Return of Karpaty and Ingulets, debut of Left Bank: preview of the first round of the UPL

The next round of the Ukrainian Premier League season starts today at 15:30 with a match between Veres Rivne and Karpaty Lviv. This season, Ingulets and the renewed Karpaty managed to return to the top division, and the capital's Left Bank will make its debut in the top flight. UNN decided to tell you about the teams' preparations for the new UPL season, transfer signings, bookmakers' forecasts, and where to watch the Premier League matches. 

Veres vs Karpaty

Veres will open the new UPL season with Karpaty, who will play at Avangard in Rivne. The starting whistle will be blown at 15:30. 

Last season, Veres finished 13th in the UPL standings, which allowed the team to play the transition matches for the right to play in the Premier League. The Rivne club defeated Epicenter in the head-to-head matches, which allowed them to retain the right to play in the top division. 

"Veres won 4-2 on aggregate and retained their place in the Premier League, while Epicenter remained in the First League. 

Instead, Karpaty took second place in the First League championship, which allowed the Lions to be promoted. 

It should be noted that before the start of the season, Karpaty head coach Myron Markevych, who had led the Lviv club five times, resigned. Vladyslav Lupashko, who previously coached Ingulets, was appointed as the new coach. 

In the modern history of Karpaty, the teams have met only three times, and those were in friendly games. The teams drew once - 1:1 and defeated Karpaty twice - 3:0 and 2:1. 

"Veres played 8 matches in the preseason, winning twice, drawing once, and losing the rest. "Karpaty played 6 control matches in which they won only once, drew three times and lost twice. 

In the summer, Veres invited a group of newcomers, including the experienced Ruslan Stepaniuk and Roman Honcharenko, as well as goalkeeper Andriy Kozhukhar and central midfielder Georgi Kutsiy. However, the club lost several key players - goalkeeper Yevhen Past, defenders Vasyl Kurko, Julio Cesar, Denys Balan, midfielders Andriy Kukharuk, Yevhen Banada, Oleksandr Kucherenko and forward Mykhailo Shestakov. 

"Karpaty also strengthened their squad before the start of the UPL, signing Oleksandr Kemkin, Volodymyr Adamyuk, Denys Miroshnichenko, Orest Kuzyk, Ricardo Alvarez, Stenio and Maksym Melnychenko, who is the captain of the Ukrainian U-19 national team, a semifinalist in Euro 2024. 

Maksym Melnychenko (player of FC Karpaty, captain of the Ukrainian U-19 national team)

Bookmakers give the same odds for the teams to win. The odds for Veres to win are 2.67, and for Karpaty - 2.82. The odds for a draw are 3.35. 

A match between Karpaty and Veres in a charity game last year

Kryvbas vs Chornomorets

The second match of the first round of the UPL and the final game day will take place in Kryvyi Rih between Kryvbas and Odesa's Chornomorets. Last season, the Kryvyi Rih team was probably a major discovery, as it spent half of the season fighting for top honors. As a result, Yuriy Vernydub's team managed to win bronze medals in the championship, losing only to such giants as Dynamo and Shakhtar. 

"Last season, Chornomorets finished 12th. 

It should be noted that the third place allowed Kryvbas to qualify for the European Cup - on August 8, the Kryvyi Rih club will play against Czech side Viktoria Plzen for the right to play in the Europa League. 

The starting whistle will blow at 18:00.

After Kryvbas was re-established in 2020, formed on the basis of another Kryvyi Rih team, Girnyk, the teams played 5 matches, one of which was in the Ukrainian Cup. 

Kryvbas won three matches, while Chornomorets defeated the Kryvyi Rih club once in the Ukrainian league and once in the cup. 

The rivals met twice in the last championship, and then both matches were won by the red and white: 1-0 at home and 2-1 away.

"Kryvbas played 7 sparring matches this offseason, where they won three times, drew three times and lost once. 

"Chornomorets played one more game at the training camp than Kryvbas, who won three times, drew twice and lost three times.  

It is worth noting that both teams lost their key players before the start of the match. Kryvbas defender Danylo Beskorovainyi joined Zhytomyr's Polissia, while Chornomorets lost left back Maksym Bragara, who joined Dynamo Kyiv. 

