Belarusian Premier League

The Belarusian Premier League, also called The Belarusbank Premier League for sponsorship reasons, or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga,(Belarusian: Вышэйшая ліга, Russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusian Football Federation. The number of teams in the competition has varied over the years from as high as 17 (1992–93 season) to as low as 11 (2012). As of 2016, the league included 16 teams. Each team plays every other team twice during the course of the season. At the end of the season, the two teams with the fewest points are automatically relegated to the Belarusian First League, while the third worst team plays a promotion-relegation playoff against the third best team from the second tier. The top two teams from the Belarusian First League automatically win promotion to the Premier League. Shakhtyor Soligorsk are the current champions, after winning their second championship title in 2021.

Belarusian Premier League
Founded1992; 32 years ago (1992)
CountryBelarus
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams16
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toBelarusian First League
Domestic cup(s)Belarusian Cup
Belarusian Super Cup
International cup(s)UEFA Champions League
UEFA Conference League
Current championsDinamo Minsk (8th title)
(2023)
Most championshipsBATE Borisov (15 titles)
Top goalscorerRaman Vasilyuk (218 goals)
TV partnersBelarus 5
Websiteabff.by
Current: 2024 Belarusian Premier League

History

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The Belarusian Premier League was organized in 1992. The first participants were: Dinamo Minsk, the only Belarusian side in the former Soviet Top League, five teams from the lower tiers of the Soviet league system and represented other five regional centers of Belarus, and ten teams who were previous competitors in the Belarusian SSR First League.

After the league creation, it was decided to change its schedule from a Soviet-style summer season to a European-style winter season. In 1995, the winter season experiment was proven unsuccessful due to poor weather and field conditions in Belarus in the late autumn and early spring. The season was changed back to summer. Every season since 1996 has been played in the summer. Throughout the 2000s, the number of competing teams has changed several times. 2012 season was played with only 11 teams due to last minute withdrawal of Partizan Minsk.

In its earliest years, the league was dominated by Dinamo Minsk, who won the league five times in a row between 1992 and 1995. During the next ten seasons, seven different teams finished as champions: Slavia Mozyr (1996 as MPKC Mozyr, 2000), Dinamo Minsk (1997, 2004), Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev (1998), BATE Borisov (1999, 2002), Belshina Bobruisk (2001), Gomel (2003), Shakhtyor Soligorsk (2005). Since 2006, BATE Borisov has dominated the league, winning 13 championships in a row (2006–2018).

In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all the other football leagues in Europe were postponed, and by the end of the month, the Belarusian Premier League was the only top-flight league in the continent that was still playing.[1] Due to this, the league gained substantially increased viewership from abroad, with fans from all over the world watching the games online, due to the league being the only significant professional football available; the league signed new television rights deals with networks from countries including Russia and India.[2][3] Matches were also streamed on the Belarusian Football Federation's YouTube channel.[4] British betting companies also offered odds for the various matches,[clarification needed] as the league's profile, previously relatively unknown outside of the country, grew a larger audience due to sporting inactivity elsewhere.[5][6]

Premier League in 2023

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Team Location Venue Capacity Position in 2022
BATE Borisov Borisov Arena 12,896 3rd
Belshina Bobruisk Spartak Stadium 3,700 12th
Dinamo Minsk Minsk Dinamo Stadium 22,000 4th
Dynamo Brest Brest OSK Brestsky 10,060 13th
Energetik-BGU Minsk RCOR-BGU Stadium 1,500 2nd
Gomel Gomel Central Stadium 14,307 7th
Isloch Minsk Raion FC Minsk Stadium 3,000 5th
Minsk Minsk FC Minsk Stadium 3,000 6th
Naftan Novopolotsk Atlant Stadium 5,300 1st (First League)
Neman Grodno Neman Stadium 8,500 9th
Shakhtyor Soligorsk Stroitel Stadium 4,200 1st
Slavia Mozyr Yunost Stadium 5,300 10th
Slutsk Slutsk City Stadium 1,896 11th
Smorgon Smorgon Yunost Stadium 3,200 2nd (First League)
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino Torpedo Stadium 3,020 8th

