The Ukrainian football championship kicks off on February 21 after a two-month break. In two months, the teams managed to play a lot of friendly matches, some even dropped out of European cups, some teams strengthened with quality players, and some players even came under Russian shelling. UNN tells about the upcoming matches, the mood of the teams approaching them, where to watch the matches, and who are the bookmakers' favorites.
"Kolos" - "Chornomorets"
The first match of the 18th round of the UPL will be held on Friday, February 21, at the Kolos stadium in Kovalivka, Kyiv region, where Odesa's Chornomorets will visit the local team with the same name. The match starts at 15:30.
It should be noted that the Ukrainian Premier League clubs have completed preparations for the second part of the season. Kolos played 9 matches in the offseason, winning two and drawing twice. They lost five other games. The first confrontation with Inhulets was in Ukraine, the other sparring matches were at training camps in Turkey.
Meanwhile, Chornomorets played 7 matches at the training camp, winning 4, drawing once, and losing twice.
Both teams were not active in the transfer market, signing only a few players. In particular, Kolos midfielder Denys Bezborodko left the club and moved to Chornomorets. Another midfielder, Diego Carioca, also left the team and moved to Iranian Chadormalu as a free agent.
At the same time, Chornomorets signed Emil Mustafayev from Polissya and lost Ivan Petryak, whose loan ended, and the winger returned to Shakhtar.
Currently, Chornomorets is in the penultimate place with 12 points, and Kolos has 18 points and is in 11th place, so bookmakers favor Kolos, whose victory can be bet on with odds of 1.89. For the Sailors' victory - 4.55, and for a draw - 3.30. Odesa won against Kolos in the first round - 1:0.
It is worth noting that on January 31, the Russians attacked Odesa, as a result of which the Bristol Hotel in the central part of the city was damaged. Odesa goalkeeper Chidjok Aniahboso was in the hotel at the time of the strike.
"Hello everyone. I just want to tell you that I'm fine. I was in the Bristol Hotel when the rocket hit it. I'm fine now. I'm okay, and I just want to thank everyone who sent me messages, who called me. I want to tell you that I'm doing well, and I hope to join the team in the training camp very soon," said the goalkeeper.
Attack on Odessa: the elite hotel “Bristol” was damaged in the center31.01.25, 20:28 • [views_58982]
"Kryvbas" - "Veres"
The second UPL match will take place this Saturday. The match will be between Kryvbas and Veres at 13:00. It should be noted that the match was supposed to take place in Kryvyi Rih, but on February 17, it was decided to move the match to Rivne, although Kryvbas will still remain the nominal home team.
"The club's agronomists did everything possible to properly prepare the field of the Hirnyk stadium for the match with Veres, but the weather conditions and the average daily temperature in the region, which will reach -10 and below throughout the week, prevent the preparation of the lawn for the game. In this regard, it was decided to hold the match at the reserve stadium. However, due to the fact that our reserve stadium for the 2024/2025 season is the stadium in Kovalivka, where Kolos will play its home match this weekend, it is impossible to hold the 18th round game at this arena. Given that FC Kryvbas was the initiator of canceling the postponement of championship matches, we are doing everything possible to ensure that the game takes place within the established deadlines. Therefore, according to the competition regulations, which stipulate that if it is impossible to hold the match at the reserve stadium, the game can take place at another arena with the consent of all parties. Our club applied for and received consent from the Veres football club and the relevant authorities to hold the match at the Avangard stadium in Rivne," the club's statement reads.
Kryvbas played 7 matches this offseason, winning three, drawing twice, and losing twice. Veres, on the other hand, played one more match, winning only twice, losing four times, and drawing twice.
Kryvbas is in 4th place in the table and is only two points behind Shakhtar, which is in 3rd place and gives the right to participate in European cups. Veres is in 9th place with 19 points. In the first round, Veres lost to Kryvbas at home - 2:0, so bookmakers favor Kryvyi Rih, whose victory can be bet on with odds of 1.9. For Veres' victory - 4.3, and for a draw - 3.3.
"Inhulets" - "Polissya"
The second match of the tour will take place in Zhytomyr at 15:30. The match will be held at the "Central Stadium". Interestingly, this game is nominally a home game for the club from Petrove, as "Inhulets" could not get permission to hold UPL matches at its stadium.
Inhulets played only two matches in the offseason - against Kolos (2:1 win) and Metalist 1925 (1:0 loss). The Wolves played 7 matches, winning 4 times and losing three times.
The club from Petrove lost several of its key players in the offseason, including Volodymyr Vilivald, who returned to Kryvbas, and Volodymyr Bilotserkovets, who moved to Zorya as a free agent.
At the same time, "Polissya" worked seriously in the transfer market, signing several legionnaires, as well as the championship veteran Oleksandr Andriyevskyi, who moved to the "pack" as a free agent from "Dynamo".
However, the main left-back of the team, Artem Smolyakov, left the "wolves" and moved to "Los Angeles" for 2 million euros.
Left back of “Polissya” Artem Smolyakov joins the club from MLS14.02.25, 23:12 • [views_31952]
The Zhytomyr team is currently in 5th place in the table, while Inhulets is in last place with only 9 points. In the first round, the teams drew 1:1. Bookmakers give a confident victory to Polissya with odds of 1.45. You can bet on Inhulets' victory with odds of 7.6, and on a draw - 4.3.
"Rukh" - "LNZ"
The final match of Saturday will take place at 18:00 at Arena Lviv. Lviv's Rukh will host Cherkasy's LNZ. On Tuesday, February 18, Rukh filed a request to postpone the match. The club cited "extremely difficult epidemiological situation" as the reason.
