Game Day. "Metalist 1925" - "Zorya"

November 8, 2025. Zhytomyr, "Central City Stadium". 12th round of UPL. The match starts at 13:00

Referee - Yevhenii Tsybulko (Cherkasy)

Assistant referees - Valentyn Kutsev (Kyiv region) and Oleksandr Dashko (Kyiv region)

Fourth official - Liudmyla Telbukh (Dnipro)

VAR referee - Roman Blavatsky (Lviv)

VAR assistant - Dmytro Kubriak (Odesa)

VAR observer - Ihor Yaremchuk (Kyiv)

UAF arbitration observer - Leonid Yarmolinsky (Kyiv region)

Denko R. Vegat UAF - Didenko R.V

Live broadcast of the match on the TV channel UPL.TV.

Preview: Kharkiv continues to be in the upper part of the table. Mladen Bartulovich's team is in 6th place with 17 points (goal difference: 12-7). By the way, in terms of goals conceded, "Metalist 1925" leads the League. The team has been active in recent weeks, as in the last 13 days "Metalist 1925" first narrowly lost to "LNZ" in the championship, then defeated "Agrobusiness" - 4:3 in the Cup round of 16. And in the last round, the "yellow-blues" played a draw in an away match against "Polissya" - 0:0.

The team's lineup situation on the eve of the match leaves much to be desired, as in addition to the injured Gadzhiyev and Mouri, Kalyuzhny was added, who will miss the match due to yellow card accumulation. Also, the forwards had injuries. Christian Mba returned to the squad in the last match. And Peter Itodo returned to training the day before. Another forward, a representative of the youth team - Yaroslav Karpizin, who made his debut for the main team this season, is also out of the game due to injury.

Alexander Martinyuk missed the last match due to injury and trained individually. Vladislav Kalitvintsev is also injured.

In recent seasons, "Zorya" has been a strong middle team in the UPL, and the current UPL campaign is no exception. Before the 12th round, the Lugansk team is in 10th place with 16 points (goal difference: 13-11). It is important that in the last 5 matches "Zorya" has not suffered defeats, but only 2 matches were won (3 matches ended in a draw). In the previous round, Viktor Skrypnyk's team defeated Lviv's "Rukh" - 1:0. The team's top scorer is the experienced forward and captain - Pylyp Budkivsky, who has scored 5 goals and provided 1 assist.

Throughout their history, the teams have played 5 matches against each other, all within the UPL: 4 wins for "Zorya" and 1 win for "Metalist 1925" (goal difference: 4-15). In the last match, which took place on March 31, 2024, Lugansk celebrated a 2:1 victory.

Another interesting aspect of today's match is the confrontation of former coaches. "Zorya", led by former "Zorya" coach Mladen Bartulovich, will host "Zorya", led by Viktor Skrypnyk, whose last position before joining the Lugansk team was at "Metalist 1925".

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UPL, 12th round

Friday, November 7

15:30 "Epicenter" - "Obolon" - 1:2

18:00 "Kudrivka" - "Kolos" - 1:0

Saturday, November 8

13:00 "Metalist 1925" - "Zorya"

15:30 "Veres" - "Rukh"

18:00 "Karpaty" - "Kryvbas"

Sunday, November 9

13:00 "Oleksandriya" - "Polissya"

15:30 "Dynamo" - LNZ"

18:00 "Shakhtar" - "Poltava"

Monday, November 3

15:30 "LNZ" - "Karpaty"

18:00 "Polissya" - "Metalist 1925"

"Zorya" (Luhansk). Profile

Year of foundation - 1923

Club colors - black and white

President - Yevheniy Geller

Head coach - Yuriy Koval

Official website - zarya-lugansk.com

Historical background: The club's history began in 1923 when a football club named "Metalist" was founded in Luhansk. However, the team existed under this name for only 13 years, then changed its name to "Dzerzhynets," "Trudovi Rezervy," until in 1964 the team was named "Zorya" (it is worth noting that from 1992 to 1995 "Zorya" played in the Ukrainian championships with the addition of "MALC," "Zorya-MALC").

The greatest success of Luhansk football was achieved in the early 1970s. In 1972, "Zorya" became the champion of the USSR, and in 1974 and 1975, the team reached the final of the USSR Cup.

After Ukraine gained independence, "Zorya" started competing in the Ukrainian Premier League. However, after five seasons in the "elite," "Zorya" was relegated to the First League. In the lower divisions of Ukrainian football, the Luhansk team spent as many as ten seasons. When in 2006 it returned to the top Ukrainian football division. Since then, "Zorya" has not left the "elite." After 2014, the team moved to Zaporizhzhia, where it began to be based and play home matches. After that, the team won the bronze medals of the UPL four times and became a finalist of the Cup twice. After the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, "Zorya" once again changed its base and moved to the capital of the country, where the team continues to play.

Last season, the team finished 7th with 40 points. Interestingly, the team was led by the current coach of "Metalist 1925" - Mladen Bartulovich.

Achievements: USSR Champion - 1972

USSR Cup Finalist - 1974, 1975

Ukrainian SSR Champion - 1938, 1962, 1986

Ukrainian Premier League Bronze Medalist - 2016/2017, 2019/2020, 2020/2021

Ukrainian Cup Finalist - 2015/2016, 2020/2021

First League Champion - 2005/2006

First League Bronze Medalist - 2004/2005

Second League Champion - 2002/2003

Second League Silver Medalist - 1998/1999

Geography: The fan base of FC "Zorya" covers not only the native region but also a wide part of Ukraine. The main core of fans is in Luhansk. After the club's forced relocation, support grew in Zaporizhzhia, which was a temporary shelter for the team. The team is also actively supported in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, and other major cities where displaced persons from Donbas live. Over the years of participating in European competitions, "Zorya" has gained the sympathy of neutral fans across Ukraine, so today the club has a wide and diverse fan base - from East to West of the country.

Head coach: The head coach of "Zorya" is 55-year-old Viktor Skrypnyk.

Playing career: "Dnipro" (Dnipropetrovsk) (1986-1989), "Metalurh" (Zaporizhzhia) (1989-1991), "Metalurh" (Zaporizhzhia) (1992 - 1994), "Dnipro" (Dnipropetrovsk) (1994 - 1996), "Werder" (Bremen) (1996 - 2004).

Coaching career: "Werder" U17 (Bremen) (2008 - 2013), "Werder II" (Bremen) (2013-2014), "Werder" (Bremen) (2014-2016), "Riga" (Riga) (2018-2019), "Zorya" (Luhansk) (2019-2022), "Vorskla" (Poltava) (2022-2023), "Metalist 1925 (Kharkiv) (2023-2024).

Transfermarkt: According to the portal, the most expensive player in the team is Brazilian Jordan, whose value is 1 million euros. The team also includes players from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia.

The total value of the team's squad is 10,850,000 euros, placing the team in 9th place in the list of the most expensive teams in the UPL. The average age of the players is 25.5 years.