Behind us is the 33rd Ukrainian Football Championship — our main tournament. The first championship started in March 1992, with 20 teams participating. They were divided into two groups, the winners of which competed for the title of champion.
Alexander ShovkovskyiThe first gold medals were won by Simferopol’s “Tavriya,” which on June 21, 1992, in Lviv, unexpectedly defeated Kyiv’s “Dynamo” — 1:0. As a result, “Tavriya” entered the history of independent Ukraine’s football as the first champion. The bronze medals were won by “Dnipro,” which beat Donetsk’s “Shakhtar” in Zaporizhzhia — 3:2.
Since then, only “Dynamo” and “Shakhtar” have won the title of national champions. The Kyiv team achieved this 16 times, while the Donetsk team did it 15 times; in one season, the champion was not determined.
Coaches of Champions
Here they are, seven Ukrainian coaches who led “Dynamo” in different years and brought their teams to victory in the national championship: Mykhailo Fomenko (1992/1993), Yozhef Sabo (1993/1994, 1995/1996), Mykola Pavlov (1994/1995), Valeriy Lobanovskyi (1996/1997, 1997/1998, 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001), Oleksiy Mykhailychenko (2002/2003, 2003/2004), Anatoliy Demyanenko (2006/2007), Serhiy Rebrov (2014/2015, 2015/2016).
Dynamo Scorers
The top scorers of the Ukrainian championships in different seasons were: Serhiy Rebrov — 22 goals (1997/1998), Andriy Shevchenko — 18 (1998/1999), Maksym Shatskikh — 20 (1999/2000), 22 (2002/2003), Artem Milevskyi — 17 (2009/2010), Andriy Yarmolenko — 15 (2016/2017), Vladyslav Vanat — 14 (2023/2024).
Named the Best
In different years, the best players of the Ukrainian championship were: Andriy Shevchenko — 6 times, Viktor Leonenko — 3, Artem Milevskyi, Serhiy Rebrov, Andriy Yarmolenko — 2 each, Yuriy Kalytvintsev, Oleg Gusiev, Valentyn Belkevych, Viktor Tsygankov, Vitaliy Buyalsky — 1 each.
The Most Decorated Dynamo Player
The most decorated player not only in “Dynamo” but also in all of Ukrainian football is the former goalkeeper of the “white-and-blues” and currently the head coach of the team, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi. 14 (!) championship titles, 11 (!) Ukrainian Cups, and 6 — Super Cups of the country. A semifinalist of the Champions League 1998/1999, quarter-finalist of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he played 92 matches for the national team and was repeatedly recognized as the best goalkeeper in Ukraine.
Alexander LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua
