Serious competition in the second league starts on August 4. Unlike last season, there are no clear contenders for promotion such as Myriv's "Druzhba," "Zvyagel," or "YUKSA." Therefore, one can expect a rather tense battle for spots in the top group.

Teams from the third-ranked domestic division returned from vacation somewhat later and only recently became active with friendly matches. There are objective reasons for this, including newcomer "Probiy" from Horodok, which was involved in decisive games for the title of Ukraine's strongest amateur team.

Currently, strong positions appear to be held by "Skala 1911," which felt quite confident in sparring matches with more famous teams. Striy managed to retain most of its key players and gave a good fight to elite "Vorskla" — drawing 1-2 after an even game, as well as tying with "Prykarpattia" — 2-2.

Kremenchuk's "Kremen" and "Hirnyk-Sport" do not intend to stay long in the second league despite significant personnel losses during the offseason. Specifically, Kremenchuk's team lost ten players at once, so the coaching staff needed time to find suitable replacements. However, gradually under the guidance of experienced coach Igor Klimovskiy, the team stabilized their play, allowing them not to yield to elite "Ingul" — 0-0 and take the lead over Zaporizhzhia's "Metallurg" — 1-0 and "Hirnyk-Sport" — 2-1. In turn, the team from Goryshhyne Pлавни recorded a victory over "Vorskla-2" — 3-1.

Vinnytsia's "Niva" has not yet announced its plans for the season, possibly because it is unclear whether playing president and top scorer Arthur Zagorulko will remain, as he wants to try his luck in a more prestigious team. Under Yuri Yaroshenko's guidance, the team deserves credit for their resilience: in friendlies they competed with "Chornomorets" and "Pidlyay," drawing 2-2 and 3-3 respectively, while in the lost match against "Polesia-2," they were hindered by gross defensive errors. However, there is still time to work on defense reliability.

Several other second league teams representing UPL are also planning to participate in the first round, mainly featuring young football players. For them, the main goal is to have proper playing practice and try to attract attention from managers of the main squad with their actions.