Danylo Bezkorovainyi

Maxim Bragaru (right)

In addition to Beskorovainy, Mykyta Tatarkov, Roman Debelko and Viktor Bliznichenko, who returned from a loan to Dynamo, left the Kryvyi Rih camp. 

Instead, Kryvyi Rih managed to sign new players, including Oleksandr Drambayev, Ihor Snurnitsyn, Oleksandr Romanchuk, Bakari Konate, and Mateo Amoroso. 

Odesa managed to sign a number of free agents and take several players on loan, including Bohdan Biloshevskyi, Denys Yanakov, Oleksiy Khoblenko, Danylo Udod, as well as experienced Artur Rudko and Bohdan Butko. 

The bookmakers give Kryvbas a confident victory with odds of 1.38. Chornomorets can be bet on with odds of 9, while the draw is given at 5.1. 

"Kryvbas vs Chornomorets last season 

"LNZ" vs "Left Bank"

The second day of the first round will be opened by a match between Cherkasy's LNZ and Kyiv's L'viv Bereg. It is worth noting that the newcomer to the UPL, Left Bank, managed to make its way to the top flight thanks to relegation of Dnipro-1and a victory in the Cup of Four, which was a ticket to the Premier League. "LNZ finished 7th last season. 

Kyiv defeated Metalist-1925 in a penalty shootout in the semifinals, and defeated Minaj in the final 3-0. 

"LNZ and Left Bank have officially met twice since the days when both teams played in the Second League of Ukraine. Back then, the teams won one victory each. In July of this year, the teams played a friendly match, where LNZ proved to be stronger - 2:1. 

Before the start of the season, LNZ played 7 friendly matches, in which they won 4 times, drew once and lost twice. 

"Left Bank played only 4 games at the training camp, in which they won two, drew and lost to LNZ. 

The match will start at 13:00 at the Cherkasy Arena. Bookmakers favor LNZ, whose victory can be bet on at odds of 1.7. The odds for a draw are 3.9, and 5.5 for LNZ's victory. 

"LNZ vs. Left Bank in a friendly match

Vorskla vs Shakhtar 

The next match will take place in Poltava at 15:30, where the local team Vorskla will host Shakhtar Donetsk. Last season, the teams met twice in the UPL, with the Shakhtar winning 2-1 and 1-0, albeit with a minimal score. Shakhtar also beat Vorskla 2-1 in the Ukrainian Cup final. 

In total, the teams played 67 games in the Ukrainian league and cup, with Shakhtar winning 48 and Vorskla 7. Another 12 matches were drawn. The goal difference is 163:42 in favor of Shakhtar. 

Last season, Shakhtar won the UPL championship, while Vorskla finished 9th. 

Compared to last season, Vorskla's squad has undergone many changes. The top scorer Stepaniuk (7 goals in the last UPL championship) joined Veres, Najib Yakubu, Felipe Rodriguez, Santana, Amilcar Kodjovi ended their relationship with Poltava, and Volodymyr Chesnakov, who spent his entire career at Vorskla, playing 416 matches and scoring 17 goals, hung up his boots.

Vladimir Chesnakov 

Instead, two former Chornomorets representatives (defender Luka Guchek and forward Samson Iede), forwards Demip Škriel (from Montenegro) and Denys Ndukve (Polissya), defender Oleksandr Chornomorets (Kolos) joined Serhiy Dolgansky's team. 

In 5 matches that Vorskla played in the offseason, the team has never lost - 4 wins, one draw. 

This offseason, Shakhtar returned a number of their players from loan and signed several players, including central midfielder Bartol Franjic on loan from German side Wolfsburg, as well as defender Alaa Gram and Kolos goalkeeper Kyrylo Fesyun from Sfaxien. Two legends of the club, Dmytro Chyhrynskyi and Yaroslav Rakytskyi, also left the Pitmen. 

Unlike Vorskla, Shakhtar played control games against more famous opponents. In particular, the Donetsk team played two games against Dinamo Zagreb, in which they drew and lost (2:2 and 0:1).

