Sport Arena names the best in the First League of the 2023/24 season, round by round, and provides exclusive statistics. For your attention – the best player, wild card, young player, coach and hero of the tour, the best goal, numbers and much more
Game program of the 16th round (video report here)
| Group A | Group B |
| Friday, November 10 | Sunday, November 12 |
| Prykarpattya ‒ Metalist ‒ 1:2 | Dinaz ‒ FSK Mariupol ‒ 1:2 |
| Nyva (Ternopil) – Podolia – 0:0 | FC Chernigov ‒ Victoria – 0:3 |
| Sunday, November 12 | SK Poltava – Gornyak-Sport – 4:1 |
| FC Khust – Niva (Buzovaya) – 0:1 | Ingulets ‒ Kremin – 5:1 |
| Bukovyna – Epicenter – 0:2 | Left Bank ‒ Metallurg – 1:0 |
| Carpathians – Agribusiness – 3:0 |
Already traditional:
- Read soon on our website the symbolic team of the next round
- interview with the hero of the tour, whom Sport Arena determines together with the PFL
And now – our individual nominations:
The Zaporozhye team adequately confronted one of the tournament favorites – early entry into the Champions group was at stake. However, Kogut’s crazy goal, several flurry attacks and constant pressure during the match allowed the Kiev team to minimally win against Metallurg. It was difficult – the visitors created the opportunity for a break at the end of the match in order to level the score. The Left Bank has not lost in five rounds (four wins and one draw over the last month), and has not lost on its home field since August – five wins and one draw in these three months. Thus, Left Bank qualifies early for the promotion round.
- Analysis from the All-Ukrainian Association of Football Coaches – Here.
Several players at once significantly strengthened the game from the bench, and one of them made an important contribution to the victory of his team. We are now talking about Teplyakov from FSK Mariupol, who assisted Terekhov’s winning goal from the corner. Nikita has four effective actions in this championship, and this is the first of them – after coming on as a substitute (in the 71st minute he came on instead of the author of the first goal, Batalsky).
- Sport Arena statistics: 10 league matches, 1 goal.
The regional derby did not foretell defeat until, in the 27th minute, Vivdic opened the scoring with a pass from Shcherbak. There were many events further, but Alexander did not switch off from the game. It was he who started on a subtle penetrating pass from his captain and scored his second and fourth team goal in the match with Gornyak-Sport with a light sweep over the goalkeeper. The guests also created many chances during the match, but after that they were able to score a prestige goal. Vivdich, meanwhile, in competition with such a high-quality and experienced striker as Streltsov, found himself in a new team.
- Sport Arena statistics: 10 matches in the championship, 5 goals, 1 assist.
Crazy back-heel goals from Igor from Carpathians and Kvasov from Ingulets, a cool sweep from Vivdich from Poltava – there was a lot to see in this round, but we have only one winner. We quote the report: “The usual unsuccessful clearance after a corner let Metallurg down. Kogut was on duty on the line of the penalty area, who famously laid down his body and launched the ball right into the goal with his right foot – 1:0. First goal in the championship for Ivan with six assists. I thought for a long time – where has this already happened? Zidane’s goal against Bayer in the 2002 Champions League final, only Zinedine scored with his left hand.”
The goal can be seen on video at 3:04
Read later on our website an interview with the player who scored the winning double in the match with Prykarpattya.
- Sport Arena statistics: 15 matches in the championship, 8 goals, 1 assist.
In the match FC Khust – Niva (Buzovaya) the hosts missed a goal. By the way, what do you think? Was the ball completely behind the line or did defender Prokopchuk manage to clear it in time?
Ivan Kogut (Left Bank) himself is in shock – the best goal of the tour has just flown into the goal of Zaporozhye Metallurg. Photo facebook.com/fclbkyiv
Alexander Batalsky (Mariupol) brought his goal tally in the First League to 75 and took 8th place in the historical list of top scorers in the First League, one goal ahead of Alexander Kosyrin. One more goal – and Batalsky will compare with Matvey Bobal in 7th place in the top ranking of the best scorers in history.
A few more highlights:
- Epicenter (Group A) and Left Bank (Group B) qualified for the championship round
- Metalist won for the first time in 11 rounds – since August
- Left Bank goalkeeper Vitaly Chebotarev brought his shutout streak to 471 minutes – this is the longest period without conceding a goal this season
- at the age of 39 years and 52 days, Sergei Starenky is the oldest participant and goalscorer of the current season of the First League
- The 200th match in the First League was played by Sergey Basov (Metallurg), the 100th by Vasyl Frantsuz (Prykarpattya)
- The 30th goal in the First League was scored by Vasyl Tsyutsyura (Prykarpattya), Yaroslav Galenko (Victoria, 2nd goal in the game), 5th by Simon Galoyan (Kremin), 1st by Vladislav Baboglo (Karpaty, in the 9th )
More interesting things can be found in the digital selection of the PFL, the information partner of which is Sport Arena.
