The Ukrainian football champions (Ukrainian: Чемпіон України з футболу) are the annual winners of Premier League, Ukrainian premier annual football league competition. The title has been contested since 1921 in varying forms of competition. While Shakhtar Donetsk are the current champions, Dynamo Kyiv has won a record 26 championship titles.
Contents
The first Ukrainian championship took place in 1921, before the establishment of the Soviet Union. Not much is known of that game or the following championships and nothing is known of the competitions between 1924-1927. Remarkable is the fact that the dominant team of that period was from Kharkiv which until 1934 was the capital of the pseudo-state, Ukrainian SSR.
Until the creation of the independent competition, the Ukrainian republican championship had taken place in the Soviet First League after the World War II, the Soviet Second League (since 1963) or in the lower levels of the competition. About three to six of the best Ukrainian clubs competed in the Soviet Top League with Dynamo Kyiv competing in it consistently since its establishment; therefore, the Ukrainian champion was considered the team that has won the Ukrainian republican group which was part of Soviet lower leagues.
Premier League
Note: the Rank column shows the ranking of the league amongst members of UEFA.