Ukrainian Premier League traditionally conducted a survey of clubs to determine the best in the completed season. The best referee of the Ukrainian championship season-2023/24 was Mykola Balakin from Kyiv region.
The second was Oleksandr Shandor from Lviv, and Oleksiy Derevinsky from Khmelnytskyi closed the top three.
In total, Mykola Balakin refereed 88 matches in UPL. The debut game was held on July 18, 2015. In December 2016, he became a FIFA referee.
Balakin was also included in the list of judges who will work at Euro-2024. In May, the Ukrainian served the return match of the 1/2 finals of the Europa League between Italian Atalanta and French Marseille.