Soviet era champions

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Champions and top scorers

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Season Champion Runner-up Third place Top scorer
Dinamo Minsk (1) Dnepr Mogilev Dinamo Brest   Andrey Skorobogatko (Dnepr Mogilev) (11)
Dinamo Minsk (2) KIM Vitebsk Belarus Minsk   Sergey Baranovsky (Dinamo Minsk) (19)
  Miroslav Romaschenko (Vedrich Rechitsa / Dnepr Mogilev) (19)
Dinamo Minsk (3) Dinamo-93 Minsk KIM Vitebsk   Pyotr Kachuro (Dinamo-93 Minsk / Dinamo Minsk) (21)
Dinamo Minsk (4) Dvina Vitebsk Dinamo-93 Minsk   Pavel Shavrov (Dinamo-93 Minsk) (19)
Dinamo Minsk (5) MPKC Mozyr Dinamo-93 Minsk   Sergey Yaromko (MPKC Mozyr) (16)
MPKC Mozyr (1) Dinamo Minsk Belshina Bobruisk   Andrey Khlebasolaw (Belshina Bobruisk) (34)
Dinamo Minsk (6) Belshina Bobruisk Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk   Andrey Khlebasolaw (Belshina Bobruisk) (19)
Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev (1) BATE Borisov Belshina Bobruisk   Sergey Yaromko (Torpedo Minsk) (19)
BATE Borisov (1) Slavia Mozyr Gomel   Valery Strypeykis (Slavia Mozyr) (21)
Slavia Mozyr (2) BATE Borisov Dinamo Minsk   Raman Vasilyuk (Slavia Mozyr) (31)
Belshina Bobruisk (1) Dinamo Minsk BATE Borisov   Sergei Davydov (Neman-Belcard Grodno) (25)
BATE Borisov (2) Neman Grodno Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Valery Strypeykis (Belshina Bobruisk) (18)
Gomel (1) BATE Borisov Dinamo Minsk   Gennadi Bliznyuk (Gomel) (18)
  Sergei Kornilenko (Dinamo Minsk) (18)
Dinamo Minsk (7) BATE Borisov Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Valery Strypeykis (Naftan Novopolotsk) (18)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (1) Dinamo Minsk MTZ-RIPO Minsk   Valery Strypeykis (Naftan Novopolotsk) (16)
BATE Borisov (3) Dinamo Minsk Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Alyaksandr Klimenka (Shakhtyor Soligorsk) (17)
BATE Borisov (4) Gomel Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Raman Vasilyuk (Gomel) (24)
BATE Borisov (5) Dinamo Minsk MTZ-RIPO Minsk   Gennadi Bliznyuk (BATE Borisov) (16)
  Vitali Rodionov (BATE Borisov) (16)
BATE Borisov (6) Dinamo Minsk Dnepr Mogilev   Maycon (Gomel) (15)
BATE Borisov (7) Shakhtyor Soligorsk Minsk   Renan Bressan (BATE Borisov) (15)
BATE Borisov (8) Shakhtyor Soligorsk Gomel   Renan Bressan (BATE Borisov) (13)
BATE Borisov (9) Shakhtyor Soligorsk Dinamo Minsk   Dzmitry Asipenka (Shakhtyor Soligorsk) (14)
BATE Borisov (10) Shakhtyor Soligorsk Dinamo Minsk   Vitali Rodionov (BATE Borisov) (14)
BATE Borisov (11) Dinamo Minsk Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Mikalay Yanush (Shakhtyor Soligorsk) (15)
BATE Borisov (12) Dinamo Minsk Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Mikalay Yanush (Shakhtyor Soligorsk) (15)
BATE Borisov (13) Shakhtyor Soligorsk Dinamo Minsk   Vitali Rodionov (BATE Borisov) (16)
  Mikhail Gordeichuk (BATE Borisov) (16)
BATE Borisov (14) Dinamo Minsk Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Mikhail Gordeichuk (BATE Borisov) (18)
BATE Borisov (15) Shakhtyor Soligorsk Dinamo Minsk   Pavel Savitski (Dinamo Brest) (15)
Dynamo Brest (1) BATE Borisov Shakhtyor Soligorsk   Ilya Shkurin (Energetik-BGU Minsk) (19)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (2) BATE Borisov Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino   Maksim Skavysh (BATE Borisov) (19)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (3) BATE Borisov Dinamo Minsk   Dembo Darboe (Shakhtyor Soligorsk) (19)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk Energetik-BGU Minsk BATE Borisov   Bobur Abdikholikov (Energetik-BGU Minsk) (26)
Dinamo Minsk (8) Neman Grodno Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino   Vladislav Morozov (Dinamo Minsk) (16)

