10.08.2026

Poltava - Kharkiv. Preview and prediction for UPL match on 10.08.2026

Football.ua presents a preview of the match of the Ukrainian championship, which will take place on August 10 and will start at 15:30.

As part of the second round of the Ukrainian Premier League 2026/27, Polissya will play a home match against Kharkiv in Zhytomyr.

Polissya - Kharkiv

Monday, August 10, 15:30. Central Stadium, Zhytomyr. Main referee - Viktor Kopiyevsky (Kropyvnytskyi). Live broadcast on UPL.TV

The first match of the season with a very loud poster. And it will be more than just a confrontation within the framework of the second round of the championship. The outcome of the duel and its course should demonstrate the solidity of the ambitions of Ruslan Rotan's and Mladen Bartulovich's teams for this season. Because in the last football year, they had two very close matches, and only Maxim Bragaru's goal at the beginning of May slightly tilted the balance in favor of Polissya.

"The Wolves" ultimately finished higher than the now "gold-bordeaux" team and even managed to be eliminated from the European Cup qualification after the duels against Danish Copenhagen. This gives Rotan's team an advantage in game tone over their opponents, but at the same time adds physical fatigue. This was especially noticeable during the match against Chornomorets last weekend under the blazing Odessa sun, which Polissya had to overcome in their favor (2:1).

Meanwhile, Kharkiv has only played one game this season, but after the duel against Veres from Rivne, there are fewer questions about Bartulovich's team for sure. Only a minimal victory with a goal by Ramik Gadzhiyev in the final minutes, although the advantage of the Kharkiv team was quite convincing in terms of play.

Evidently, the problems with implementing the game plan during the offseason have not disappeared anywhere, and since both the "gold-bordeaux" and "wolves" will cross paths with Donetsk's Shakhtar in the near future, we may see a significant decrease in intrigue at the start of the campaign. Or perhaps a significant increase.

Possible lineups

Polissya: Bushchan - Mykhailichenko, Chobotenko, Krasnichi, Krushynsky - Andriyevsky, Babenko, Fedor - Veleten, Krasnopir, Nazarenko.

Kharkiv: Yermakov - Krupsky, Pavlyuk, Shabanov, Martinyuk - Yatsyk, Kalyuzhny, Profini - Castillo, Parako, Rashitsa.

Interesting facts:

- Kharkiv will play their 110th match in UPL and may concede 150 goals (three more);

- Polissya may suffer their 10th home defeat in the championship;

- Polissya has won at home in the last three UPL matches - a club record;

- Kharkiv has not lost five championship matches in a row: two wins, three draws;

- Oleksandr Nazarenko may score 25 goals in UPL, Eduard Sarapiy - 15, Maksym Bragaru (all from Polissya) - 10;

- Boris Krushynsky may play his 100th match in the championship, Ilir Krasnichi (both from Polissya) - 50;

- Georgiy Yermakov (Kharkiv) may have 20 "clean sheet" matches in UPL.

Head-to-head meetings: