The head coach of «Epitsentr» Serhiy Nahornyak spoke about the current format of the First League.
Serhiy Nahornyak. Photo — FC «Epitsentr»— When the war started and we didn’t play football at all for half a year, any format was acceptable. It was necessary to preserve football altogether. Now this format, personally, I do not like. Our club voted against the division into Groups «A» and «B» in the summer (currently in group «A» — 8 teams, in group «B» — 9, — ed. note). We wanted a regular, classic format with 16 or 18 teams. The format of the First League definitely needs to be changed.
— However, the clubs themselves vote on the format. What is their argument?
— Yes, some will say that this means more travel, therefore more expenses, but believe me, if the number of travels increases by three to five, the expenses will rise by roughly a million hryvnias, but that is not that much money.
What do we have now? «Khust» is no longer here, «Mariupol» will most likely also cease to exist, with «Dinas» there are issues... You see, if there were 16-18 teams in the championship, the withdrawal of one or two teams would not have significantly affected it, although I would be sorry that clubs stop existing. However, in light of the current format, there are more problems. If FSK «Mariupol» withdraws — what will we have? It turns out that all teams from Group «A» will gain six points without a fight. Is there an advantage over teams from Group «B»? Of course!
I really hope that starting next season we will see competitions in the First League in the traditional format, without division.
— Also, in my opinion, the break between the first stage, which ended in November, and the second, which will start in April — is... too long, in a word.
— This is just terrible! Training without full-fledged match practice for over four months is a very long pause, I agree. In my opinion, we can safely start from mid-March, around the 20th. As for the format, it's a mess. The championship was supposed to start on one date, then on another, and it began on a third (let's remind — due to force majeure in UPL, when «Dnipro-1» withdrew from the tournament at the very last moment and caused UAF to hold the «four-team tournament», which was not planned, — ed. note).
We need to think and change something. With the current format and the fact that clubs are disappearing, the sporting principle is breaking down. I have already given the example of FSK «Mariupol». The regulations are being honored, everything is correct: they give technical losses to some, and award points to others. There are no questions. Everything is legal, but... There is a need to work on the format, in my opinion.
Viktor Hlukhenskyi
