The Ukrainian Premier League summarized the results of the 1st round of the Ukrainian championship for the 2025/2026 season, with matches held last weekend.
1st round UPL teamTraditionally, the selection of the best was conducted through a survey of representatives from Ukrainian sports publications. Each respondent named their top three candidates for the manager of the round, five candidates for the player of the round, and also formed their version of the symbolic team of the round.
The best manager of the 1st round was recognized by a group of 40 experts as UPL debutant Vasyl Baranov, who led Kudrivka to a sensational victory over last season’s silver medalist Oleksandriya (3:1). Also included in the top 3 ranking were Ruslan Rotan (Polissia, who won against Karpaty away with a score of 2:0) and Ruslan Kostyshyn (Koloss, who defeated Kryvbas 2:1).
The title of the best player of the 1st round went to midfielder Andriy Storchous, who scored two goals in the match between Kudrivka and Oleksandriya (3:1). He was ranked first by 33 out of 40 experts. The top 5 players of the round also included Arinaldo Rrapai (Koloss, who provided two assists), Yevheniy Morozko (Kudrivka), Oleg Bilyk (goalkeeper of Epitsentr), and Vitaliy Roman (who scored the winning goal for Rukh).
Overall, experts mentioned 34 footballers and 7 coaches for the titles of heroes of the 1st round, as well as 68 candidates for the symbolic team. Therefore, in addition to the 11 players of the conditional starting lineup, we also included a conditional reserve for the symbolic team of the round: Konstantinos Stamoulis (Veres), Mykola Matviienko (Shakhtar), Yakov Bashich (Zoria), Vladislav Pryymak (Obolon), Serhiy Chobotenko (Polissia), Andriy Tsurykov (Koloss), Telles (Koloss), Alisson (Shakhtar), Kauan Elias (Shakhtar), Vladislav Vanat (Dynamo).
The 1st round team looked as follows: Bilyk (Epitsentr), Roman (Rukh), Burda (Koloss), Mykhavko (Dynamo), Mykhailychenko (Polissia), Nazarenko (Polissia), Shaparenko (Dynamo), Storchous (Kudrivka), Rrapai (Koloss), Morozko (Kudrivka), Haiduchyk (Polissia).