Lviv Rukh asks to postpone UPL match amid SARS outbreak in the region18.02.25, 12:42 • [views_25763]
However, the next day the club announced that they had not received a response from the Ukrainian Football Federation, so they decided to hold the match.
Rukh CEO Ihor Dedyšyn told TaToTake that about 20 team employees, including 12 footballers, had contracted influenza A.
Bookmakers favor LNZ (odds - 1.8), which is not surprising, as Rukh plans to create a certain "mix" of healthy adult players and the best players from the U19 team. The odds for Rukh's victory are 4.05.
"Obolon" - "Vorskla"
The first match of Sunday will take place in the capital, where Poltava's Vorskla will visit local Obolon. The match is scheduled to start at 13:00.
Obolon played 7 matches at the training camp, winning 4 and losing three times. Vorskla played 6 matches, winning only once and drawing once, the rest were losses.
Poltava signed several players this offseason, including defender Illia Krupskyi, who was previously sold to Metalist 1925 for 1 million from Vorskla. Striker Vladyslav Kulach also returned, and defender Navin Malysh was loaned from Dynamo.
Both teams are almost tied in the standings - Vorskla is in 12th place with 16 points, and Obolon is in 14th place with 14 points. In the first round, Vorskla confidently beat the "brewers" - 2:0, but bookmakers give almost equal chances. For Obolon's victory - 2.85, and for Vorskla's victory - 2.69.
"Oleksandriya" - "Zorya"
In the second match of Saturday, Luhansk's Zorya will visit Oleksandriya, Kirovohrad region, to play against the team of the same name. The match is scheduled to start at 15:30.
Oleksandriya played as many as 12 matches in the offseason, winning 5 times, losing 5 times, and drawing twice. Zorya, on the other hand, played exactly half as many matches, winning three times and losing three times.
Before the championship resumed, Oleksandriya strengthened with several players. In particular, Volodymyr Shepelev and Anton Bol came as free agents from Dynamo, as well as French defender Theo Ndika Matam and Albanian striker Tedi Tsara. However, Denys Kostyshyn left the team and joined Drita from Kosovo as a free agent.
In the first round, Oleksandriya defeated Zorya - 2:1, so bookmakers see Oleksandriya as the winner of this pair (odds - 1.8), which is not surprising, as Oleksandriya is already 5 points behind Dynamo, which is in first place, so Ruslan Rotan's team needs only a victory.
"Dynamo" - "Karpaty"
The final match of Sunday will be played in Kyiv - the capital's Dynamo will host Lviv's Karpaty. The match will start at 18:00. Karpaty played 7 friendly matches in the offseason, while Dynamo played 12 matches, two of which were in the Europa League, drawing a hard-fought match with Galatasaray (3:3), and beating RFS - 1:0.
Karpaty significantly strengthened their squad during the break with new players, including 4 players from Rukh who moved to the Lviv team - Ihor Krasnopir and Oleksiy Sych, for whom they paid 1 million euros each, and Illia Kvasnytsia and Oleh Fedor joined on loan. In addition, Argentine legionnaire Patricio Tanda and Tymur Stetskov from Kryvbas joined on loan.
It should be noted that on the eve of the new year, Rukh and Karpaty announced the merger of the clubs.
Starting from the 2025/26 season, Lviv will be represented in the Ukrainian championship only by Karpaty due to the club merger procedure. According to the statement, Rukh will focus on academy work and preparing young footballers to play for Karpaty.
As already mentioned, Kyiv was left by Andriyevskyi and Shepelev, as well as the main goalkeeper Heorhiy Bushchan, who moved to Saudi Al-Shabab. However, Dynamo extended contracts with several of its key players - Kostiantyn Vivcharenko, Nazariy Voloshyn, and Vladyslav Dubinchak.
Dynamo goalkeeper Bushchan moves to Al-Shabab in Arabia29.01.25, 20:05 • [views_27728]
Dynamo is currently leading the championship, so they will strive to continue their winning streak. Karpaty are in sixth place. In the first round, Kyiv, trailing during the match, defeated Karpaty - 3:1. Bookmakers give a confident victory to the "white-blues" - odds - 1.3, and for Karpaty's victory - 8.8.
"Shakhtar" - "Livyi Bereh"
In the final match of the round, Donetsk's Shakhtar and the capital's Livyi Bereh will meet. The capital's team played 5 matches in the offseason, winning 3 and losing twice. Shakhtar, like Dynamo, played twice in European cups - against French Brest (2:0 win) and against German Borussia (3:1 loss).
Shakhtar lost several of its key players before the championship resumed, including Danylo Sikan and Oleksandr Zubkov, who moved to Trabzonspor, and long-time captain Taras Stepanenko moved to Eyüpspor. In addition, Kevin Kelsy moved to Portland for 6 million euros.
Zubkov moves from Shakhtar to Trabzonspor03.02.25, 20:30 • [views_27921]
However, the "miners" acquired defenders Diego Arroyo, Lukas Zagora, and Kauan Elias for 17 million euros, which became one of the most expensive transfers for the "orange-blacks."
Shakhtar is currently in third place, so they will strive to catch up with Oleksandriya and pull away from Kryvbas. In the first round, the "miners" beat the "storks" - 1:0. Bookmakers give an overly convincing advantage to Shakhtar with odds of 1.08, while the odds for Livyi Bereh's victory are as high as 26.
Stepanenko signs contract with Turkish side Euapspor31.01.25, 17:43 • [views_27996]
Matches can be watched on UPL TV, which recently also appeared on the MEGOGO media service.
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