Secretary General of the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) Ihor Hryshchenko spoke about changes in the club certification procedure for the Ukrainian championship.
"Last year, at a meeting between UAF leadership and UPL and PFL clubs, proposals were presented regarding changes to the certification procedure format. They have already been partially implemented. In particular, prior to this season, the certification procedure was carried out within the framework of the subsidiary organization "Licensing Center," which has now been restructured into the "Football Education and Leadership Center."
This center will now focus exclusively on the training of coaches and football specialists across various areas. The licensing center, specifically for certification, will now be within the UAF administration, and a relevant department has been created.
Serhiy Yelshov, who has worked for many years in various roles within the administrative licensing unit, has headed this department. Therefore, starting this season, the next certification procedure will take place under the direct auspices of the UAF, conducted by the UAF administration and our specialists.
The second change is that representatives from UPL and PFL have been added to the certification committee — UPL President Yevhen Dykiy and PFL President Oleksandr Kadenko. They cannot directly participate in voting as they are members of the UAF Executive Committee but will act as observers in this committee, able to monitor activities, ask questions, and provide additional information at the request of committee members about any particular club.
This is especially relevant regarding club transitions between leagues. This is important because, for the decision-making process on whether a club meets certain UPL requirements, it will be beneficial to hear information from the head of PFL, in which club participated for at least two seasons.
Funding for this area is one of the issues raised by football clubs. For many years, fees were collected from clubs for this procedure. Although UEFA directly funded this area of UAF activities, funds were also being collected from the clubs for the certification procedure. The clubs raised these issues, we held a meeting regarding this request and concluded that we could fully cover this procedure with the funds from UEFA, and henceforth, the contribution was reduced, as this was a transitional year. The contribution for UPL clubs was reduced.
And starting from the 2025/2026 season, the certification procedure, which will begin in autumn and concern the 2026/2027 season, will now completely exempt clubs from the obligation to pay any fees for this procedure; it will be fully covered by UEFA funds. Therefore, we are trying to make the certification process more transparent and equitable for all clubs," said Hryshchenko.