After a long break caused by Russia's aggression, the training process is gradually being restored not only for participants of the UPL championship but also for representatives of the first league.

However, it is difficult to say exactly when the season will start in the second-ranked domestic football league, how many clubs will take part, and on what principle the competitions will be held. All dots over the "i" will be put at the Conference of the PFL, which will take place at the beginning of August. Although, according to PFL President Oleksandr Kadenko's words, compared to last year, there will be quite noticeable changes in the composition of participants. Due to various reasons, «Alliance», «Volyn», «Podillya», «Kramatorsk», «Agrobiznes» and «Uzhhorod» decided to suspend their performances on the national stage.

It is reassuring that, despite difficult times, there is a team in the first league that has the ability to conduct full training abroad. We are talking about Zhytomyr «Polesye», which has already been on a camp in neighboring Poland for two weeks. The versatile player Yevgen Morozko signed a one-year contract with Polischuk, who previously played on loan because he belonged to Kovalivskiy «Kolos». Zhytomyr residents do not hide their desire to rise in class.

The new entrant to the first league — Chernihiv «LNZ» — will try to win every match, although 15 players have already left the team during the off-season. However, this does not scare head coach Yuriy Bakalov, as several experienced players are currently being reviewed.

Lviv «Karpaty» do not intend to lag behind in the first league either, although they have stopped working with 13 players, including main goalkeeper Ivan Siletskyi, defense leader Serhiy Siminin and experienced forward Yevgen Budnyk. Lviv residents have already held talks with a large group of potential new recruits who are supposed to gather on July 11 for the first stage of preparation.

Zaporizhzhia «Metallurg» has also decided to try its strength in the first league, having already said goodbye to Oleksandr Ostapenko, Danylo Sidorenko, Ihor Zagalskyi and Vadym Chornyi. In turn, Serhiy Basov, Volodymyr Poliovyy, Bohdan Sokol, Vladyslav Borisenko, Maksym Vorobyev, Mykita Lapko, Ihor Levchenko, Bohdan Mogilnyi and Yegor Shalfeyev have extended their contracts with the club.

Players of «Prykarpattia» have already even managed to become winners of a charity tournament in support of the Armed Forces. In the decisive match, they defeated Lviv's «Ruh» — 2:1. Roman Kuzmin scored both goals for Ivano-Frankivsk.

&Laquo;Kremenchuk» held its first friendly match in the off-season, losing to a UPL representative, «Ingul», 1-4, although newcomer Oleksandr Vovdych opened the scoring with an accurate shot.