Overview
The season 2011–12 was the league's fourth after the break-away from the Professional Football League (PFL) in 2008 and 21st season from the break-up of the Soviet Top League. Until 2007 the league was subsidized by the government and from an economic point of view was not a profitable organization. To solve that issue, the League have tried to attract a few sponsors since the 2007 season: Soyuz-Viktan and Biolaa. On April 15, 2008 the new Premier-League was formed. Since its formation the title sponsor of the League became the national network of the construction supermarkets EpiCentre K. The new sports organization is a completely independent entity and consists of 16 football club organizations under the guidance of the Football Federation of Ukraine.
With the new reorganization the format of the League was preserved, while the changes that were made were exclusively administrative. The teams that reach the top of the competition table at the end of each season as always gain the chance to represent Ukraine internationally in several prestigious tournaments (continental club tournaments). Also at the end of the season, the bottom two clubs are relegated to the First League (supervised by the Professional Football League) and replaced by the two top clubs from that league. All the participants of the Premier League enter the National Cup competition at the round of 32 (1/16th of the final) stage. Also the winner of the League at the beginning of every next season plays against the winner of the National Cup for the Ukrainian Super Cup.
As of 2011, Shakhtar Donetsk is the reigning Ukrainian Premier League champion. To summarise, Tavriya Simferopol won the first championship, while all the subsequent titles have gone to either Dynamo Kyiv or Shakhtar Donetsk. Only 4 teams, Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Tavriya Simferopol have participated in all 21 Ukrainian Vyshcha Liha competitions.
The league cooperates with the Professional Football League of Ukraine which governs the lower divisions. The PFL is an association that represents 55 Ukrainian professional football clubs, which are represented by 62 teams (a few clubs have more than one team, which play in different divisions). The professional league was organized in 1996 and until 2008 was responsible for the competitions in the Top division as well. Before that, Vyshcha Liha was governed solely and directly by the Football Federation of Ukraine.
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