Game Day. "Metalist 1925" - "LNZ"

October 25, 2025. Zhytomyr, "Central City Stadium". 10th round of the Ukrainian Premier League. The match starts at 13:00

Referee - Andriy Kovalenko (Poltava)

Assistant referees - Ruslan Yermolenko (Chernihiv) and Maksym Chos (Kyiv region)

Fourth official - Dmytro Osaulenko (Poltava)

VAR referee - Oleksandr Shandor (Lviv)

VAR assistant - Oleksandr Omelchenko (Slovyansk)

VAR observer - Oleg Derevinsky (Khmelnytsky)

UAF arbitration observer - Yevhen Aranovsky (Khmelnytsky)

Live broadcast of the match on UPL.TV. You can follow the text commentary of the match on our website

Preview:

"Metalist 1925" continues its unbeaten run. Mladen Bartulovich's team extended their successful streak by drawing with "Kudrivka" away in the last match - 1:1. Interestingly, the goal was scored by Peter Itodo. Currently, the team is in the race for the top spots, sharing the 5th place with "Polissya", having 16 points (goal difference: 12-6).

It is worth noting that the team is facing a difficult situation due to injuries to Ari Moura, Ramik Hadzhiev, and Oleg Mozil. In the last match against "LNZ", striker Mba will miss the game, and young Karpizin joined the infirmary after getting injured in the youth team match.

During the offseason, "LNZ" changed their coach, which turned out to be beneficial for the team. This season, the team from Cherkasy had a good start, earning 15 points (goal difference: 10-7) in the first 9 rounds (5 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses). Currently, the team is also on a successful streak, as the last time "LNZ" lost was on September 12 in a match against "Oleksandriya". Along with Vitaliy Ponomaryov, many newcomers joined the team, who previously played for "Rukh". The new team not only performs well in the championship but is also one of the few UPL clubs that made it to the Ukrainian Cup Round of 16, where "LNZ" will face "Rukh".

Interestingly, it was the purple team that caused the biggest sensation of the UPL season by defeating "Shakhtar" 4:1. The team's top scorer is Nigerian forward Prosper (4+1), who joined the team just this summer.

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Ukrainian Premier League. Round 10

Friday, October 24

"Oleksandriya" - "Epicenter" - 0:1

"Veres" - "Zorya" - 0:0

Saturday, October 25

13:00. "Metalist 1925" - "LNZ"

15:30. "Karpaty" - "Rukh"

18:00. "Obolon" - "Polissya"

Sunday, October 26

13:00 "Poltava" - "Kolos"

15:30. "Shakhtar" - "Kudrivka

18:00. "Dynamo" - "Kryvbas"

LNZ. Profile

Home stadium - "Cherkasy-Arena" (Cherkasy, Smilyanska Street, 78, capacity: 10,321 spectators)

President - Dmytro Kravchenko

Head coach - Vitaliy Ponomaryov

Official website - fc-lnz.com

Achievements:

Winner of the Ukrainian Amateur Cup - 2017/2018, 2020/2021

Bronze medalist of the Second League - 2021/2022

Bronze medalist of the First League - 2022/2023

Historical reference:

LNZ has been keeping track of its history since 2006, when a club named "Shpola-LNZ-Lebedyn" was founded (it would be grand to keep it and add Cherkasy, which the team represents now - it would be grand) - part of the expenses were covered by the local budget of Shpola, so it was included in the name. Over time, as we can see, only "LNZ" remained in the name. This name, as we can guess, hides Lebedyn Seed Plant - a company owned by the club owners, the "LNZ-group" holding. And from that time until 2017, the team played at the regional level. After that, the team moved to the national level, initially it was an amateur championship and cup, as mentioned above - these performances were quite successful and winning. And then, from 2021, the team started on a professional football path, starting to play in the Second League - at the end of the unfinished season, the team finished third. And in the next, or the last season, during the war, the team started in the First League. At the end of the championship, LNZ took the third place and earned the right to play in the play-off matches, where they defeated "Inhulets" and earned the right to play in the Premier League, bringing elite Ukrainian football to Cherkasy.

Head Coach

LNZ's head coach is a 51-year-old specialist Vitaliy Yuriyovych Ponomariov. He was born on December 7, 1973

Playing career: before his coaching career, Ponomariov was better known as a football referee. But in 1994, there was even a Third Football League in Ukrainian football. So, the current coach of "Rukh" played several matches as a professional footballer for the "LAZ" club there.

Coaching career: worked at the "Karpaty" youth school, coached the amateur "Mykolaiv" from Lviv region and the Lviv region's national team. In 2020, he took over the youth team of "Rukh" and later the main team. Since this summer, he has been in charge of "LNZ".