A chance for a 14th trophy or a sensation in Lviv: preview of the Ukrainian Cup final
Kyiv • UNN
On May 20, Dynamo and Chernihiv will compete for the Ukrainian Cup in Lviv. The winner will receive the updated trophy and the right to play in the Europa League qualifiers.
On Wednesday, May 20, the winner of the Ukrainian Cup trophy will be determined as Kyiv's Dynamo and FC Chernihiv face off in the final at Arena Lviv. Dynamo has a chance to win its 14th trophy and break into the Europa League qualifiers, while Chernihiv will attempt to create a sensation in Lviv. UNN reports on where to watch the match, who the bookmakers' favorite is, and what you should know before the game.
The Match
The match will start at 18:00 at Arena Lviv. Chernihiv will be the nominal hosts of the field in this game.
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On May 16, the UAF Referees Committee appointed the officiating crew for the Ukrainian Cup final match.
The match referee is Oleksandr Shandor from Lviv. In the current season, this referee has already officiated four matches involving Dynamo - against Luhansk's Zorya (1:1, UPL Round 9), Oleksandriya (5:0, UPL Round 21), Kryvbas (6:5, UPL Round 25), and Inhulets (2:0, Ukrainian Cup Quarter-finals).
The assistant referees will be Viktor Nyzhnyk and Stanislav Marulin. The fourth official is Oleksandr Afanasyev.
The VAR video assistant referee system will also be operational at the upcoming match, led by Volodymyr Novokhatniy.
Oleksandr Shandor - head referee of the match
Path to the Final
Chernihiv began its path to the final from the 1/32 stage, where they first defeated Kyiv's Atlet, and in the 1/16 stage, they passed Kryvbas. Interestingly, the match against Kryvbas ended 1:1 in regulation time, and the Chernihiv team lost in the penalty shootout. However, the UAF Control and Disciplinary Committee awarded Kryvbas a technical defeat because, after a double substitution, there were three Ukrainians and eight foreign players on the pitch, which is not allowed under UAF regulations.
In the 1/8 stage, Chernihiv beat Lisne after a penalty shootout, in the quarter-finals they also passed Phoenix-Mariupol on penalties, and in the semi-finals, they knocked out Metalist 1925, also in a penalty shootout.
Meanwhile, Dynamo started its Cup campaign in the 1/16 stage, where they beat Oleksandriya (2:1), passed Shakhtar in the 1/8 (2:1), defeated Inhulets in the quarter-finals (2:0), and crushed Bukovyna 3:0 in the semi-finals.
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Where to watch the match, the favorite
The match will be broadcast by the UPL.TV channel, which can be found on the Kyivstar TV and Megogo platforms.
Bookmakers predict a confident victory for Dynamo, with odds of 1.1 for their win. The odds for a Chernihiv victory are 26. A draw in regulation time is at 8.5. The odds for Chernihiv to win the trophy are 13, while for Dynamo, it is 1.02.
On the eve of the match
Before the final match, Kyiv's Dynamo played a domestic championship match against SC Poltava. The Kyiv side confidently defeated the Poltava team 2:0. The goals were scored by Andriy Yarmolenko, who scored his 123rd goal in the UPL, equaling Serhiy Rebrov's record, and Eduardo Guerrero also found the net.
FC Chernihiv currently holds 13th place in the First League, but has 4 matches in hand. Chernihiv was supposed to play its match on May 15 against Zaporizhzhia's Metalurh, but the match was initially delayed for three hours due to an air raid alert in the region. The teams managed to play only the first half, and the start of the second was delayed again due to an alert. Ultimately, it was decided to postpone the match, the date of which will be announced later.
It should be noted that only 5 teams, including Dynamo, have won the Ukrainian Cup. Besides Dynamo, these are Shakhtar, which has won 15 trophies (a tournament record), Chornomorets, which won twice (in 1992 and 1994), and Tavriya (2010) and Vorskla (2009), which won once each.
Dynamo has 13 trophies. The last time the Kyiv side played in the Cup final was last year, where they lost to Donetsk's Shakhtar in a penalty shootout. The winner of the Ukrainian Cup will earn the right to play in the first qualifying round of the Europa League.
The draw for the 1st qualifying round of the Europa League will take place on June 16, with matches scheduled for July 9 and 16.
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New tournament, new trophy
In July last year, the Ukrainian Association of Football presented a new format for the Ukrainian Cup.
In addition to the new format, an updated Ukrainian Cup trophy was presented, designed with a Cossack theme, featuring the slogan "Honor to oneself – glory to Ukraine."
On May 11, the main Ukrainian Cup trophy visited Chernihiv. On May 17, the new Cup was presented in Lviv.
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