Ukrainian football league system

The Ukrainian football league system has developed over the years.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, all professional clubs from Ukraine have joined own national football competitions as the Soviet competitions transitioned to Russian. The amateur-level clubs/teams played at Ukrainian republican competitions always. The top two tiers traditionally have a single group with double round robin system. The third tier, while having the same type of competition organization, usually has two groups organized geographically. The depth of the national league competitions is about four levels. Regional competitions in oblasts and the autonomous republic usually have one or two tiers, while selected regions had up to five tiers sometimes.

Parallel to the senior team, there are also junior team competitions, separate student league, female competitions, and other types of football (indoor, beach, others). Female association football, which was struggling after the fall of the Soviet Union, has shaped into a more stable competition with its own two-tier league competition and junior team tournament.

The promotion and relegation as a rotational process of clubs' exchange between tiers is not set completely and may vary from season to season. The promotion and relegation process exists among the top three tiers (Premier, Persha and Druha leagues). The exchange between the third and the fourth tiers is carried out in form of clubs' evaluations on their stability and relative sustainability including financial, administrative, commercial, communal development and others. Below the fourth tier, the promotion and relegation process are completely void and clubs sometimes participate in competitions of their regional federations along with the AAFU competitions (the fourth tier).