2002–03 Ukrainian First League
# 2002–03 Ukrainian First League

The 2002–03 Ukrainian First League was the twelfth season of the Ukrainian First League which was won by Zirka Kirovohrad. The season started on July 6, 2002, and finished on June 21, 2003.

## Promotion and relegation

### Promoted teams

Five clubs promoted from the 2001–02 Ukrainian Second League.

**Group A**

* FC Krasyliv – champion (debut)
* Sokil Zolochiv – runner-up (debut)

**Group B**

* Systema-Boreks Borodyanka – champion (debut)

**Group C**

* FC Sumy – champion (returning after a season)
* Arsenal Kharkiv – runner-up (debut)

### Relegated teams

One club was relegated from the 2001-02 Ukrainian Top League:

* FC Zakarpattia Uzhhorod – 14th place (returning after a season)

### Renamed teams

* Before the season FC Sumy changed back to FC Spartak Sumy .
* During winter break SC Mykolaiv changed its name to MFC Mykolaiv.

### Teams

In 2002-03 season, the Ukrainian First League consists of the following teams:

## Final table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Zirka Kirovohrad (C, P) | 34 | 22 | 5 | 7 | 45 | 22 | +23 | 71 | Promoted to Vyshcha Liha |
| 2 | Borysfen Boryspil (P) | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 44 | 16 | +28 | 66 | Promoted to Vyshcha Liha |
| 3 | Dynamo-2 Kyiv | 34 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 56 | 28 | +28 | 64 | |
| 4 | Naftovyk Okhtyrka | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 37 | 26 | +11 | 54 | |
| 5 | MFC Mykolaiv | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 30 | 37 | −7 | 52 | |
| 6 | Stal Alchevsk | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 36 | 33 | +3 | 52 | |
| 7 | Zakarpattia Uzhhorod | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 27 | 26 | +1 | 51 | |
| 8 | FC Krasyliv | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 42 | 37 | +5 | 49 | |
| 9 | Arsenal Kharkiv | 34 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 46 | |
| 10 | Spartak Sumy | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 45 | |
| 11 | Polissya Zhytomir | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 30 | 38 | −8 | 43 | |
| 12 | Shakhtar-2 Donetsk | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 33 | 40 | −7 | 42 | |
| 13 | Karpaty-2 Lviv | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 34 | 38 | −4 | 41 | |
| 14 | CSKA Kyiv | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 33 | 38 | −5 | 41 | |
| 15 | Systema-Boreks Borodyanka | 34 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 40 | |
| 16 | FC Vinnytsia | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 18 | 31 | −13 | 36 | |
| 17 | Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 25 | 54 | −29 | 29 | Avoided relegation |
| 18 | Sokil Zolochiv (D) | 34 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 23 | 39 | −16 | 19 | Withdrew |

* ↑ Nyva Vinnytsia was not relegated as Olexandria has folded in the Premier League. Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk was bought out by LUKOIL, the main sponsor of LUKOR Kalush, and the new management recognized it as the first team of one club with LUKOR being its second. One a paper LUKOR got promoted and Prykarpattya Ivano-Frankivsk got relegated, but the truth is that the teams stayed in their divisions. Sokil Zolochiv has folded.
* Persha Liha 2002-03 Winners
* FC Zirka Kirovohrad Second title

## Top scorers

Statistics are taken from here.

| Scorer | Goals (pen.) | Team |
| - | - | - |
| Maksym Shtayer | 15 (4) | FC Krasyliv |
| Artem Milevskyi | 11 | Dynamo-2 Kyiv |
| Myroslav Bundash | 11 (6) | Zakarpattia Uzhhorod |
| Bohdan Yesyp | 10 | Naftovyk Okhtyrka |
| Pavlo Parshyn | 9 (3) | Polissya Zhytomyr |
| Oleksandr Melaschenko | 8 | Dynamo-2 Kyiv |
| Dmytro Vorobey | 8 (1) | Dynamo-2 Kyiv |
| Oleksandr Aliyev | 8 (1) | Dynamo-2 Kyiv |
| Ruslan Platon | 8 (3) | Karpaty-2 Lviv |
| Ruslan Bidnenko | 7 | Borysfen Boryspil |
