Ukrainian First League (Persha Liha) - the second tier of professional club football in Ukraine, organised by the Professional Football League under the overall authority of the Ukrainian Association of Football. Regulations: the league is played as a double round-robin in two rounds across autumn-spring, each team plays every opponent home and away, 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss, rankings are determined by points and, if teams are level on points, the tie-breakers are applied in this order: points in head-to-head matches, head-to-head goal difference, head-to-head goals scored, overall goal difference, overall goals scored, with head-to-head calculations applied across all teams tied on points. Under the current PFL regulations, the teams finishing 1st and 2nd earn promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League subject to UPL regulations and club licensing, the 3rd and 4th placed teams enter a two-leg promotion play-off against the 14th and 13th placed UPL teams respectively, the 15th and 16th placed teams are relegated to the Ukrainian Second League, and the 13th and 14th placed First League teams play a two-leg relegation play-off against the 4th and 3rd placed Second League teams, with the winner decided on aggregate and, if level, extra time and penalties in the second leg.