Shakhtar also lost to English side Ipswich 0:1 and defeated Turkish giants Besiktas and Rizespor twice - 1:0 and 5:0 respectively. 

Bookmakers give the Pitmen a confident victory, which can be bet at odds of 1.34. Bookmakers give Vorskla's victory at 11.5, and a draw at 5.8. 

Shakhtar forward Danylo Sikan scores a goal against Pavlo Isenko

Obolon vs Kolos

The match between Obolon Kyiv and Kolos Kovaliv will take place at 15:30 in Kyiv at the Obolon Arena. Last season, the meetings between the teams ended in a scoreline of zero points. In total, the teams met twice in the UPL. 

The teams also met in the First League, where Kolos has the advantage in victories - four wins, one draw and once Obolon proved to be stronger. 

During the offseason, Kovalevka held a series of sparring matches with Ukrainian clubs, in which they won four times, drew twice and lost once with a minimum score of 1-2 to LNZ. 

As already noted, goalkeeper Kyrylo Fesyun, Roman Honcharenko, Oleksandr Chornomorets, Andriy Bohdanov, Vadym Milko, who joined the youth team's coaching staff, Bohdan Totovytskyi and forward Rangel left the team. 

Fesun in Shakhtar's uniform

However, Kolos has also acquired a number of new players, including forward Maksym Tretyakov from Dnipro-1, midfielder Nika Gagnidze from Dila Gori in Georgia, and experienced Igor Kharatin as a free agent. 

After retaining their UPL registration through the butt matches with Left Bank, Obolon players (ranked 13th in the championship) played 7 matches at the training camp, losing in the first three matches and winning four. 

Obolon's main loss is striker Ihor Krasnopir, who scored 6 goals for Kyiv last season. Krasnopir moved to Rukh, and already managed to score a goal at the Olympic Games in Paris in the match against Morocco. 

Igor Krasnopir 

Central midfielder Yevhen Zaporozhets left for Epicenter, right-back Dmytro Nagiev's contract expired, and experienced goalkeeper Artem Kychak retired. 

Instead, a young striker Denys Tesliuk arrived from Rukh, an experienced defender Vasyl Kurko from Veres, a supporting midfielder Vadym Vitenchuk from Minaj, and an attacking all-rounder Kostyantyn Bychek from Metalist 1925. 

The bookmakers can't identify the stronger team in this pair, so they give the same odds of 2.9 for both teams to win. For a draw - 2.9. 

"Kolos vs. Obolon 

Zorya vs Ingulets 

The final match of the first round will be played in Kyiv at the Dynamo V. Lobanovsky Arena between Luhansk's Zorya and Petrov's Ingulets, which returned to the UPL after a year's break. The match will start at 18:00. 

It should be noted that during the last campaign, Luhansk hosted their rivals at the Left Bank arena, but Kyiv's president Mykola Lavrenko said that the Kyiv team's stadium would be leased only to Shakhtar Donetsk.

In total, Zorya and Ingulets have met 6 times in the UPL, in which Luhansk won 4 times, once a draw was recorded, and once the team from Petrovo proved to be stronger. 

In the offseason, Zorya played 7 matches in which they managed to win twice, draw three times and lose twice. 

Before the start of the season, Zorya loaned two players from Dynamo Kyiv - forward Benito and Oleksiy Gusev. The loan of Dynamo's attacking midfielder Artem Slesar was also extended. Luhansk also re-loaned midfielder Oleksandr Yatsyk and forward Ihor Horbach from Kyiv. 

"Ingulets played only four games at the training camp, winning once, losing twice and drawing. 

Bookmakers favor Zorya, with 1.8 odds on the Luhansk team to win. Ingulets' odds are 4.35, and 3.7 for a draw. 

"Ingulets - Zorya in the 2020/2021 season, when Luhansk beat the opponent 5: 1 

Postponed matches 

The matches between Oleksandriya and Dynamo, as well as between Rukh and Polissya, were postponed due to the call-up of players to the Ukrainian Olympic team. 

All matches will be available to watch on the UPL TV channel. It is available on many providers, OTT platforms, and cable networks (Setanta Sports, sweet.tv, Omega TV, Volya TV, Kyivstar TV, Vodafone TV, etc.