2001–02 Vyshcha Liha

The 2001–02 Vyshcha Liha season was the 11th since its establishment. FC Dynamo Kyiv were the defending champions.

Teams

Promotions

• Zakarpattia Uzhhorod, the runners-up of the 2000–01 Ukrainian First League – (debut)
• Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya, the third placed of the 2000–01 Ukrainian First League – (debut)

Note: the 2000–01 Ukrainian First League was won by the second team of Dynamo Kyiv, FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv, which could not be promoted.

Renamed

• FC CSKA Kyiv owned by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was sold to the Kiev city authorities headed by Oleksandr Omelchenko. The club was reorganized and renamed as FC Arsenal Kyiv to commemorate SC Arsenal that existed before 1960s.

Location

Dnipro

Dynamo
Arsenal

Metalurh M.

Kryvbas

Karpaty

Metalist

Metalurh Z.

Polihraftekhnika

Shakhtar
Metalurh D.

Tavriya

Vorskla

Zakarpattia

Locations of teams home grounds in Ukrainian Premier League 1996-97

Final standings

Source: Football Federation of Ukraine
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head goals scored away; 4th overall wins; 5th goal difference; 6th goals scored ^[1]
1Metalurh Zaporizhia obtained the uncontested European competitions berth (both Shakhtar and Dynamo were participants of the 2002 Ukrainian Cup Final) after it was awarded the 4th place on the decision the Executive Committee of Football Federation of Ukraine.^[2][3] According to the Metalist head coach Mykhailo Fomenko, the club's leadership did not contested the decision as it was afraid for obligation to invest more funds in the club, plus the home stadium had to be reconstructed.^[4]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

European qualifications case

Due to the fact that both finalists of the 2002 Ukrainian Cup Final Dynamo and Shakhtar qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the fourth European competition berth was to be awarded to the best fourth placed team in the league competition. The fourth place with 40 points earned was Metalist Kharkiv, however there were two more teams with the same amount of points Metalurh Zaporizhia and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. According to the 2001-02 season regulations the first tie breaker in case of even points were the head-to-head points among the teams that tied. Therefore originally Metalist Kharkiv was the main contender to qualify for the European competitions. However, the administration of FC Metalurh Zaporizhia argued the fact that their team head better head-to-head record with both Metalist Kharkiv (2 1-0-1 2-2 with an away goal) and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (2 1-0-1 2-1). On 16 June 2002 the FFU Executive Committee came up with its final decision awarding Metalurh Zaporizhia with qualification to European competitions.

Top goalscorers

Serhiy Shyschenko	Metalurh Donetsk	12 (2)
Vitaliy Pushkutsa	Metalist Kharkiv	11 (1)
Olexandr Melashchenko	Dynamo Kyiv	9
Andriy Vorobei	Shakhtar Donetsk	9
Valentin Belkevich	Dynamo Kyiv	9(1)
Florin Cernat	Dynamo Kyiv	9 (1)
Vasyl Gigiadze	Tavriya Simferopol	9 (7)
Igor Prodan	Zakarpattia Uzhhorod	8
Serhiy Chuychenko	Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya	8(3)
Hennady Zubov	Shakhtar Donetsk	8 (4)

Managers

Club	Coach	Replaced coach	Home stadium
FC Shakhtar Donetsk	Nevio Scala	Viktor Prokopenko	Shakhtar Stadium
FC Dynamo Kyiv	Oleksiy Mykhailychenko	Valery Lobanovsky	Dynamo Stadium
FC Metalurh Donetsk	Semen Altman		Metalurh Stadium
FC Metalurh Zaporizhia	Oleh Taran	Volodymyr Atamanyuk	Metalurh Stadium AvtoZAZ Stadium
FC Metalist Kharkiv	Mykhailo Fomenko		Metalist Stadium
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Yevhen Kucherevsky	Mykola Fedorenko	Meteor Stadium
SC Tavriya Simferopol	Anatoliy Zayayev	Valeriy Petrov	Lokomotyv Stadium
FC Karpaty Lviv	Lev Brovarskyi	Myron Markevych	Ukraina Stadium
FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	Ihor Nadein	Hennadiy Lytovchenko	Metalurh Stadium
FC Metalurh Mariupol	Mykola Pavlov		Illichivets Stadium
FC Vorskla Poltava	Andriy Bal		Vorskla Stadium
FC Arsenal Kyiv	Oleh Kuznetsov	(co-coach Volodymyr Bezsonov)	CKS ZSU Stadium
FC Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya	Roman Pokora		Nika Stadium
FC Zakarpattia Uzhhorod	Yuriy Kalitvintsev		Avanhard Stadium

Relegation Playoff

Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya v Polissia Zhytomyr

June 16, 2002

Polihraftekhnika Oleksandriya	1 – 0	Polissia Zhytomyr
Babych  45+2' Martynenko  30', 78'	Report

CSK ZSU Stadium, Kiev Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Shebek (Kiev)

See also

• 2001–02 Ukrainian First League
• 2001–02 Ukrainian Second League
• 2001–02 Ukrainian Cup

References

1. ↑ Regulation of the All-Ukrainian competitions in football among professional teams in 2001/02
2. ↑ Committee on communication with public and media of FFU (18 June 2002). Рішення виконавчого комітету Федерації футболу України [Decision of the Executive Committee of Football Federation of Ukraine] (in Ukrainian). Football Federation of Ukraine. Retrieved 26 August 2013. 
3. ↑ Committee on communication with public and media of FFU (17 June 2002). Офіційний прес-реліз Федерації футболу України [Official press release of the Football Federation of Ukraine] (in Ukrainian). Football Federation of Ukraine. Retrieved 26 August 2013. 
4. ↑ Verbytsky, I. Mykhailo Fomenko: To head the national football team I could have already at the end of 1990s. I refused as I thought that it is not time yet. UA-Football. 17 December 2015

External links

• ukrsoccerhistory.com - source of information
• Decision of the Executive Committee of Football Federation of Ukraine
• Official press release of the Football Federation of Ukraine