- Tournament table after the 16th round
- Group A
| M | Team | AND | IN | N | P | Mz | MP | +/- | ABOUT | |
| 1 | ‒ | Carpathians (Lviv) | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | thirty | 10 | +20 | 39 |
| 2 | ↑1 | Epicenter (Kamenets-Podolsky) | 16 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 24 | 20 | +4 | 27 |
| 3 | ↑1 | Niva (Buzovaya) | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 16 | +4 | 26 |
| 4 | ↓2 | Agribusiness (Volochisk) | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 13 | +4 | 26 |
| 5 | ‒ | Prykarpattya (Ivano-Frankivsk) | 16 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 24 | 17 | +7 | 22 |
| 6 | ‒ | Bukovina (Chernivtsi) | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 18 | -2 | 21 |
| 7 | ‒ | Podolia (Khmelnitsky) | 16 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 17 |
| 8 | ‒ | Niva (Ternopil) | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | eleven | 15 | -4 | 17 |
| 9 | ‒ | FC Khust | 16 | 3 | 2 | eleven | 13 | 31 | -18 | eleven |
| 10 | ‒ | Metallist (Kharkov) | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 25 | -15 | 10 |
- Group B
| M | Team | AND | IN | N | P | Mz | MP | +/- | ABOUT | |
| 1 | ‒ | Ingulets (Petrovo) | 16 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 12 | +27 | 38 |
| 2 | ‒ | Victoria (Nikolaevka) | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 12 | +7 | thirty |
| 3 | ‒ | Left Bank (Kyiv) | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 34 | eleven | +23 | thirty |
| 4 | ↑1 | FSK Mariupol | 16 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 21 | 14 | +7 | 27 |
| 5 | ↑1 | SK Poltava | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 31 | 24 | +7 | 25 |
| 6 | ↓2 | Metallurg (Zaporozhye) | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 23 | 17 | +6 | 24 |
| 7 | ‒ | Gornyak-Sport (Horishni Plavni) | 16 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 15 | 29 | -14 | 16 |
| 8 | ‒ | Kremen (Kremenchuk) | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 38 | -24 | 14 |
| 9 | ‒ | Dinaz (Vyshgorod) | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 13 | 26 | -13 | 10 |
| 10 | ‒ | FC Chernigov | 16 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 16 | 42 | -26 | 9 |
- Bombers
| Player | Team | Group | Goals | Pen. |
| Khoma Andrey | Prykarpattya (Ivano-Frankivsk) | A | eleven | |
| Kozak Alexander | Ingulets (Petrovo) | B | 8 | |
| Shcherbak Dmitry | SK Poltava | B | 8 | (2) |
| Palagnyuk Vasily | Bukovina (Chernivtsi) | A | 8 | (3) |
| Koltsov Vitaly | Mngulets (Petrovo) | B | 8 | (5) |
| Spivakov Andrey | Left Bank (Kyiv) | B | 8 | (5) |
| Sukhoruchko Daniil | Left Bank (Kyiv) | B | 7 | |
| Igor Neves Alves | Carpathians (Lviv) | A | 7 | (1) |
| Palamar Ruslan | Niva (Buzovaya) | A | 7 | (4) |
| Garden Valery | Metallurg (Zaporozhye) | B | 6 | (3) |
- Assistants
| Player | Team | Group | Passes |
| Zaporozhets Evgeniy | Ingulets (Petrovo) | B | 8 |
| Shmigelsky Bogdan | SK Poltava | B | 8 |
| Kogut Ivan | Left Bank (Kyiv) | B | 6 |
| Kostenko Yan | Carpathians (Lviv) | A | 5 |
| Belotserkovets Vladimir | Metallurg (Zaporozhye) | B | 4 |
| Mount Bogdan | Gornyak-Sport (Horishni Plavni) | B | 4 |
| Dvorovenko Vladislav | Niva (Buzovaya) | A | 4 |
| Savitsky Andrey | Kremen (Kremenchuk) | B | 4 |
| Ulyanov Dmitry | Victoria (Nikolaevka) | B | 4 |
| Tsyutsyura Vasily | Prykarpattya (Ivano-Frankivsk) | A | 4 |
| Shcherbak Dmitry | SK Poltava | B | 4 |
- Goal+ass
| Player | Team | Group | Goal+Pass | Goals | Passes |
| Khoma Andrey | Prykarpattya (Ivano-Frankivsk) | A | 12 | eleven | 1 |
| Shcherbak Dmitry | SK Poltava | B | 12 | 8 | 4 |
| Shmigelsky Bogdan | SK Poltava | B | 12 | 4 | 8 |
| Kozak Alexander | Ingulets (Petrovo) | B | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Palagnyuk Vasily | Bukovina (Chernivtsi) | A | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Spivakov Andrey | Left Bank (Kyiv) | B | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| Kostenko Yan | Carpathians (Lviv) | A | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| Koltsov Vitaly | Ingulets (Petrovo) | B | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Igor Neves Alves | Carpathians (Lviv) | A | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Sukhoruchko Daniil | Left Bank (Kyiv) | B | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Garden Valery | Metallurg (Zaporozhye) | B | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| Kravchuk Daniil | Epicenter (Kamenets-Podolsky) | A | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Sitalo Artem | Ingulets (Petrovo) | B | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Shinkarenko Dmitry | Prykarpattya (Ivano-Frankivsk) | A | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Zaporozhets Evgeniy | Ingulets (Petrovo) | B | 8 | 0 | 8 |
* * *
All calculations by Arthur Valerko, SportArena.com. The material was written by the author in Ukrainian.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
