League's formation and issues Composition The league and its calendar were adopted at the FFU Executive Committee session on 10 September 1991 with the ongoing 1991 season of the All-Soviet football competitions. It was established that the new league would consist of 20 teams divided into two groups. Six clubs (last three from each group) were set to be relegated and replaced with the two best from the First League, thus reducing the league for the next season to 16. Winners of both groups were to play against one another for the national title. The league's final was originally planned to consist of two games (home and away), but later, due to scheduling of the
Ukraine national football team's games, it was changed to one on a neutral field. To the league were included all Ukrainian clubs of the 1991 Soviet Top and First leagues (8 clubs), nine of eleven Ukrainian clubs out the 1991 Soviet Second League (all of them competed in the west zone), the two best teams of the 1991 Soviet Second (lower) League and the winner of the Ukrainian Cup. The FFU president
Viktor Bannikov was against to include the Ukrainian Cup winner into the top league. There were opponents of organization of the championship among the most notable was
FC Metalurh Zaporizhya. The
FC Metalist Kharkiv was against with the condition if they would be relegated from the 1991 Soviet Top League. Also against the championship was
Yevhen Kucherevskyi (
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, one of few Ukrainian coaches who managed to win the Soviet Top League). There were plenty of alternative propositions on the composition and the season's calendar, among which were from the president of Prykarpattia
Anatoliy Revutskyi and the head coach of Temp
Ishtvan Sekech.
Calendar The championship started on March 6, about a month after the qualification rounds of another national tournament, the first edition of
Ukrainian Cup. The first half of the season was scheduled to finish on April 19, with the second one to resume on April 25 (6 days intermission). The last round was to be played on June 17. Considering such a schedule and the fact that the Ukrainian Cup competition was on the way simultaneously, the Ukrainian clubs had to forfeit their scheduled games in the Soviet Cup competition. In addition to that,
Dynamo Kyiv also participated in the Champions League competition, which ended for Dynamo only on April 15. Each team this season had at least two games scheduled every week on average. Considering other official games (outside of the league),
FC Torpedo Zaporizhzhia and
FC Dynamo Kyiv have played a record 26 games from February 18 through June 21, the most among the other clubs in the League.
Location of teams Qualified teams Note: •
FC Temp Shepetivka placed only 9th in the
1991 Soviet Lower Second League. •
FC Halychyna Drohobych and
FC Vorskla Poltava that competed in the
Soviet Second League were placed in the
Persha Liha (Ukrainian Second Division) as such that were relegated.
Clubs' name changes •
Zorya-MALS Luhansk before the season carried the name Zorya Luhansk. A name extension was provided for sponsorship reasons. •
Evis Mykolaiv before the season carried the name Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv. •
SC Odesa changed its name from SKA Odesa on May 5, 1992, due to restructuring of the Soviet
Odesa Military District and
Armed Forces of Ukraine. == Stadiums ==