Ukraine - Premier League

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Kane strikes as Bayern defeat struggling Man United

12 hours ago

Harry Kane scored from the penalty spot as Bayern Munich piled more misery on struggling Manchester United with a 4-3 home win in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Arsenal crush PSV on 'beautiful' Champions League return

12 hours ago

Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal's "beautiful" return to the Champions League as Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard inspired a 4-0 demolition of PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday.

Ronaldo's Man Utd return 'turned out wrong': Solskjaer

19 hours ago

Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted the club's re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo "turned out wrong". Solskjaer was in charge when United brought the five-time Ballon d'Or winner back to Old Trafford in a much-hyped move in August 2021.

Perisic could miss rest of Premier League season with knee injury

20 hours ago

Tottenham forward Ivan Perisic is expected to miss the rest of the Premier League season after suffering a serious knee injury in training. Spurs confirmed on Wednesday that the Croatia international had sustained a "complex anterior cruciate ligament injury"

Brighton relish 'incredible' rise from exile to Europa League

1 day ago

Brighton's "incredible" journey from homeless exiles facing oblivion to their current status as Premier League trendsetters will reach a memorable climax when they host AEK Athens in their first-ever European match on Thursday.

Alvarez saves Man City blushes after Champions League first night scare

1 day ago

Manchester City overcame an early scare to get their Champions League defence off to a solid start on Tuesday but nine-man Celtic endured a rough night in Rotterdam.

Alvarez guides Man City to winning Champions League start after Red Star shock

1 day ago

Julian Alvarez's double saved Manchester City's blushes as the holders began their Champions League defence with a 3-1 win after Red Star Belgrade took a shock lead at the Etihad on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian Premier League kicked off in 1991 when Ukraine became an independent country. It was established as the top football league in that country five years later with the name Professional Football League of Ukraine, but in 2008, the league separated itself from the Ukrainian Football Federation to negotiate sponsorship deals on their own, among other reasons. It is ranked as the 10th best league by UEFA, with 12 teams playing each season year in and year out.

This league works under a promotion-relegation system, like most leagues in Europe. After a 22-game regular season, the top six teams enter a championship playoff, while the other six clubs enter a relegation playoff. The team with the lowest amount of points is relegated, while the two more clubs battle for their spot in the Ukrainian Premier League via a promotion with the second and third-ranked teams in the Ukrainian First Division.

This competition also hands out five spots for European tournaments. The winner and runner up of the tournament enter the UEFA Champions League, while three more spots are available to play in the UEFA Europa League. The third-best team in the league will enter the group stage of that continental competition, while the other two enter the preliminary rounds.

The regular season usually begins in the final days of July, with a winter break taking place between December and the first two weeks in February. The tournament comes to a close in May, once all playoff games have been played.

The 2018-19 season concluded with Shakhtar Donetsk winning their third title in a row and 12th overall. The Miners ended the tournament with an 11-point advantage over Dynamo Kyiv. Both teams entered the UEFA Champions League as previously explained, while Oleksandriya earned a spot in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. Mariupol and Zorya are the Ukrainian teams that made it to the preliminary stages of the UEFA Europa League.

On the other side of the table, Arsenal Kyiv was relegated to the Ukrainian First Division, while two more teams entered a promotion playoff. Karpat Lyiv was able to keep their spot in the Ukrainian top-flight, while Odesa lost their playoff matchup against Kolos Kovalivka.

The 2019-20 season will kick off on July 28, 2019. The regular season is set to end on March 14, 2020. Dates for the playoff matches will be revealed as soon as the teams involved in each playoff are revealed. Dnipro and Kolos Kovalivka are the teams that earned their promotion from the Ukrainian First Division, the first of them as champion, and the latter as winners of their playoff matchup against Odesa. This will be Kolos’ first season in the Ukrainian top-flight.

Did you know? Dynamo Kyiv is the most winning team in Ukraine, with 15 titles to their name. Shakhtar Donetsk has won 12, while Tavriya Simferopol is the only team that has been able to end the dominance established by the aforementioned clubs.