The Ukrainian Football Association (UFA) by the signature of its General Secretary, Igor Gryshchenko, sent a letter to President of the Premier League OPU "Premier League," Yevgeny Diky regarding the situation with FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk).

Dear Mr. Yevgeny Sergeyevich,

In response to your letter dated 07/16/2024, No. 438 concerning the situation with FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) for the season 2024/2025, we inform you as follows.

According to the Agreement between UFA and UPL on organizing and conducting All-Ukrainian football competitions among club teams of UPL, UFA delegated to UPL the authority to organize and conduct football competitions among club teams of UPL, including the Ukrainian Championship. Among the rights and obligations delegated to UPL is the direct organization, conduct, and operational management of competitions as well as conducting applications (admissions) for team participation in UPL competitions.

From your letter, it appears that FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) did not comply with the provisions of the Regulation on organizing competitions of UPL regarding the submission of application documentation within the established deadlines set by the UPL Board for participation in the competition and payment of a portion of the annual application fee for the season 2024/2025 approved at General Meetings of UPL. Your letter also states that the club is deprived of the right to register new football players and does not respond to letters from UPL regarding the situation within the club.

According to your letter, after analyzing this information, clubs initiated the consideration by UFA of appropriate procedural actions concerning revoking FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk)’s accreditation for admission to club competitions of UPL for the season 2024/2025.

Considering this, we inform you as follows.

FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) as a candidate for obtaining UFA accreditation and UEFA license according to the procedure and main assessment process provided all necessary documentation to UFA regarding compliance with minimum requirements in legal, sports, infrastructure, personnel-administrative, financial criteria, and football social responsibility criteria, including additional information for the decision-making body to make an informed decision within the context of club compliance with regulation criteria.

It should be noted that at the time of making the decision, FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) declared the existence of overdue foreign player/team creditorship as a result of contractual (transfer) obligations arising from the inability to obtain all necessary documents for currency payments from other parties according to Ukrainian law in conditions of martial law. The accuracy of this information was confirmed by an audit firm in its independent auditor's report on the annual financial statement for 2023.

Also, considering club monitoring requirements, FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) systematically informed UEFA about the current status of obligations arising within the club and difficulties with international operations - currency restrictions established by law in conditions of martial law.

Additionally, by letter dated 06/03/2024, FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) informed that it is capable of continuing its future activities related to participation of the team in club football competitions for the season 2024/2025 and also stated that it does not find itself in a bankruptcy state or have any intention, need to liquidate, cease statutory activity, including absence of significant economic events which could negatively impact the club's ability to pay its obligations continuously.

As of today, UFA has not received notifications from FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) or UEFA regarding any event that occurred after submission of accreditation/license documentation and which could constitute a significant change relative to previously provided information or condition of great economic importance. We also inform you that the fact of registration ban for new football players is not a violation, therefore it is not seen as a possible basis for denial of accreditation or its revocation. Additionally, we inform that according to UFA's Information-Analytical Database data as of today FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) has registered sufficient number of players for participation in competitions.

Thus, considering the information available at UFA and received from your letter, we inform that there are no grounds to consider the issue of revoking accreditation for admission of FC "Dnipro-1" (Dnipropetrovsk) to club competitions of UPL for the season 2024/2025 as of today.

However, we draw your attention to the necessity of fulfilling obligations transferred to UPL under the above-mentioned Agreement on organizing and conducting All-Ukrainian football competitions among club teams of UPL.

According to Article 10(3) of the Statute of OPU "Premier League," a participant may be excluded from the composition of UPL in case of significant violations of statutory and regulatory norms and decisions of UPL, UFA, UEFA, and FIFA, including in cases of non-compliance with obligations or financial liabilities (including contributions and other payments in accordance with and amounts established at general meetings), or in case of hindrance by actions or inaction to the functioning of UPL and its participants.

Considering the above, we inform you that the issue of team applications (admissions) for participation in competitions and continuation of membership among competition participants of UPL is exclusively within the competence of UPL, therefore we request to take further decisions on this matter within the competence of UPL as provided by the Statute of UPL, Agreement on organizing and conducting All-Ukrainian football competitions among club teams of UPL, and tournament regulations.