.png) Title sponsor logo[1] | |
| Season | 2016–17 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Shakhtar Donetsk 10th title |
| Champions League | Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv |
| Europa League | Zorya Luhansk |
| Matches | 186 |
| Goals | 437 (2.35 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | 15 –Andriy Yarmolenko(Dynamo) |
| Biggest home win | 6 –Oleksandriya 6–0Volyn(Round 19) Dynamo 6–0Oleksandriya(Round 28) |
| Biggest away win | 4 –Olimpik 0–4Dynamo(Round 9) Olimpik 0–4Shakhtar(Round 25) |
| Highest scoring | 7 –Dynamo 3–4Shakhtar(Round 18) |
| Longest winning run | 10 –Shakhtar(Round 12–21) |
| Longest unbeaten run | 23 –Shakhtar(Round 1–23) |
| Longest winless run | 12 –Karpaty(Round 2–13) Volyn(Round 13–24) |
| Longest losing run | 7 –Volyn(Round 18–24) |
| Highest attendance | 51,732 –Dynamo–Shakhtar(Round 26) |
| Lowest attendance | 0 – three games[a] |
2017–18 → All statistics correct as of 24 April 2017. | |
The2016–17Ukrainian Premier League season was the 26th top-level football club competitions since thefall of the Soviet Union and the ninth since the establishment of theUkrainian Premier League. The league played its first 18 rounds before the winter break (10 December 2016 – 25 February 2017) finishing its first stage of tournament in March. The second stage started on 1 April 2017 and finished on 31 May 2017.
The league's title sponsor for 2016–17 season as for the previous season is abookmaker companyParimatch, the title of which is displayed on the season shield.
With the continuation of the military conflict in the eastern oblasts (regions) ofUkraine since 2014 and the Russian occupation of Crimea (see themap), the league was forced to change its format again and will now be contested by 12 teams after being cut from 14 in the2015–16 season.
Dynamo Kyiv were the two-time defending champions. On 6 May 2017 inKharkiv,Shakhtar Donetsk secured its 10th championship title with a win overZorya Luhansk and four more rounds to play in the season.[3] The 10th title that Shakhtar earned this season would allow the club to place a star on the club's crest to indicate this feat.[3]
On 29 February 2016, theUkrainian Premier League administration announced that there will be changes to the competition format for the 2016–17 season.[4] It was confirmed that the championship would be played in two different phases, the first phase will be using a standard doubleround-robin tournament system and the second phase will be broken into two groups one from 1st to 6th place which will play for the championship and the European spots and the second group made up of teams from 7th place to 12th which will play to avoid relegation. The bottom two teams will be relegated and would be replaced by the champion and the runner-up of the2016–17 Ukrainian First League. The points gained in the first stage are passed on to the second stage.
The new format was to be presented by theFFU Executive Committee.[5] On 29 April 2016, the FFU Executive Committee approved the changes to the new UPL format for 2016–17 season.[6] The fixtures were announced on 7 June 2016.[7] The competition commenced on 21 July whenShakhtar Donetsk hostedZirka Kropyvnytskyi inLviv.[8] The first eighteen rounds will be played before winter break which will begin after 10 December 2016. The competition is to resume 25 February 2017. The first phase will end on 18 March 2017 after which the league will split according to the first phase final standings with the second phase starting on 1 April 2017. The season will be concluded on 31 May 2017.
On 7 March 2017, the official website of Dynamo announced that the draw for the second stage of 2016–17 Ukrainian Premier League on 10 March 2017 at the VIP-lounge ofOlympiyskyi NSC at 12:00 LST.[9] On 10 March 2017 at Olimpiyskyi NSC took place a draw for the second stage of the tournament.[10]
As part of ongoingdecommunization in Ukraine, severalpopulated places in Ukrainechanged their names, therefore the league adopted the same changes and applied them to the respective clubs in parentheses.
