Serhiy Diryavka: "The current Polesie is a team of the UPL level, and the top one".

One of the best centre-backs in Ukraine from the 1990s, the former Ukrainian national team and Dnipro player Serhiy Diryavka told us what he thinks about the potential of Zhytomyr Poles'kyi, which won the first league in the season 2022/23, and before that made it to the Premier League ahead of schedule.

- "Polesie is really the best team in the first league. They may not have been head and shoulders above the other teams in terms of play, but in terms of the squad, in terms of conditions, they stand far above them. I think that the team will not lose in the Premier League, even there they will qualify for the top places. Because Poles'e have a very ambitious man in the leadership of the club (Poles'e president Gennadiy Butkevich - editor's note).

They have invested a lot of money in the club's infrastructure: the country base, the academy. "Polesie is a long-term project. I like it when people take a long-term approach to football. That's why high goals are set for the team. Today, I think it is a team of the UPL level, and, moreover, of the top level," Diryavka said.