On July 2, an open press conference dedicated to the accreditation of football clubs in Ukraine took place at the Football House in Kyiv.
Photo: D. BalashovThe event was attended by representatives of clubs from the Ukrainian Premier League and the Professional Football League of Ukraine, the women's and girls' football department of UAF, and domestic media. The General Secretary of UAF Ihor Hryshchenko, Technical Director of UAF Ihor Dedysyn, and the Head of the football club accreditation department of UAF Serhiy Yelshov also participated.
“Until the current season, the accreditation procedure was carried out within the subsidiary organization 'Licensing Center,' which has now been restructured into the Football Education and Leadership Center. It now focuses exclusively on the preparation of coaches and football specialists from various directions. The Licensing Center, which will handle accreditation, will now be within UAF. A corresponding department has been created, headed by Serhiy Yelshov.
The second change is that representatives of UPL and PFL, UPL President Yevhen Dykyi and PFL President Oleksandr Kadenko, have joined the accreditation committee. They cannot directly participate in the voting as they are members of the UAF Executive Committee, but they will act as observers in this committee. They may monitor its activities, ask questions, and provide additional information at the request of committee members regarding a particular club. This is especially important regarding club transitions between leagues. To decide whether a club meets certain UPL conditions, it will be helpful to hear information from the PFL head regarding which club they represented before.
Many clubs also raised the issue of funding for this direction. For many years, funds for the accreditation procedure were collected from the clubs, although UEFA directly financed this activity for UAF. Despite this, fees were simultaneously collected from the clubs. The clubs raised this issue, we analyzed it, and concluded that we can fully cover the accreditation procedure with UEFA's funds. Starting from this season, the club fee has been reduced, and starting from the 2026/2027 season, clubs will be completely exempt from the obligation to pay any fees for accreditation. This is also one of the reforms. We are trying to make the accreditation procedure more transparent and equitable for all clubs.
UAF is the regulator of these processes. We are not a controlling body, and our task is to assist clubs in raising their level to meet the requirements for competitions at both PFL and UPL levels. Ideally, we should prevent cases where the accreditation procedure is used as a leverage or tool to substitute the sporting principle. This has sometimes occurred in Ukrainian football, and our task is to correctly structure the accreditation procedure so that a club aiming for a certain sporting goal in the future clearly understands how it should plan its activities to meet certain elevated requirements for the next season. We very much want to base our actions on UEFA's experience, which aims to create an approach that allows all clubs that have gained the right to participate in competitions under its auspices through sporting merit to be admitted to these competitions. Of course, unless there are any glaring issues such as debts, bans, etc. This approach — to promote the integrity of competitions — will be fundamental for us,” said Ihor Hryshchenko.
...“Regarding the accreditation itself, I would like to convey the main principles that we apply as the leading football institution in the country in this matter to both clubs and media representatives. The main and defining principle for us is the sporting principle, as football is a competition, and this principle is paramount. The team that places higher and earns the right to move up to the higher division will always be prioritized.
Our next task is to balance the sporting principle as much as possible with other components of the accreditation procedure. However, the sporting principle will still be the main one, and I believe that UAF has been absolutely consistent in this regard over the last two seasons. In particular, in the situation with the playoff matches for promotion to the Premier League, when it was decided that everything must be resolved on the football field, with the sporting principle defining which team will gain a place in UPL. The same was the case recently with the situation in the second league when the team 'Rukh-2' withdrew from the competition. We did not want to interpret the regulations and football legislation. We used the sporting principle, and the UAF Executive Committee decided that everything would be resolved on the football field. The sporting principle should prevail in Ukrainian football.
The next principle we promote and apply during the accreditation of clubs is equality of conditions. We certainly do not have the objective of not accrediting anyone. The overall task of UAF and the accreditation department is to ensure that clubs meet the accreditation requirements outlined in the regulations. We must assist all teams, and for this purpose, a lot of work is being done, such as various seminars with club representatives. Moreover, members of both financial and legal departments participate there — different areas according to the criteria for accreditation. Our principle is equality and equidistance. The same conditions must be provided for everyone. We do not intend to use club accreditation as a punitive element. If we make any exceptions to the regulations, they will apply equally to all teams. It does not matter whether they are top clubs or clubs that, for example, come from the first league to UPL.
Another principle we would like to implement is that the accreditation regulation must be living and effective. We want it to have changes and corrections that are maximally adapted to the realities of our lives. And we certainly do not want the provisions of the accreditation regulation to be perceived as compulsory. Many clubs do not like having an obligation to have a women's team in their structure. We need to approach this in a balanced way, considering UEFA's accreditation procedure. We are interested in initiatives from clubs to create conditions for their development, using exactly the accreditation regulation,” added Ihor Dedysyn.
“This season is historic, as four clubs left UPL for the first time, and four new clubs are coming in their place.
Regarding funding, we understand well that first league clubs do not have a large number of staff compared to UPL clubs. A maximum of 50 employees. Accordingly, the expenses of clubs are significantly lower than those of UPL clubs.
A club that is a candidate for promotion spends the money it has to demonstrate a sporting result. Comparing salaries of players from clubs that were promoted to UPL with those that were relegated from UPL is incompatible.
But you also highlighted the issue of a minimum threshold. No minimum or maximum thresholds are provided by any UAF criteria if we return to the accreditation criteria; the first is, of course, the financial report. We see those reports — clubs provide them.
If we see that a statement is not verified, then we engage the option of forecast financial reporting, and one of the candidates for promotion utilized this option to convince the auditor of its solvency. Clubs provide additional documents — these may be sponsorship contracts, documents confirming an increase in charter capital, and others. Considering all these materials, the auditor makes a final conclusion based on the additional materials,” noted Serhiy Yelshov.
The meeting lasted in a dialogue format for almost two hours. All participants were able to express their opinions. Clubs provided their proposals regarding the accreditation process and related issues. Journalists received all the answers to their questions.