The following stadiums are regarded as home grounds:
| Rank | Stadium | Club | Capacity[14] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NSC Olimpiyskiy | Dynamo Kyiv | 70,050 | |
| 2 | OSC Metalist | Shakhtar Donetsk | 40,003 | Used as home ground in round 7 and second half of season |
| 3 | Arena Lviv | Karpaty Lviv | 34,915 | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | Used as home ground during first half of season | |||
| Olimpik Donetsk | Used as home ground in round 19[15][16] | |||
| 4 | Chornomorets Stadium | Chornomorets Odesa | 34,164 | |
| 5 | Dnipro-Arena | Dnipro | 31,003 | |
| 6 | Yuvileiny Stadium | Olimpik Donetsk | 25,830 | Used as home ground during first half of season |
| 7 | Vorskla Stadium | Vorskla Poltava | 24,795 | |
| Olimpik Donetsk | Used as home ground in round 21[17][18][19] | |||
| 8 | Meteor Stadium | Stal Kamianske | 24,381 | Used as home ground during season[20] |
| 9 | Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium | Olimpik Donetsk | 16,873 | Used as home ground in the second half |
| 10 | Zirka Stadium | Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 13,667 | |
| Olimpik Donetsk | Used as home ground in round 3 | |||
| 11 | Avanhard Stadium | Volyn Lutsk | 12,080 | |
| 12 | Slavutych-Arena | Zorya Luhansk | 11,883 | Used as home ground during season |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | Used as home ground in round 17 | |||
| 13 | Tsentralnyi Stadion | Olimpik Donetsk | 10,321 | Used as home ground in round 17 |
| 14 | CSC Nika Stadium | FC Oleksandriya | 7,000 |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shakhtar Donetsk |  Mircea Lucescu | Resigned | 21 May 2016[21][22] | Pre-season |  Paulo Fonseca | 1 June 2016[23] |
| Karpaty Lviv |  Volodymyr Bezubyak[b] | End of contract | 8 May 2016[25] | Valeriy Yaremchenko | 6 June 2016[26][c] | |
| Karpaty Lviv | Valeriy Yaremchenko | Resigned | 17 June 2016[28] | Anatoliy Chantsev (caretaker) | 17 June 2016[28] | |
| Dnipro | Myron Markevych | Resigned | 30 June 2016[29] | Dmytro Mykhaylenko (caretaker) | 30 June 2016[30] | |
| Karpaty Lviv | Anatoliy Chantsev (caretaker) | Resigned (state of health) | 5 July 2016[31] | Serhiy Zaytsev (caretaker) | 5 July 2016[31] | |
| Stal Kamianske |  Erik van der Meer | Resigned (family circumstances) | 10 August 2016[32] | 7th | Joop Gall (caretaker)Joop Gall | 10 August 2016 permanent since 28 August 2016[33] |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | Serhiy Lavrynenko | Mutual consent | 19 August 2016 | 11th |  Dario Drudi (caretaker) | 19 August 2016 |
| Karpaty Lviv | Serhiy Zaytsev (caretaker) | End as caretaker | 7 October 2016[34] | 12th |  Oleg Dulub | 7 October 2016[34] |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | Dario Drudi (caretaker) | Mutual consent | 15 November 2016[35] | 9th | Viktor Dohadailo (caretaker, until end of 2016)Roman Monaryov (caretaker)[d] | 15 November 2016[35] |
| Stal Kamianske | Joop Gall | Mutual consent | 11 January 2017[37] | 9th (winter break) | Leonid Kuchuk[38] | 15 January 2017 |
| Chornomorets Odesa | Oleksandr Babych (caretaker) | Received "PRO" license | 25 February 2017[39] | 7th (winter break) | Oleksandr Babych | 25 February 2017 |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | Roman Monaryov (caretaker) | Signed permanent contract | 11 May 2017[40] | 9th | Roman Monaryov | 11 May 2017[40] |
Notes:
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 22 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 47 | 14 | +33 | 60 | Qualification for theChampionship round |
| 2 | Dynamo Kyiv | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 43 | 23 | +20 | 46 | |
| 3 | Zorya Luhansk | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 34 | 21 | +13 | 40 | |
| 4 | Olimpik Donetsk | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 28 | 30 | −2 | 34 | |
| 5 | FC Oleksandriya | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 37 | 28 | +9 | 33 | |
| 6 | Chornomorets Odesa | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 23 | −6 | 27 | |
| 7 | Vorskla Poltava | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 24 | 28 | −4 | 24 | Qualification for theRelegation round |
| 8 | Stal Kamianske | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 20 | 25 | −5 | 24 | |
| 9 | Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 20 | 33 | −13 | 23 | |
| 10 | Karpaty Lviv[a] | 22 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 21 | 30 | −9 | 13 | |
| 11 | FC Dnipro[b] | 22 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 21 | 30 | −9 | 10 | |
| 12 | Volyn Lutsk | 22 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 13 | 40 | −27 | 10 |
| Home \ Away | CHO | DNI | DYK | KAR | OLK | OLD | STK | SHA | VOL | VOR | ZIR | ZOR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chornomorets Odesa | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Dnipro | 1–1 | — | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2–1 | 1–0 | — | 4–1 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–4 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| Karpaty Lviv | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 2–2 |
| FC Oleksandriya | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 6–0 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 0–1 |
| Olimpik Donetsk | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 0–0[a] | 0–2 | — | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 4–2[b] | 0–2 |
| Stal Kamianske | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 4–1 | 2–3 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| Volyn Lutsk | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Vorskla Poltava | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 |
| Zorya Luhansk | 4–0 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | — |
The following table represents the teams position after each round in the competition played chronologically.
| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Zorya Luhansk | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Olimpik Donetsk | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| FC Oleksandriya | 10 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Chornomorets Odesa | 6 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Vorskla Poltava | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Stal Kamianske | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 7 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| Karpaty Lviv | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
| Dnipro | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 |
| Volyn Lutsk | 11 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shakhtar Donetsk(C) | 32 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 66 | 24 | +42 | 80 | Qualification for theChampions League group stage |
| 2 | Dynamo Kyiv | 32 | 21 | 4 | 7 | 69 | 33 | +36 | 67 | Qualification for theChampions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Zorya Luhansk | 32 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 45 | 31 | +14 | 54 | Qualification for theEuropa League group stage[a] |
| 4 | Olimpik Donetsk | 32 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 33 | 44 | −11 | 44 | Qualification for theEuropa League third qualifying round[a] |
| 5 | FC Oleksandriya | 32 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 41 | 43 | −2 | 40 | |
| 6 | Chornomorets Odesa | 32 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 25 | 37 | −12 | 38 |
| Home \ Away | CHO | DYK | OLK | OLD | SHA | ZOR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chornomorets Odesa | — | 1–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2–1 | — | 6–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| FC Oleksandriya | 1–1 | 1–4 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Olimpik Donetsk | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | — | 0–4 | 1–1 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 3–2 |
| Zorya Luhansk | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | — |
| Team ╲ Round | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Zorya Luhansk | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Olimpik Donetsk | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| FC Oleksandriya | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Chornomorets Odesa | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Vorskla Poltava[a] | 32 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 42 | |
| 8 | Stal Kamianske | 32 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 27 | 31 | −4 | 41 | |
| 9 | Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 32 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 29 | 43 | −14 | 34 | |
| 10 | Karpaty Lviv[b] | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 35 | 41 | −6 | 30 | |
| 11 | FC Dnipro[c](R) | 32 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 31 | 40 | −9 | 13 | Relegation toUkrainian Second League |
| 12 | Volyn Lutsk[d](R) | 32 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 17 | 51 | −34 | 10 | Relegation toUkrainian First League |
| Home \ Away | DNI | KAR | STK | VOL | VOR | ZIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dnipro | — | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–3[a] | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Karpaty Lviv | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Stal Kamianske | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Volyn Lutsk | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Vorskla Poltava | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | — |
| Team ╲ Round | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vorskla Poltava | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Stal Kamianske | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Zirka Kropyvnytskyi | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Karpaty Lviv | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Dnipro | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Volyn Lutsk | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
The season top goalscorers were:[56][57]
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Júnior Moraes | Dynamo Kyiv | Oleksandriya | 5–1 | 23 July 2016[59] |
| Andriy Bohdanov | Olimpik Donetsk | Dnipro | 3–0 | 11 September 2016[60] |
| Júnior Moraes | Dynamo Kyiv | Volyn Lutsk | 4–1 | 26 November 2016[61] |
| Stanislav Kulish(4) | Oleksandriya | Volyn Lutsk | 6–0 | 25 February 2017[62] |
 Kwame Karikari | Stal Kamianske | Oleksandriya | 4–1 | 18 March 2017[63] |
(number)Player scored (number) goals if more than 3
On 16 November 2016, the Premier League administration announced start of voting for the Best player of the month.[64]
| Month | Player of the Month | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Reference | |
| October 2016 | Roman Yaremchuk | FC Oleksandriya | [65] |
| November 2016 | Marlos | Shakhtar Donetsk | [66] |
| March 2017 | Ihor Khudobyak | Karpaty Lviv | [67] |
| April 2017 | Oleksandr Hladkyy | Karpaty Lviv | [68] |
| May 2017 | Marlos | Shakhtar Donetsk | [69] |
On 17 November 2016, the Premier League administration along with Pari-Match introduced another award, "Best player of the round".[70][71] On 1 March 2017, the All-Ukrainian association of Football Coaches introduced award "Best coach of the round".[72]
The laureates of the 2016–17 UPL season were:[107]
Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kyiv)Paulo Fonseca (Shakhtar Donetsk)Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk)Anatoliy Abdula (Kharkiv)Artem Dovbyk (FC Dnipro)Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kyiv)Number of sanctions were implemented by FIFA against some Ukrainian clubs due to their refuse to follow their contractual agreements with players and coaching staff.
In summer of 2016 FIFA imposed sanctions againstFC Volyn Lutsk due to the "Ramon Lopes case" denying Volyn the right to register new players other than out of own academy (sport school). The sanctions were in place until 1 March 2017. On 24 February 2017 it became known that sanctions were extended to the end of season.[108]
Separate and much bigger sanctions were implemented againstFC Dnipro for number of instances among which are cases withDanilo Sousa Campos,Juande Ramos and others (see above). Before the winter break the club had 12 tournament points deducted, while more sanctions are anticipated to be introduced.[109][110]
The FIFA sanctions were also implemented againstFC Karpaty Lviv due to the "Semir Štilić case" (see above).
Previous agreement between Chornomorets and Zorya provided the Luhansk club with the Chornomorets home venue inOdesa for the2016–17 UEFA Europa League. However the Odesa club failed to payback revenue to Zorya from tickets that were sold for the games. Zorya Luhansk took this case to court, while Chornomorets Odesa has paid portion of the debt already.[111]
