground. 15 Kniazha Arena 3,220 FC Lviv FC Lviv's home ground in Dobromyl
Auxiliary or former home stadiums Rank Stadium Capacity Club Notes 1 Chornomorets Stadium 34,362 Chornomorets Odesa Home ground for the first half (9 games)Renovations in preparation for UEFA Euro 2012 since the start of 2009 2 Yuvileiny Stadium (Sumy) 29,300 FC Kharkiv FC Kharkiv lease until April 2009 (11 games) 3 Ukraina Stadium 28,051 FC Lviv Lent to FC Lviv in the first half. 4 Stadium Meteor 24,381 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Played only first three games 5 Avanhard StadiumFPL: Game Report – Venue Avanhard Stadium (Lutsk) used as home ground 11,574 FC Lviv Lent to FC Lviv for a single game 6 Dynamo Stadium (Kharkiv) 9,000 Metalist Kharkiv Played the last game of season against Kryvbas 7 Obolon StadiumFPL: Game Report – Venue Obolon Stadium used as home ground 4,300 Arsenal Kyiv Lent to Arsenal Kyiv by Obolon Kyiv 8 Bannikov Stadium 1,678 Arsenal Kyiv,FPL: Game Report – Venue Bannikov Stadion used as home ground by Arsenal FC LvivFPL: Game Report – Venue Bannikov Stadion used as home ground by FC Lviv Lent to Arsenal Kyiv and FC Lviv by FFU 9 Dynamo Club StadiumFPL: Game Report – Venue Dynamo Club Stadion used as home ground 750 Arsenal Kyiv Lent to Arsenal Kyiv by Dynamo Kyiv
See also Ukrainian Premier League reserves 2008-09 Ukrainian First League 2008-09 Ukrainian Second League 2008-09 Ukrainian Cup 2008–09 UEFA Cup 2008-09
References
External links Ukrainian Football Premier League official page soccerway.com