The story of FC Oleksandriya
TL:DR - Explaing how a team that finished 2nd last season, finished 2nd from bottom this season and got relegated without some penalty like points deductions, transfer bans, etc.
FC Oleksandriya is in my opinion one of the healthier clubs in Ukraine. From the town of the same name they play at a 7k seater Nika stadium. Their first season in the Ukranian Prem was 11/12, but they did not stick around, finished rock bottom, went back down.
The next 2 seasons, despite earning promotion on the pitch the club refused it, simply because sometimes it's not worth it financially.
It seems like it was a smart decision to stay in the 2nd tier and build because they won the league in 14/15 season, got promoted, and immediately established themselves as at least a tough team in the Prem. They even managed to grab a bronze medal in that period of time, unfortunately bronze at that time was a "best of the rest" prize, effectively the way it is in Scotland.
Before the 22/23 season, Volodymyr Sharan who coached the team since 2013 (and coached their 11/12 Prem campaign) resigned, being replaced with Ruslan Rotan a man with 100 caps for Ukraine as a player, a legend of Dnipro, and the coach of the U21 national team.
The 22/23 season itself for both Rotan and Olexandriya was uneventfull, they were in or around 5th for most of the season.
The 23/24 season was challenging, they started hovering just above or sometimes in the promotion/relegation playoffs, and I distinctly remember chatter that if Oleksandriya doesn't perfom in a game vs Dynamo Kyiv before the winter break, Rotan would be sacked. They did perform, despite loosing 4-2 Dynamo needed 2 late goals to get their win. A good run near the end of the season gave them a repectable 8th place, but they were only 6 points away from the playoffs, and 9 away from automatic relegation.
Before 24/25 season expectations were modest. Sure Olexandriya splurged on Buletsa who was playing well in Poland at the time, and Tedi Cara, but 700k worth of transfers + a loan of Yermakov who recently (in 2026) got his 1st cap for the national team made the most optimistic Olexandriya fan hope that they might get a bronze, or 4th which gets you Europe. The season itself was weirdly uneventful for Olexandriya. They just kinda stayed in 2nd place, Dynamo was winning the league, Shakhtar really missed on the appointment of their head coach Marino Pusic, and barring a 3-0 loss to Shakhtar mid way through the season, and a sketchy defeat to european place chasing Karpaty on matchday 27 it was mostly smooth sailing.
25/26 How do I even explain this? The contracts of Rotan and pretty much his entire staff ran out, so they all got an offer from a rich Pollisya (finished 3rd this season). Who did they appoint as their new coach? Kyrylo Nesterenko. Yeah, me neither. He is currently 34 years old, his managerial experience consists of being an assistant coach to Nikolay Kostov for 2 Kazakh sides Shakhtar,Kaspiy, and Levski Sofia. Let's call it uninspiring.
Ok so what about the transfers? Now the club decided that they simply can't afford to consistenly compete for top places, because that would require more than doubling the budget, which is fair enough, but I feel like they overdid it. They couldn't sell some of the best players, because their contracts ran out, out of those they did sell they got 4 million. Not bad for the Ukrainian Premier League and a relatively modest club like Olexandriya. You know how much they reinvested? 400k. And their list of free agent signings didn't exactly look impressive. New and inexperienced coaching staff, only 3 key players from the silver medal winning team remained, they had to hit on most new transfers, and rotation players had to step up. Since I'm writing this, you know there were few hits and step ups.
After matchday 21 they sacked Nesterenko, and appointed Sharan, remember him? This whole season he was coaching the B team as a backup of sorts in case Nesterenko didn't work out, but it took too long for them to pull the plug on the young, but raw coach. He couldn't turn the team around, and they finished 15th only above the doomed from the start SC Poltava.
BUT they were given a lifeline. Rukh Lviv decided that the senior team will continue existing in the 3rd tier, so Oleksandriya got their playoff place. Today they lost their 2nd game to Livyi Bereh (literally means Left Bank because the club is located on the left bank of the Dnipro River, and I hate that name).
An ABSURD posiblity - It is well known that Kudrivka who just won their playoff series vs Ahrobiznes is in debt, and hasn't paid their players and staff for at least a few months. Unless them keeping their place in the Prem somehow changes things it is possible that Kudrivka might be kicked out and Olesksandriya reinstated, because Ahrobiznes also don't seem too interested in promotion based on how they sold their best players half way through the season to the highest bidder.
WHAT'S NEXT?
It does seem like the management of the team is fiscally responsible. There are no rumours of financial problems, debts or anything of the sort. They should get some money for their players, ALLEGEDLY Dynamo Kyiv is interested in Tedi Cara, Kolos in their winter signing Yade, Karpaty just sold their 18 year old keeper to Slavia for 5 mil, so they are looking at the 18 year old Makarenko as a replacement. The 2nd division seems wide open with Chornomorets, Bukovyna and Livyi Bereh in the prem, with proper signings Oleksandriya should be good. Inhulets seems like the only club really gearing up for a promotion, but I would say it would take them maybe 2 more seasons for that. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if Oleksandriya won the 26/27 PFL season and got back up immediately.
P.S. - I left out a lot of information.