The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
in
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, 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
The Belarusian First League is the second tier of professional football in Belarus. It was created in 1992, following the Belarusian independence.
History and format
The typical format of the league involves 16 clubs playing a double round-robin t ...
, 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.
History
The Belarusian Premier League was organized in
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...
. 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
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
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
FC Partizan Minsk ( be, ФК Партызан Мінск) was a Belarusian football club based in Minsk.
History
The club was founded as MTZ-RIPO Minsk in 2002 as a merger of two Minsk teams from the Second League ( Traktor Minsk, a club wi ...
.
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
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, 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. 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. Matches were also streamed on the
Belarusian Football Federation's YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channel. British betting companies also offered odds for the various matches, as the league's profile, previously relatively unknown outside of the country, grew a larger audience due to sporting inactivity elsewhere.
Premier League in 2022
Soviet era champions
*1922: Minsk (city team)
*1923: ''Unknown''
*1924: Minsk (city team)
*1925: ''Unknown''
*1926: Bobruisk (city team)
*1927: ''Unknown''
*1928: Gomel (city team)
*1929–32: ''Unknown''
*1933: Gomel (city team)
*1934:
BVO (Minsk)
*1935:
BVO (Minsk)
*1936:
BVO (Minsk)
*1937:
Dinamo (Minsk)
*1938:
Dinamo (Minsk)
*1939:
Dinamo (Minsk)
*1940:
DKA (Minsk)
*1941–44: ''Unknown''
*1945:
Dinamo (Minsk)
*1946:
ODO (Minsk)
*1947:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Minsk)
*1948:
Traktor MTZ (Minsk)
*1949:
Traktor MTZ (Minsk)
*1950:
ODO (Minsk)
*1951:
Dinamo (Minsk)
*1952:
ODO (Minsk)
*1953:
Spartak Spartak may refer to:
In sports
*Spartak (sports society), an international fitness and sports society that unites some countries of the former Soviet Union
In Russia
*FC Spartak Moscow, a football club
*FC Spartak Kostroma, a football club
*PFC ...
(Minsk)
*1954: ODO (Pinsk)
*1955: FSM (Minsk)
*1956:
Spartak Spartak may refer to:
In sports
*Spartak (sports society), an international fitness and sports society that unites some countries of the former Soviet Union
In Russia
*FC Spartak Moscow, a football club
*FC Spartak Kostroma, a football club
*PFC ...
(Minsk)
*1957:
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...
(Minsk)
*1958: Spartak (Bobruisk)
*1959: Minsk (city team)
*1960:
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...
(Minsk)
*1961: Volna (Pinsk)
*1962:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Minsk)
*1963: Naroch' (Molodechno)
*1964:
SKA (Minsk)
*1965:
SKA (Minsk)
*1966:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Minsk)
*1967:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Minsk)
*1968:
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...
(Minsk)
*1969:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Minsk)
*1970:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Zhodino)
*1971:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Zhodino)
*1972: Stroitel' (Bobruisk)
*1973: Stroitel' (Bobruisk)
*1974:
BATE (Borisov)
*1975:
Dinamo (Minsk)
*1976:
BATE (Borisov)
*1977:
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...
(Minsk)
*1978:
Shinnik (Bobruisk)
*1979:
BATE (Borisov)
*1980:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Zhodino)
*1981:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Zhodino)
*1982:
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
(Mogilev)
*1983:
Obuvschik (Lida)
*1984:
Orbita (Minsk)
*1985:
Obuvschik (Lida)
*1986:
Obuvschik (Lida)
*1987:
Shinnik (Bobruisk)
*1988:
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...
(Minsk)
*1989:
Obuvschik (Lida)
*1990:
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...
(Minsk)
*1991:
Metallurg (Molodechno)
Champions and top scorers
Performances
Performance by club
All-time table
:''As of end of
2021 season.''
#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.
#Includes 2002 championship play-off, 2004 relegation play-off, 14 games of Dinamo-93 in 1998 season, and 15 games of Torpedo Minsk in 2019 season.
#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
Belarusian Premier League Player of the year is an annual award given by a sports newspaper
Pressball.
Reserves League
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
References
External links
Official websiteBelarusian Football Federation- List of Champions
{{Soviet republican level football championships
1
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
Sports leagues established in 1992
1992 establishments in Belarus
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
Professional sports leagues in Belarus