Game Day. "Metalist 1925" - "Poltava"
March 19, 2026. Zhytomyr, "Central City Stadium". 21st round of the UPL. The match starts at 18:00
Referee - Serhiy Zadyran (Kyiv region)
Assistant referees - Semen Shlonchak (Cherkasy) and Serhiy Starcha (Kyiv)
Fourth official - Sofia Prychyna (Lviv region)
VAR referee - Mykhailo Raida (Zakarpattia region)
VAR assistant - Oleksandr Kalonov (Khmelnytskyi)
VAR observer - Yuriy Mozharovskyi (Lviv)
UAF arbitration observer - Andriy Shandor (Lviv)
Live broadcast of the match on the UPL.TV channel.
Preview: today "Metalist 1925" is expecting a tough match against the team that is currently at the bottom of the standings. "Poltava" has nowhere to retreat and this fighting team will be trying to earn points every second.
Mladen Bartulovich's team is in 6th place in the standings with 31 points (goal difference - 22:13). In the previous round, Kharkiv lost to Donetsk's "Shakhtar" with a score of 0:1. Before this defeat, "Metalist 1925" had a four-game unbeaten streak in the second half of the season: the team drew with "Kudrivka" and also won against "Oleksandriya" - 1:0 and "Rukh" - 3:0. The goal conceded from the "miners" was the first for the team in 2026. And it was only conceded after a penalty kick.
Team news: in the upcoming match, "Metalist 1925" will be without midfielder Vyacheslav Churko, as doctors diagnosed him with a broken rib.
"Poltava" is currently at the bottom of the standings with 9 points (goal difference - 16:51). In the recent UPL matches, the team lost to: "Veres" - 2:3, "Kudrivka" - 0:2, "Zorya" - 0:4, and "Karpaty" - 0:4.
"Metalist 1925" and "Poltava" have met 4 times in history. The advantage in these matches is on the side of the Kharkiv team: 3 wins for "Metalist 1925" and 1 loss.
UPL, 21st round
Wednesday, March 18
18:00 "Kudrivka" - "Polissya" - 0:2
Thursday, March 19
13:00 "Oleksandriya" - "Dynamo"
18:00 "Metalist 1925" - "Poltava"
Saturday, March 20
13:00 "Kryvbas" - "Epicenter"
15:30 "Rukh" - "LNZ"
Sunday, March 21
15:30 "Veres" - "Kolos"
18:00 "Karpaty" - "Obolon"
Time not determined
"Zorya" - "Shakhtar"
"Poltava" (Poltava). Profile
Year of establishment - 2011
Club colors - pink and white
Home stadium - "Zirka" named after S.Berezkin (capacity 13,305 spectators) - city of Kropyvnytskyi
President - Serhiy Ivashchenko
Head coach - Pavlo Matvichenko and Volodymyr Sysenko
Official website - https://scpoltava.com/
Historical background: The Sports Club "Poltava" was founded in 2011. Initially, the team played at the local level, and in 2014 became the champion of the Poltava region. In the 2019/2020 season, the club participated for the first time in the Ukrainian Cup among amateur teams. The following year marked the debut in the Ukrainian Amateur Championship, and in the 2021-2022 season, "Poltava" entered the professional level, starting in the Second League. Due to a full-scale invasion, that championship was not completed, but the next season the team played for the first time in the First League, where it initially settled among the participants and in the 2024-2025 season took second place and secured 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" seeks to win the hearts of supporters not only in the Poltava region but also in the neighboring Kirovohrad region, where the team plays its 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.
Transfermarkt: According to the estimates of the well-known portal, the current squad of "Poltava" is worth 4.65 million euros, which is 14.15 million less than the estimated value of the "Metalist 1925" squad. The team has 1 foreign player from Armenia. According to "Transfermarkt's" estimates, the most valuable player of "Poltava" is midfielder Oleksandr Pyatov. He is valued at 350,000 euros.
