To avoid repeating past mistakes, Chernivtsi's team decided to focus on selection work during the off-season due to problems with a short bench of substitutes. They invited an experienced coach, Serhiy Shyshchenko, and recruited a whole group of newcomers who previously played in the UPL: goalkeeper Herman Pienkov from LNZ, defenders Taras Sakiv from "Karpaty" and Petr Stasyuk, midfielders Vitaliy Grusha, Vadim Vitenchuk, Danylo Karasyi (all from "Obolon"), Yevhen Podlepennyi ("Karpaty") and Vitaliy Dahnovskyi ("Veres").

By strengthening their squads, Bukovyna seems to have decided to challenge for the title this off-season, as they defeated "Skala 1911" and "Metalist" by scores of 4-0 each and "Uzhhorod" by 5-0 in early friendlies. It looks like Bukovyna will be the main contender for promotion to the UPL.

Chornomorets and Ingulets could pose a challenge, but these teams have yet to finalize their main squads.

After dropping out of the elite division, Vorzel found itself without its head coach and almost all key players. On July 14, Poltava will present their new coach — Oleksandr Babych, who previously served as sports director for Chornomorets, but he will have little time to properly strengthen his squad.

A much more stable situation exists with Agrobusiness, whose Podolian results in friendly matches show four wins (including a 3-2 victory over "Karpaty") and two draws. By the way, Agrobusiness has signed left-back Andriy Bogoslavskyi, who previously played for futsal team "Uragan" from Ivano-Frankivsk.

Debutant "Probiy" does not intend to waste time and aims to become a threat to the established teams, finishing in the top six. Horodnytsia has worked hard on strengthening their squad while retaining all key players.

FK YUKSA, "Prikarpattya-Blago" and "Podillya" aim to perform better than they did in the previous season.

The only team that has yet to begin preparations for the new season is Minay, although on August 2 Zakarpattia will host Metalist in their opening match of the calendar.