Performances

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Performance by club

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Teams Champion Runner-up Third place
BATE Borisov 15 (1999, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) 7 (1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2019, 2020, 2021) 2 (2001, 2022)
Dinamo Minsk 8 (1992, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2023) 9 (1996, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017) 7 (2000, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk 3 (2005, 2020, 2021) 6 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018) 8 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Slavia Mozyr 2 (1996, 2000) 2 (1995, 1999)
Gomel 1 (2003) 1 (2007) 2 (1999, 2011)
Belshina Bobruisk 1 (2001) 1 (1997) 2 (1996, 1998)
Dnepr Mogilev 1 (1998) 1 (1992) 1 (2009)
Dynamo Brest 1 (2019) 1 (1992)
Vitebsk 2 (1992–93, 1994–95) 2 (1993–94, 1997)
Neman Grodno 2 (2002, 2023)
Dinamo-93 Minsk 1 (1993–94) 3 (1992–93, 1994–95, 1995)
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 2 (2020, 2023)
Partizan Minsk 2 (2005, 2008)
Minsk 1 (2010)

All-time table

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As of end of 2023 season.
Club1 Seasons Debut Last
Season
Pld2 W D L Goals Points3 Best Result
Dinamo Minsk 33 1992 939 560 202 177 1701–794 1882 1st (1992, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2023)
BATE Borisov 26 1998 758 496 157 105 1493–598 1645 1st (1999, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk 33 1992 939 467 222 252 1413–921 1578 1st (2005, 2020, 2021)(2022)
Neman Grodno 33 1992 940 349 243 348 1080–1115 1290 2nd (2002, 2023)
Dinamo Brest 33 1992 939 333 232 374 1179–1235 1231 1st (2019)
Gomel 27 1992 739 290 167 282 1043–929 1037 1st (2003)
Vitebsk 27 1992 2022 761 271 201 289 859–933 1014 2nd (1992–93, 1994–95)
Dnepr Mogilev 26 1992 2022 737 264 179 284 934–962 971 1st (1998)
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 24 1992 689 260 182 247 822–789 962 3rd (2020, 2023)
Belshina Bobruisk 23 1993–94 2023 666 233 151 282 876–952 839 1st (2001)
Slavia Mozyr 21 1995 596 217 143 246 826–878 764 1st (1996, 2000)
Naftan Novopolotsk 22 1996 643 196 136 311 744–1002 719 4th (2009)
Minsk 16 2007 474 161 121 191 566–609 605 3rd (2010)
Torpedo Minsk 15 1992 2019 428 158 115 155 481–475 589 4th (2002, 2003)
Dinamo-93 Minsk 7 1992–93 1998 181 99 43 39 296–157 340 2nd (1993–94)
Slutsk 10 2014 293 86 74 133 284–394 332 7th (2017)
Isloch Minsk Raion 8 2016 236 92 53 91 292–313 329 4th (2023)
Molodechno-2000 12 1992 2003 323 80 80 163 339–490 320 4th (1994–95)
Partizan Minsk 7 2004 2010 198 80 42 76 288–281 282 3rd (2005, 2008)
Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev 10 1992 2000 271 64 76 131 266–444 268 7th (1992)
Energetik-BGU Minsk 9 2002 2023 258 71 58 129 305–451 248 2nd (2022)
Gorodeya 5 2016 2020 149 44 50 55 162–184 182 7th (2019)
Vedrich-97 Rechitsa 8 1992 2001 208 46 44 118 167–327 182 8th (1992)
Darida Minsk Raion 6 2003 2008 168 44 38 86 165–252 170 8th (2006)
Bobruisk 5 1992 1995 122 44 34 44 119–145 166 4th (1992)
Lida 7 1992 2000 182 38 46 98 144–289 160 8th (1994–95)
Granit Mikashevichi 4 2008 2016 112 31 35 46 112–161 128 5th (2015)
Smorgon 5 2007 139 28 38 73 112–239 124 8th (2008)
Ataka Minsk 3 1995 1997 75 29 16 30 86–93 103 4th (1995)
Rukh Brest 2 2020 2021 59 26 21 12 106–66 99 5th (2021)
Lokomotiv Minsk 4 2003 2008 112 23 25 64 100–187 94 11th (2005)
Lokomotiv Vitebsk 4 1992 1994–95 107 22 27 58 82–181 93 10th (1993–94)
Kommunalnik Slonim 3 1997 2000 89 15 17 57 66–191 62 11th (1997)
Stroitel Starye Dorogi 3 1992 1993–94 77 14 18 45 48–117 60 14th (1992, 1992–93)
Krumkachy Minsk 2 2016 2017 60 14 16 30 50–86 58 11th (2016)
Smolevichi 2 2018 2020 59 8 14 37 48–111 38 15th (2018)
Transmash Mogilev 1 1997 1997 30 8 4 18 30–52 28 14th (1997)
Dnyapro Mogilev 1 2019 2019 29 7 6 16 29–42 25 14th (2019)
Luch Minsk 1 2018 2018 30 4 12 14 24–44 24 13th (2018)
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 1 2022 2022 30 5 8 17 18–42 23 14th (2022)
Savit Mogilev 1 2008 2008 30 5 6 19 28–61 21 15th (2008)
Svisloch-Krovlya Osipovichi 1 1999 1999 30 4 4 22 24–74 16 15th (1999)
Sputnik Rechitsa 1 2021 2021 15 2 1 12 12–37 7 16th (2021)
  1. For clubs that have been renamed, their name at the time of their most recent season in the Premier League is given. The current members are listed in bold.
  2. Includes 2002 championship play-off, 2004 relegation play-off, 14 games of Dinamo-93 in 1998 season, 15 games of Torpedo Minsk in 2019 season, and 15 games of Sputnik Rechitsa in 2021 season.
  3. For the purposes of this table, each win is worth 3 points. The three-points system was adopted in fall 1995 season.

