Commenting on the early promotion of Zhytomyr's Polissia and Kyiv's Obolon to the Ukrainian Premier League, renowned coach and expert Oleh Fedorchuk assessed the prospects of these clubs in the elite division.
"As for the prospects of Polissia, and I have watched the team, it is fully consistent with the level of a strong mid-table Premier League side. Both in terms of composition and budget.
And the president of Polissia, Gennadiy Butkevych, is a very serious man. As far as I know, he used to play football himself.
"Polissia need to strengthen a few positions, especially the defence, buy the right players, and they will definitely not be relegated from the Premier League. Moreover, they may even be able to cling to the European Cup zone.
Obolon's situation is more complicated. This season, they have not always shown a quality game, often taking the necessary points due to their chemistry. However, the individual qualities of many players are lame, and they need to have better players in the team to play in the Premier League with dignity.
The team has character, you can't take that away. In matches with strong opponents, Obolon played even more interestingly than with weaker ones. However, in order to stay in the elite of Ukrainian football, Obolon's coach needs to strengthen the squad. He needs to buy or rent 5-6 high-level players. With the current squad, Obolon runs the risk of entering the UPL and leaving immediately. In short, the Brewers need to work very hard on the transfer market before the start of the Premier League championship," Fedorchuk said.