As befits a favorite, the footballers of "Polsia" not only returned from vacation first but also managed to take on an opponent in a friendly match during their training camp in Turkey.

Their opponent was a fourth-division team from Germany's championship — "Luckenwalde". In the middle of the first half, after a multi-pass combination, Yevgen Morozko opened the scoring, and near the end of the match, Yan Morgovskiy scored again, forcing the opposing goalkeeper to concede. 2:0.

So far, only Bohdan Krushynsky from "Lviv" has joined the ranks of Polissya's squad, with whom a five-year contract was signed. One of the assistant coaches to head coach Yuri Kalitvinets is former national team player Serhiy Nazarenko.

Players from "Dinamo-Zorya" and "LNZ" have also already started preparing for new challenges. For the team from Vishhorod, Sergei Yichansky, Oleh Vakulenko, Vladyslav Harnat, Bohdan Dukhot, Maxim Kulish, and Richmond Chukwuyemeka will no longer be playing. On January 21, under the guidance of Oleksandr Golovko, they will take part in the Oleg Makarov Memorial.

As for the players from Chernihiv, they will initially train at home and then travel to Lviv towards the end of January where they will prepare on the away base of "Rukh" for a month.

Striker Oleksiy Khoblenko will continue his career with "Karpaty". Photo by FC Karpaty

"Karpaty" plan to return from vacation on January 23, in February they will conduct one of their training stages in Husi, which is located in Zakarpattia. The green-and-whites have ended their cooperation with veteran Andriy Tkachuk and Yurii Repeta. Goalkeeper Oleksandr Ilyushchenkov from "Lviv" has returned to "Karpaty", striker Oleksiy Khoblenko on loan from "Kryvyi Rih", and utility player Ivan Bobko on loan from "Chornomorets" will also play for the team.

The Ternopil-based "Niva" has extended contracts with Ihor Hatalo, Maxim Demchuk, and Andriy Malatschuk.

The Chernivtsi-based "Bukovyna" will start preparing for the spring part of the season at the beginning of February. By mutual agreement, cooperation has ended with experienced midfielder Yevhen Chepurnenko. At the end of February, Bukovynians will participate in a tournament in Chernivtsi where among their opponents will be first-league teams "Prykarpattia" and "Niva".

And finally, about changes on the coaching staff at "Hirnyk-Sport", which Igor Zhabchenko will no longer lead. The club's management will soon decide on a new coach.