The Honoured Coach of Ukraine and former coach of Dynamo Kyiv Jozsef Szabo named his version of the symbolic team of the Ukrainian Championship for the 2023/24 season and commented on this choice for each position.
Jožef Sabo's national team of the 2023/24 Ukrainian championship: Riznyk (Shakhtar) - Dibango (Kryvbas), Slyubyk (Rukh), Svatok (Dnipro-1), Konoplya (Shakhtar) - Brazhko (Dynamo) - Kevin (Shakhtar), Sudakov (Shakhtar), Shaparenko (Dynamo), Hutsulyak (Dnipro-1) - Guerrero (Zorya).
Coach: Shovkovskyi.
Goalkeeper.
- Bushchan did not play in all the matches this season, Neshcheret made glaring mistakes, so my choice is Riznyk. I've liked Dima since his Vorskla days, and he hasn't been lost at Shakhtar and has become a worthy replacement for Trubin. The management of the Donetsk club made the right choice by signing Riznyk.
Left-back.
- I don't see anyone else besides Dybango. He is a very fast and tenacious defender who has really become an adornment of our championship. "It will be difficult for Kryvbas to keep him.
Right-back
- Konoplya has been playing at a consistently high level for a long time. He is a versatile player, good in the selection, in insurance, and joins the attacks. There are few players like him in our league.
Central defenders
- I really like Slyubyk, he is a reliable and fast defender. In addition, he is young and will continue to progress. I think he could strengthen Dynamo. Slyubik is definitely stronger than Sirota and can compete with Popov. But he is unlikely to want to join Dynamo. I don't think that today the salary in the Kyiv club is higher than in Rukh.
I would also like to mention Svatko from Dnipro-1. In the first part of the season, he looked confident, even defended against Italy for the national team, and was one of the best in that game.
Supporting midfielder
- Brazhko is a footballer who can do everything: tackle, pass, score, and play with his head. He won't stay at Dynamo for long. As far as I heard, he will be taken away. It will be difficult for Dynamo without Brazhko. The rest of Kyiv's midfielders are not good at tackling.
Central midfielders
- I will put Sudakov and Shaparenko in the centre. Shaparenko has not yet fully recovered from his injury, but you can already see how Dynamo has improved with him. I hope we will see an even stronger Shaparenko in the new season. I like him better than Sudakov. He works better with the ball and sees the pitch better. But he still has a lot to gain.
Left midfielder
- Kryskiv and Stogrin are not good enough for the symbolic team. Kevin from Shakhtar impressed me, even though he didn't play in all the matches. He is a fast and explosive player who can create a moment out of nothing. These are the kind of players who really decorate our championship. I am sure that in a few years Shakhtar will sell him for a lot of money.
Right midfielder
- Let Hutsulyak be on the right. In the first round, he played brilliantly, but in the second round, like the rest of Dnipro-1, he stopped. Hutsulyak is a promising guy with a good shot. I like the way he shifts from right to centre.
Forward.
- I really like Guerrero. He's a great centre forward with a good shift to the left and right. He's got great speed and he's a scorer. Guerrero needs to improve his stability and then he will be a top player.
Vanat and Sikan are weak strikers. I'm not sure they will grow. "With Sikan, Shakhtar have no chance in the Champions League. I'm actually surprised why Dynamo and Shakhtar won't sign Guerrero, because he's stronger than their forwards.
Head coach
- Shovkovskyi, there is nothing to discuss here. He went from assistant to head coach, saw how great specialists work - he took something from them, added something of his own. "Under him, Dynamo started to get results, unlike Lucescu, who physically put the team in jail.
I hope that next season, Dynamo under Sashko's leadership will impose a championship fight on Shakhtar, but a lot will depend on the players they have. Can Shovkovskyi become as strong a coach as Rebrov? I believe in him!
The opening of the season
- Kryvbas surprised me with a plus sign. Vernydub has brought order and discipline to the team. Kryvbas may be inferior to Dnipro-1 in terms of players, but the season was more stable. This is a great merit of Vernydub. He knows what he is doing. I think that in the new season Kryvbas will compete with Shakhtar and Dynamo for the championship if they don't lose their key players.
Disappointment of the season
- "I expected more from Dnipro-1 in terms of play and results, and more from Chornomorets. Maksymov was doing well at first, but then all the foreigners left Dnipro-1 and the team fell apart. Grigorchuk also has a poor selection of players to compete for high places, although he is a good coach and deserves more.
I feel sorry for Kalitvintsev too, because he assembled the Polissia team and was not allowed to finish the work until the end of the championship. Yura, like Maksymov, has a strong character. Such people should work in our championship. I wish them to find worthy teams.
Another disappointment of the season for me personally is the inaccessibility of broadcasts. I have a MEGOGO subscription, but there is no UPL TV there, so I can't watch all the matches. I have called everywhere about this, but the problem has not been solved! The provider says we need to pull some kind of cable. Isn't it possible to transmit the signal over the air?
"The Golden Ball for the best player of the season
- For me, Brazhko is beyond competition. The man can do everything. A top European club will definitely buy him.
Andrii Piskun