First League: coaching appointments and review of the latest transfer news

05.01.2019 14:05

For the old debts, Volyn was deprived of six points, which could be rejected in the struggle for promotion in the classroom. Photo by fcvolyn.net

At the end of December they happened general meeting UPL participants whose main issue of the agenda was the number of teams in the elite division next season.

After a rather lively discussion, most of the clubs supported the current format of competitions with 12 participants.

Personnel changes in the leader's ranks

Of course, this will significantly complicate the implementation of the wishes of leading teams the first league make your way to the class of the strongest. After all, only the winner of the tournament will get a direct ticket, and the clubs that will take the second and third places will hold transitional matches with the 11th and 10th teams of the Premier League. By the way, the first-league teams forced themselves to talk about themselves also because two of them, Dnipro-1 and Ingulets, gained the right to play in quarterfinals draw of the Cup of Ukraine, where they will compete with Vorskla and Karpaty, respectively.

During the winter break, midfielder Yuriy Romanyuk from Chornomorets joined the ranks of Dnipro. Instead, the leader of the first league was left by Redvan Memeshev, Dmytro Bashlay and Oleg Kozhushko.

In Petrovo decided to adjust plans

As for Ingulets, according to reliable information, the club management, having analyzed the tournament situation of Serhiy Lavrynenko's wards, decided to remove from the agenda the issue of obtaining a pass to the elite. This will allow the team from Petrov to focus on the performance in the Cup, where they have a good chance not to be limited to the quarterfinals. Dmytro Sula, a pupil of Odessa football, known for his performances for Dnipro-1 and Metalist 1925, became the first newcomer to Ingulets. By the way, he is the author of the first goal of Slobozhan in the first league. And here is a new challenge for a capable striker…

Meanwhile, in Kharkiv, Oleksandr Goryainov was confirmed as the manager of Metalist 1925, as he had been acting head coach since September last year, replacing Serhiy Valyaev. Vladyslav Kravchenko, a former Volyn player, is set to gain a foothold in the Kharkiv team.

"Volyn" suffered for old debts

We can only sympathize with the head coach of "Volyn" Andriy Tlumak and his wards. A week ago it became known that according to by FIFA decision Lucians were deprived of six points for non-payment of debt to the Serbian "Rada" for the transfer of stopper Ivan Rogac, who played for "Volyn" from 2014 to 2015. It is possible that these points one of the leaders of the first league may be missing for promotion. In addition to Kravchenko, another defender, Rudolf Sukhomlinov, and an experienced striker Andriy Yakovlev decided to get a job in other teams.

Kuchuk is close to returning to Ukraine

It is already possible to tell for sure that Vladimir Mazyar (instead of Sergey Puchkov) became at the helm of the Pitman-Sport team, and in Nikolaev Sergey Shishchenko replaced Ruslan Zabransky. Belarusian specialist Leonid Kuchuk, who headed Stal from Kamyansky in 2017, is close to returning to Ukraine. His negotiations with Rukh are in the final stages. So far, the team from Vynnyky, which failed to spend the first part of the season, was left by stopper Dmytro Shevchenko, midfielder Mykhailo Kozak, forwards Oleksandr Batalsky and Artur Zagorulko. Goalkeeper Oleksandr Dyachenko and midfielder Volodymyr Makar decided to hang their shoes on the nails due to injuries. Leased Andriy Busko, Volodymyr Voitovych and Andriy Remenyuk returned to Karpaty.

Finally, we would like to inform you that the All-Ukrainian Association of Coaches last year recognized Ruslan Kostyshyn, the manager of Kolos in Kovalivka, as the best coach of the first league.