Matchday. "Poltava" - "Metalist 1925"
September 21, 2025. Kropyvnytskyi, "Zirka" named after S. Berezkin. 6th round of the Ukrainian Premier League. The match starts at 13:00
Referee - Oleg Kohut (Ternopil)
Assistant referees - Stanislav Marulin (Kherson region) and Oleksandr Dashko (Kyiv region)
Fourth official - Yevhen Tsybulko (Cherkasy region)
VAR referee - Serhii Zadyran (Kyiv region)
VAR assistant - Viktor Matyash (Donetsk)
VAR observer - Valeriy Kurganov (Cherkasy)
UAF arbitration observer - Oleg Derevinsky (Khmelnytskyi)
Live broadcast of the match on the TV channel UPL.TV
Preview: in the previous round, Mladen Bartulovich's team caused the main sensation of the round by taking points from "Shakhtar". Ivan Kalyuzhny's goal at the end of the match earned Kharkiv one point and extended the team's unbeaten streak. However, there were negative consequences from the match as Ramik Gadzhiyev suffered a serious injury in one of the game episodes and will definitely not play this year. In the upcoming match, the coaching staff will also be without Matviy Panchenko, who has joined the U20 national team for the World Cup in Chile (Gadzhiyev was also on the call-up list).
Currently, after two matches played in the round, "Metalist 1925" is in 6th position with 8 points (goal difference: 7-4). Interestingly, only Kovalivka's "Kolos" has conceded fewer goals than Bartulovich's team.
"Poltava" along with "Metalist 1925" played in the First League last season, but unlike the "yellow-blues," Poltava are absolute newcomers to the UPL. The historic season for Poltava started with a defeat to "Rukh" - 1:2. However, in the second round, the team secured their first and so far only victory in the UPL when Sisenko-Matviychenko's team, nominally at home, defeated "Veres" - 1:0. After that, the Poltava team suffered two consecutive losses: away to "Kudrivka" - 1:3 and at home to "Zorya" - 1:4. After the break, in the national team matches, the team unexpectedly shared points with "Karpaty" in Lviv - 1:1. Nevertheless, the team approaches the game after a defeat, as last week "Poltava" lost 0:3 to Ternopil's "Niva" in the 1/16 of the Ukrainian Cup. It is worth noting that in that match, the coaching staff fielded a reserve team, mostly using representatives of the youth team. Overall, Poltava with 4 points occupies the 13th position in the table (goal difference: 5-10). It should be noted that due to an accumulation of yellow cards, defender Oleh Veremiienko will miss the game, leading the League in the number of yellow cards received.
The history of the teams' encounters includes 3 official matches: 2 in the First League and 1 in the Cup. The cup match ended in a draw - 3:3, and in extra time, Kharkiv managed to outplay the opponent - 5:3. In the First League, the teams exchanged minimal victories - 1:0, with Ari Moura standing out in the winning match for "Metalist 1925," who can help the team this time as well.
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Ukrainian Premier League. Round 6
Saturday, September 20
"Kolos" - "Veres" - 0:0
"Polissya" - "Kudrivka" - 2:0
Sunday, September 21
13:00 "Poltava" - "Metalist 1925"
15:30 "LNZ" - "Rukh"
18:00 "Epicenter" - "Kryvbas"
Monday, September 22
13:00. "Obolon" - "Karpaty"
15:30. "Dynamo" - "Oleksandriya"
18:00. "Shakhtar" - "Zorya"
"Poltava" (Poltava). Profile
Year of establishment - 2011
Club colors - pink and white
Home stadium - "Zirka" named after S. Berezkin (capacity: 13,305 spectators)
President - Serhiy Ivashchenko
Head coach - Pavlo Matvichenko and Volodymyr Sysenko
Official website - https://scpoltava.com/
Historical background:
History: Sport Club "Poltava" was founded in 2011. Initially, the team competed at the local level, and already in 2014 became the champion of the Poltava region. In the 2019/2020 season, the club participated for the first time in the all-Ukrainian competition - the Ukrainian Cup among amateur teams. The following year marked the debut in the Ukrainian Amateur Championship, and in the 2021-2022 season, "Poltava" reached the professional level, starting in the Second League. Due to a full-scale invasion, that championship was not completed, but in the next season, the team played for the first time in the First League, where initially they secured their place among the tournament participants, and in the 2024-2025 season, they took second place and earned a historic promotion to the UPL.
Achievements: Champion of the Poltava region - 2014
Winner of the Super Cup of the Poltava region - 2014
Silver medalist of the Poltava region championship - 2020
Finalist of the Poltava region Cup - 2020
Silver medalist of the First League - 2025
Geography: Currently, the team is the only representative from Poltava in the UPL, but the title of the region's flagship still belongs to the more renowned "Vorskla". However, through the functioning of the youth football system, the club aims to increase the number of fans. "Poltava" strives to win the hearts of supporters not only in the Poltava region but also in the neighboring Kirovohrad region, where they are currently playing their home matches this season.
Head coach: Since its creation, the team has been led by Volodymyr Anatoliyovych Sysenko, a 62-year-old specialist who started his coaching career in "Poltava". However, in the first season in the UPL, the team is coached by Volodymyr Matviychenko - a former player of "Vorskla", "Kremen", "CSKA" (Kyiv), "Obolon", and a number of other Ukrainian and foreign teams.
Volodymyr Sysenko is currently in a coaching status but actively participates in the team's life and effectively manages the team in tandem with Matviychenko.
Transfermarkt: According to the "Transfermarkt" portal, "Poltava" has the lowest total value of players, which is - 3 million 900 thousand euros. The most expensive player in the team is Dmytro Shcherbak, valued at 400 thousand euros, followed by the star newcomer of the team Oleksiy Khakhlov (300 thousand euros), who, by the way, became the U20 World Champion in 2019 as part of the Ukrainian national team.
