In the red – only three clubs
An incredibly difficult, very dramatic and extremely difficult year 2022 is coming to an end. A year marked by a large-scale military invasion by Russia, the courage of Ukrainian soldiers, and the ruined economy of our country. And also – the unfinished football championships of our country in the 2021/2022 season, the controversial performance of Ukrainian clubs in European competitions, the insulting failure of the national team of the country to the World Cup 2022. But the most important – again – thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine – the start and holding, albeit very specific, of a new championship in all three divisions of professional football.
The completed first part of the UPL championship gave the leadership of Dnipro-1, surprised with the low positions of Dynamo and Vorskla, pleased with the cheerful performance of Zorya and a fairly large number of bright matches.
Given the specifics of the tournament, it is very difficult to accurately and clearly assess. It seems that all the teams are equal, but some are more equal: the same Shakhtar received two transfers, and all the 15 rounds planned for the first part of the season were played by only eight teams, half of the division. Some clubs, given the specifics of the European cup season – matches every week – had to travel almost all the time, someone, like Minaj, spent little time on the road. Someone, the same Shakhtar and, to a lesser extent, Dynam, for reasons beyond his control, lost several important players, someone managed to keep the backbone and base and even, like the same Dnepr-1 and Vorskla, strengthen.
The most important criterion for evaluating coaching work is the results and the standings. Equally important is the progress of the team and young players. Another, albeit subjective, is the increase or decrease in the transfer value of both the entire squad and individual players.
According to the authoritative Transfermarkt portal, 13 out of 16 UPL clubs spent the first part of the season with benefit, increasing the total cost of their squad. An important caveat, on which we have repeatedly focused attention: the numbers of the portal are not the ultimate truth. But this is an authoritative resource, which many are guided by and whose assessments they listen to.
Plus, we also went a rather easy way, taking as a basis the total scores for the teams at the start in the Ukrainian championship, without taking into account the transfers made during the season. And also taking as the starting point the data for August 15 – a week before the first round of the UPL championship, although Dynamo, Zorya, Dnipro-1 and Vorskla had already played or played their matches in European competitions by that time.
According to Transfermarkt, from a business point of view, Shakhtar Donetsk was the most efficient in the first part of the season, the total value of whose squad increased by 61.5%, or 44.1 million euros. Yes, this is largely due to the growth in the value of Mikhail Mudrik, who added 25 million euros in 3.5 months: from 15 million in September to 40 million in December. But even the remaining “minus Mudrik” 19 million is an excellent figure.
In second place in terms of efficiency, Dnipro-1, whose total cost of the composition increased by 58.8% or by 11.32 million euros: from 19.28 million euros to 30.6 million. And again, we note the contribution of one player: Artem Dovbik brought 4 million to Dnipro, having increased its transfer fee from 6 to 10 million euros.
Let us note the indicators of Kharkov Metalist 1925, whose composition, with a percentage ratio, increased in price by more than half – by 51.4%: from 4.43 million euros to 6.7 million.
And in general, as mentioned above, 13 clubs have increased their transfer fees. Of these, seven are more than 15%. In addition to the already listed Miner, Dnepr-1 and Metallist 1925, Veres, Alexandria, Metalist and Vorskla succeeded.
Three clubs in the first half of the year “worked” in the red. The total cost of Rukh, Ingulets and Dynamo trains has decreased. Moreover, the blue-and-whites have the most, by 2%: from 106.2 million to 104.5 million. It should be noted that only Viktor Tsygankov at Dynamo lost three million euros in value from May to December.
Source: Sportarena
