2016–17 Ukrainian First League

The 2016–17 Ukrainian First League was the 26th since its establishment. The fixtures were announced on 16 July 2016, and the competition commenced on 24 July 2016. The spring session started on 12 March 2017 with the competition ending on 2 June 2017.

Teams

Promoted teams

Originally, as per competition regulations the top three teams were promoted from the 2015–16 Ukrainian Second League. However, prior to the season commencing at the Conference of the PFL in preparation for the season the committee decided to expand the competition to eighteen teams and include the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams. Six teams promotion beat the previous record of five teams that was set back in 2002.

Kolos Kovalivka – champion of the 2015–16 Ukrainian Second League '
Veres Rivne – runner-up '
Inhulets Petrove – 3rd placed '
Bukovyna Chernivtsi – 4th placed '
Skala Stryi – 5th placed
Arsenal Kyiv – 6th placed ''''

Relegated teams

No teams were relegated from the Ukrainian Premier League

Withdrawn teams

Two teams were withdrawn before the season:

Location map

The following displays the location of teams.

Stadiums

The following stadiums are considered home grounds for the teams in the competition.

Rank	Stadium	Capacity	Club	Notes
1	Yuvileiny Stadium, Sumy	25,800	PFC Sumy
2	Vorskla Stadium, Poltava	24,795	FC Poltava	Used in Round 28
3	Central City Stadium, Mykolaiv	16,700	MFC Mykolaiv
4	City Stadium, Ternopil	12,750	FC Ternopil
5	Illichivets Stadium, Mariupol	12,680	Illichivets Mariupol
6	Chernihiv Stadium, Chernihiv	12,060	Desna Chernihiv
7	Bukovyna Stadium, Chernivtsi	12,000	Bukovyna Chernivtsi
8	Central Stadion, Cherkasy	10,321	Cherkaskyi Dnipro
9	Sokil Stadium, Stryi	6,000	Skala Stryi
10	Kolos Stadium, Boryspil	5,654	Arsenal Kyiv
11	Naftovyk Stadium, Okhtyrka	5,256	Naftovyk-Ukrnafta Okhtyrka
12	Obolon Arena, Kyiv	5,100	Obolon-Brovar Kyiv
12	Obolon Arena, Kyiv	5,100	Desna Chernihiv	Used in Round 2, 11 and Spring session.
13	Sonyachny Stadium, Kharkiv	4,924	Helios Kharkiv
13	Sonyachny Stadium, Kharkiv	4,924	Desna Chernihiv	Used in Round 4, 6 and 8
14	Avanhard Stadium, Rivne	4,500	Veres Rivne
15	Avanhard Stadium, Kramatorsk	4,000	Avanhard Kramatorsk
16	Kolos Stadium, Berezne	3,800	Veres Rivne	Used in Round 19
17	Izotop Stadium, Varash	3,000	Veres Rivne	Used in the Spring session
18	Lokomotyv Stadium, Poltava	2,500	FC Poltava
18	Yunist Stadium, Horishni Plavni	2,500	Hirnyk-Sport Horishni Plavni
20	Kolos Stadium, Kovalivka	1,850	Kolos Kovalivka
21	Inhulets Stadium, Petrove	1,720	Inhulets Petrove
22	Knyazha Arena, Shchaslyve	1,000	Arsenal Kyiv
23	Ltava Stadium, Poltava	640	FC Poltava	Used in Round 30
24	FC Viktorya Stadium, Mykolayivka, Bilopillia Raion, Sumy Oblast	500	FC Sumy	Used in Round 6
24	Poltava Training Base Stadium, Kopyly, Poltava Raion, Poltava Oblast	500	FC Sumy	Used in Round 20

League table

Relegation play-off

The draw for relegation play-off scheduling was held on 3 June 2017.

Second leg

''PFC Sumy wins 3–1 on aggregate and remains in First League. FC Balkany Zorya loses but later was promoted to the 2017–18 Ukrainian First League, due to sanctions against FC Dnipro.''

Top goalscorers

The season top goalscorers were:

Rank

Scorer

Team

Goals

Awards

Season awards

The laureates of the 2016–17 season were:

Best player: Ruslan Stepanyuk
Best coach: Oleksandr Ryabokon
Best goalscorer: Ruslan Stepanyuk