Nine years in the club's system — and your goal sends it to the First League. Yevhen Banada, an Oleksandriia academy graduate, redirected the ball into an empty net in the second playoff match after a corner kick delivery and decided the outcome in favor of Kyiv's Livyi Bereh — 1:0. By aggregate score (the first match ended 1:1), the capital club returns to the UPL after a year away.
A Precedent in 30 Years
For Oleksandriia, the defeat is more than just relegation. The club became the first team in UPL history to finish as runner-up in the championship and leave the elite division the following season. This has never happened in the league's three decades of existence. This season the team finished 15th and should have been directly relegated to the First League, but after Lviv's Rukh was withdrawn from the championship, they got a playoff chance — and failed to capitalize.
Livyi Bereh fielded Sidney, Kovalenko, Shastal, and the Voloshyn brothers in their lineup. After the break, Oleksandriia substituted Jonathan for Castillo, but failed to change the course of the match.
Kudryvka: A Year Later — Different Role, Same Drama
Last year, Kudryvka from Chernihiv region became the main surprise of the playoff matches — and made it to the UPL for the first time in history. In the 2025/26 season, the club finished 13th and found itself in the playoffs again, but this time as an elite representative against Ahrobiznes from Volochysk.
The match in Ternopil kept everyone in suspense until the last second. Kudryvka took the lead twice — goals by Artem Machelyuk (39') and Artem Lehostaiev (80'). Twice Ahrobiznes equalized: Bohdan Kozak in the 68th and Roman Tolochko in the 90th minute, converting a penalty. The first match also ended goalless (0:0), so by aggregate — 2:2. Extra time decided nothing.
In the penalty shootout, Kudryvka won 3:2 and retained its place in the UPL for the 2026/27 season.
According to TSN and Champion
UPL 2026/27 Composition: Who's Where
- Returns: Livyi Bereh (Kyiv)
- Retains place: Kudryvka
- Relegated: Oleksandriia — leaves UPL for the first time since 2014
- Withdrawn administratively: Rukh (Lviv) — removed from championship
Oleksandriia in recent years has been a benchmark for stability in Ukrainian football: medals, European competitions, systematic youth development. Relegation through the playoffs — is not a catastrophe for one season, but the result of structural decline that began after their record-breaking runner-up finish.
It's telling that both playoff matches were decided by details: an outside academy player on a set piece and a 90th-minute penalty. If Oleksandriia does not rethink its recruitment and financing model already in the First League — a return to the elite could take more than one season.
