The UPL Board has approved the schedule for the fourth round of the Ukrainian championship, which opens on Friday, August 28, and concludes on Monday with the Bukovyna vs Dynamo match. The round's program features several key confrontations: Donbas-based Shakhtar, one of the leaders, will host their main title rival Polissya, while on Sunday Zarya will play at home against Kharkiv, where coaches Mladen Bartulovic and Viktor Skrypnyk will find themselves face to face with their former clubs. According to Sport RBC.UA, supported by BETKING, all matches in the round are accompanied by bookmaker odds that reflect the current form and standings of the participants.
UPL Round 4 Schedule
The round kicks off on Friday, August 28, with the Kolos vs Obolon match. On Saturday, August 29, three matches will take place: Kudrivka will host Epicentr, Left Bank will play Karpaty, and Shakhtar will face Polissya. Sunday, August 30, is reserved for the Chornomorets vs Kryvbas, LNS vs Veres, and Zarya vs Kharkiv matches. The fourth round will conclude on Monday, August 31, with the Bukovyna vs Dynamo match. The UPL Board has approved this distribution of games across the days.
Kolos vs Obolon: The First Chance for a Season Victory
In the history of head-to-head meetings in the top division, the teams have played six matches: one win for Obolon, five draws, and no wins for Kolos — the last encounter in Kovalivka ended in a 2:0 victory for the Kyiv side. The Kovalivka team approaches the match without any points from two games played (defeats to Zarya and Dynamo, with the second-round match against Chornomorets postponed), while the Kyiv side has earned two points in three rounds, drawing with Bukovyna and Kudrivka and losing to Epicentr. A separate problem for Obolon remains their attack: the team's goalless streak in the championship exceeds 400 minutes. BETKING odds: Kolos win — 1.76, draw — 3.49, Obolon win — 5.70.
Kudrivka vs Epicentr and Left Bank vs Karpaty: The Battle at the Bottom and Top of the Table
In the Kudrivka vs Epicentr pairing, both teams are in the lower part of the table, however the start has been more optimistic for the Kamianets-Podilskyi side: four points after three rounds compared to two for Kudrivka. Meanwhile, Epicentr is on a club-record streak of seven consecutive away matches with goals conceded and has three consecutive away draws. It is important to note that the visitors' top scorer Joaquin Sifuentes became a player of Lviv's Karpaty last week, so coach Serhiy Nahorniy will have to find new solutions in the front line. Odds: Kudrivka — 3.10, draw — 3.20, Epicentr — 2.40. In the second Saturday match, Karpaty, leading the table with nine points after three crushing victories, will try to continue their perfect start against Left Bank, who have earned two points in two draws in two games played (the first-round match was postponed). Odds: Left Bank — 3.66, draw — 3.60, Karpaty — 2.00.
Shakhtar vs Polissya: A Test of Championship Ambitions
The main match of the round will bring together two contenders for the top of the table. Arda Turan's Shakhtar won all three opening matches (including against Epicentr and Kharkiv) and, together with Karpaty, has nine points. Polissya has earned six points: victories over Kharkiv and Chornomorets and a defeat to Zarya in the third round. For the Donbas side, the Zhytomyr team is an uncomfortable opponent: in the UPL the "miners" beat Polissya only in the spring of this year (1:0), and in six head-to-head meetings in the top flight the balance is 1 win for Shakhtar, 3 for Polissya, and 2 draws. An additional factor for the Zhytomyr side is the significant European competition load at the start of the season. BETKING odds: Shakhtar win — 1.83, draw — 3.40, Polissya win — 4.75.
Zarya vs Kharkiv: Bartulovic vs Skrypnyk
The Sunday match in Luhansk will become a personal confrontation for two coaches: Mladen Bartulovic and Viktor Skrypnyk will meet their former clubs, which adds an additional emotional color to the Zarya vs Kharkiv match. For both teams, the game in the fourth round is an opportunity to strengthen their positions in the middle and upper part of the table against the backdrop of a tight schedule and postponements, characteristic of the current stretch of the championship.
Contradictory Data
The primary material is a preview of the fourth round, i.e., an overview prepared before the start of the matches (the round opens on August 28, 2026). At the same time, some verified sources contain chronologically incompatible data: a publication on glavred.info already reports the completion of the Shakhtar vs Polissya match and the final victory of the Donbas side, while a ua-football.com article dates the announcement of the Shakhtar vs Polissya match to 20.04.2026, which relates to the spring part of the season and does not match the August round. Thus, the versions differ on the status of the match (preview vs report on the result) and on the date; this article presents only the facts of the Round 4 preview, and the results and alternative dates are not used as confirmed.
