UPL season 2026/27 opens with record 1.8 million viewers

The opening round of the 2026/27 Ukrainian Premier League season delivered record television numbers. Analytics company BigData ua reported 1.8 million viewers across OTT and IPTV platforms, a 38.5% increase compared with the opening round of the previous campaign. Shakhtar's 5-1 victory over Kudrivka was the clear highlight, attracting more than 444,000 viewers. Chornomorets' home clash with Polissia, which ended 1-2, drew 276,000, while Kharkiv's 1-0 win against Veres rounded out the top three with 235,000. The impressive figures came despite an incomplete fixture list. Seven of eight scheduled matches were played; the game between Dynamo Kyiv and Livyi Bereh was postponed and is now set for December 2.