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First Bronze in History — and Straight to the Conference League: What Polissia's Season Means for Ukrainian Football

The Zhytomyr club, founded in 2014, finished in the top-3 of the UPL for the first time and has already twice qualified for the Conference League. This is no coincidence — it is a new benchmark for clubs outside the "big two."

Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik

By Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik

May 25, 2026 · 2 min read

First Bronze in History — and Straight to the Conference League: What Polissia's Season Means for Ukrainian Football

In the final round of the 2025/26 UPL season, FC Polissia defeated Lviv's Rukh and officially secured the bronze medals. For the first time in the club's history — and for the first time during the dominance of Dynamo and Shakhtar — the team from Zhytomyr reached the third place on the podium.

Not symbolically, but practically

Bronze is not just a ceremony and a certificate. According to UAF regulations, the fourth-place team in the UPL starts in the second qualifying round of the Conference League. Polissia already knows its potential opponent: from the draw in Nyon on June 18, the Zhytomyr team will face the winner of the "Borac" (Bosnia and Herzegovina) — "Santa Coloma" (Andorra) pair. The matches are scheduled for July 24 and 31, with the first match at home.

For the club, this is already the third consecutive European cup cycle: in the 2024/25 season, the "wolves" lost in Q2 to Slovenian Olimpija (1:2, 0:2), and in the Conference League 2025/26, they passed two opponents, including Santa Coloma from Andorra. Experience is accumulating.

Rotan: "bronze is the ceiling for now"

"For our club, UPL bronze is currently the ceiling of possibilities"

Ruslan Rotan, head coach of FC Polissia

The coach, who led Oleksandriia to silver last season and then moved to Zhytomyr, formulates the task without pretense. This pragmatism is part of the method: the club does not simulate ambitions that it cannot support with budget.

2,000,000 UAH from GGBET — and the question of the ceiling

Official club sponsor GGBET presented Polissia with a certificate for 2,000,000 hryvnia after the final whistle at the awards ceremony. For comparison: UEFA prize money for just participating in the group stage of the Conference League is in the millions of euros — meaning a single qualifying round advancement exceeds any sponsorship bonus many times over.

The 2025/26 UPL season also recorded another "first": Cherkasy LNZ won silver for the first time in its history — and will also compete in European cups. Two clubs from outside the capital and Donetsk in European competitions simultaneously — this last happened a long time ago.

  • Dynamo — champion, Champions League, second qualifying round
  • LNZ (Cherkasy) — silver, Conference League
  • Polissia (Zhytomyr) — bronze, Conference League, Q2 against Borac/Santa Coloma

If Polissia makes it to the group stage of the Conference League for the first time — will Rotan remain on the bench, or will the club become a springboard for a coach with even higher ambitions?

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May 26, 2026