The Ukrainian Premier League officially wrapped up the first month of the 2026/27 season. Based on the combined voting of experts and fans, all the key individual awards for August went to representatives of a single club — Lviv's Karpaty. This is reported by Sport RBC.UA, citing the official UPL website. This outcome has become a clear signal that it is the Lviv team that is setting the tone in the opening stretch of the new championship.
August's Best Player — Yan Kostenko
In the "Player of the Month" category, the winner was 23-year-old Karpaty striker Yan Kostenko. In August, the forward took part in three of his team's winning matches, scored two goals, and consistently made it into the symbolic team of the rounds. It was precisely his goal-scoring record and consistency that proved decisive in the final vote count.
Voting: where the experts and fans diverged
Notably, in the UPL TV and media experts' voting, Kostenko finished only second, trailing his teammate Felipe Vieira. However, the fans gave the majority of their votes to the Ukrainian striker — 31%. In the overall total, Yan Kostenko scored 53.3% of the points and topped the ratings, ahead of Felipe (38.2%) and Zhytomyr's Polissya midfielder Vladyslav Veletnya (25.1%).
Month's Best Coach — Fran Fernandez
In the "Coach of the Month" category, an outright victory was secured by Karpaty head coach Francisco (Fran) Fernandez. Under his guidance, the Lviv team collected 10 points out of 12 available: they beat Kryvbas (4:1), LNZ (3:0), and Bukovyna (3:0), and drew with Levyi Bereh (1:1). The Spanish specialist took first place both in the experts' version (46.8%) and in the fans' voting (55.2%), scoring a combined 102%. Second place went to Polissya's coach Ruslan Rotan (54%), and third — to Epitsentr's coach Serhiy Nahorniak (38.4%).
Context: Ukrainian referees in the Champions League
Against the backdrop of the UPL's domestic awards, the international context is also worth noting: it was previously announced that Ukrainian referees would be officiating a Champions League match involving PSG. Thus, the first month of the new season has cemented Ukrainian football's significant role both at the domestic and the European level.