Player of the year

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Belarusian Premier League Player of the year is an annual award given by a sports newspaper Pressball.

Season Player Club
1992
  Valyantsin Byalkevich Dinamo Minsk
1992–93
  Sergey Gotsmanov Dinamo Minsk
1993–94
  Yury Shukanov Dinamo Minsk
1994–95
  Valyantsin Byalkevich Dinamo Minsk
1995
  Valyantsin Byalkevich Dinamo Minsk
1996
  Alyaksandr Kulchy MPKC Mozyr
1997
  Andrei Lavrik Dinamo Minsk
1998
  Oleg Kononov Torpedo Minsk
1999
  Dmitri Karsakov Slavia Mozyr
2000
  Aleksandr Lisovskiy BATE Borisov
2001
  Vitali Kutuzov BATE Borisov
2002
  Dzmitry Likhtarovich BATE Borisov
2003
  Timofei Kalachev Shakhtyor Soligorsk
2004
  Andrey Razin Dinamo Minsk
2005
  Vital Valadzyankow Dinamo Minsk
2006
  Oleg Strakhanovich MTZ-RIPO Minsk
2007
  Raman Vasilyuk Gomel
2008
  Vitali Rodionov BATE Borisov
2009
  Sergey Krivets BATE Borisov
2010
  Renan Bressan BATE Borisov
2011
  Renan Bressan BATE Borisov
2012
  Stanislaw Drahun Dinamo Minsk
2013
  Alexander Hleb BATE Borisov
2014
  Ihar Stasevich Dinamo Minsk
2015
  Ihar Stasevich BATE Borisov
2016
  Ihar Stasevich BATE Borisov
2017
  Mikhail Gordeichuk BATE Borisov
2018
  Ihar Stasevich BATE Borisov
2019
  Ihar Stasevich BATE Borisov

Reserves League

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An annual league competition is organized for the reserve teams of Premier League clubs since 2001. This tournament was won by the reserves of Dinamo Minsk (9 titles), Gomel (2 titles), Shakhtyor Soligorsk (2 titles), BATE Borisov (1 title), Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino (1 title) and Dnepr Mogilev (1 title).

Notes

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  1. ^ a team of the Belarusian Military District
  2. ^ a team of the Home of the Red Army (Home of the Red Army is a special organization and used to include sports section preceding the Army Sports Club (SKA))

References

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  1. ^ Smith, Rory (24 March 2020). "All Alone, Belarus Plays On". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Coronavirus: Belarus Premier League attracts global attention as it plays on". BBC News. 29 March 2020. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Last league standing: Belarusian football basks in new-found popularity". The Guardian. 29 March 2020. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  4. ^ Harris, Christopher (2020-04-12). "Belarusian Premier League streaming live games on YouTube for free". World Soccer Talk. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  5. ^ Pettigrove, Jason (3 April 2020). "Belarusian Premier League: Betting tips, predictions and teams to watch". Betfair. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  6. ^ McMahon, Alex (9 April 2020). "Belarusian Premier League Betting: Tips, News & Belarus Football Guide". 888sport. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
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