The Incredible Rise of Polissya Zhytomyr

 Think of Ukrainian football, and it's like your first thought is Dynamo Kyiv or Shakhtar Donetsk and their multitude of Brazilian footballers who sound like middle-aged British blokes (Fred, Kevin et al.). Maybe some of you recall the Europa League final of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Sevilla in 2015, in which the Ukrainian side were edged out 3-2 in Warsaw by their Spanish opponents. 

In any case, it's unlikely that Polissya Zhytomyr are your first thought, or perhaps that, like me prior to researching this blog, you even really know who they are beyond the name. And while that is likely to remain the case as long as Shakhtar and Dynamo continue to trade league titles (only the now defunct Tavirya have won a title beyond those two since the formation of the league in 1992), they're a club that should certainly be gaining some attention as they make their way through European qualification for the second season running from almost nowhere.

Polissya refers to the region in which Zhytomyr sits rather than anything to do with the police first and foremost, with the team playing in green and yellow, as well as being nicknamed vovky (wolves, hence the wolf on the badge). Zhytomyr itself may not be on many people's radar, but it's quite a sizable city of around 260,000 people, with a significant number of them ethnically Polish. Industry-wise, it has a tank factory, as well as Ukraine's largest sweet factory - so sweet-toothed millitary buffs, you know where to visit when the war is finally over.

Regretably, the city hasn't been immune from Russian attacks, with schools, civilian airports, and millitary airports all bombed in the last few years. There have been civilian casualties over the last few years too, though it's location as a more westerly city means it is relatively safe. In any case, Sláva Ukrajině! The world is a disgusting place right now, and we can only hope peace comes sooner rather than later.

I should thank Viola Nation for providing a lot of the info here by the way - check out their blog post here.

A Ukrainian fairytale?

It's important to pose this as a question rather than a statement given that the club have seemingly been bankrolled significantly via ATB-Market - a discount store in Ukraine. The cash injection provided hasn't been insignificant, and has seemingly given them the boost needed to get to the top tier and even into Europe for two years running.

Though founded in 1959, the club were happy existing as an amateur entity for the majority of their existence, even eventually folding in 2005. From this dissolution sprung two clubs: Arsenal Zhytomyr, and Zhytchi Zhytomyr. They eventually combined in 2015, before applying for a Second League licence (which confusingly is the third tier) prior to the 2017-18 season. This newly established Polissya Zhytomyr were in the 2nd tier  (the First League, obviously) by 2020 following promotion.

It only took a couple of seasons for the club to win promotion to the top flight, which they managed in 2023. Since this promotion, the club have finished 5th and 4th. As a result, they've made Europe two seasons in a row, with Olimpija Ljubljana able to see them off with relative ease (4-1 on aggregate) last season.

This season has been a different story, however, with the club set to play undoubtedly their biggest opponent outside of Ukraine in Fiorentina. It goes without saying that it's a crying shame that a lot of their fans will be unable to watch their team "at home" in Prešov, but as mentioned above, let's hope they can enjoy European football at home sooner rather than later.

If you'd said they'll be playing Fiorentina for a place in the League Stage of the Conference League when they'd just lost 2-1 at "home" to Andorran side Santa Coloma, you perhaps would have been called crazy, but they turned the tie around in Andorra, winning 4-1 (5-3 on aggregate). They then faced Ukrainian side Paks, demolishing them 3-0 in Prešov before Paks threatened to make a comeback in the second leg.

Two goals in 49 minutes for Paks could have derailed the European dream completely, but Polissya held firm and even grabbed a late 'icing on the cake' goal via Talles Costa in stoppage time, sealing a 4-2 aggregate win. 

The team are managed by a familiar face in Ruslan Rotan, who captained Ukraine and won 100 caps for his country. Another familiar face that once 'played' for this team is none other than Oleksandr Usyk, though it should be clarified he only played fifteen minutes in a friendly for publicity purposes. If you're able to find the video, it's well worth a watch.

In any case, it's an incredible story, and we've barely even mentioned the excruciating challenge of navigating life and football in a war-ravaged country. I won't be including the usual five facts, as I've covered a lot in this section and the blog is long enough as it is. But how did this exciting new Polissya side stack up against the absolute giant of Fiorentina?

Under Prešov 

It was an early start, as I met Fraser at the main station around six for our 6.22 train to Bratislava. From there, we caught our connection; a five hour train to the village of Kysak just north of Košice, where the final train to Prešov would be. The journey was surprisingly smooth considering the length, as I filled the time with my usual Football Cliches pod, and started reading Alain Robbe-Grillet's The Eraser.

It was the last couple of hours where things started to go awry, as the train wracked up a series of delays, resulting in us getting to Kysak half an hour later than intended. Thankfully our connection was also delayed by a few minutes, so we were in Prešov by 3. Regrettably, so was an ungodly downpour, and guess who didn't have an umbrella or raincoat...

We soldiered on through the shower to our respective accomodations, taking an hour or so to just...readjust, hoping the rain would surely clear at some point. When I say it was ungodly, I really mean it. The hotel was very much the first positive of the trip - an absolutely delightful place to lay my head, even if only for the night.

After having dusted ourselves down, and more pressingly dried ourselves and freshened up, we struggled to find anywhere to eat, so we went to a nearby food court, biting the bullet in favour of something quick instead of time consuming. We'll save the proper Slovak grub for Košice over the weekend...

Once we were fed and watered, we gradually made out way to the ground in the hope of finding a half decent pub, which we managed to just opposite the ground. With the rain having now stopped, we sat outside and enjoyed a couple of decent local pints of Šariš before heading to the ground and preparing to watch what would probably be the most unique fixture of the season.

Polissya Zhytomyr 0-3 Fiorentina

Despite the above scoreline, in actual fact, Polissya more than held their own against a team who must be worth at least ten times more than them. The key to getting anything was staying tight, so when an own goal went in after just eight minutes, things weren't looking good for Polissya.

The response from Polissya was excellent, and they were perhaps unlucky not to score, but for a brilliant save from David de Gea that well and truly rolled back the years. I'll be honest, watching de Gea, and a 39 year old Edin Džeko in Eastern Slovakia wasn't on my 2025/26 bingo card, but I'll certainly take it.

David de Gea...in all his blurry glory.

Former German international Robin Goesens grabbed a second after 32 minutes, after which point the tie seemed pretty much dead. Even Moise Kean's straight red for an elbow in the first half (which I didn't see) didn't really threaten to change the game an awful lot. Fiorentina simply had way too much firepower, and Albert Gudmundsonn's 69th minute goal from a superb counter attack made the game and, let's be honest, the tie all but safe.

A couple of takeaways from the overall experience - first of all, Tatran Prešov have an absolutely brilliant new stadium to be proud of. Unlike most identikit modern arenas, it has character and charm in abundance, while firmly embracing everything a 21st century stadium should be. It's certainly somewhere I'll come back for a Tatran Prešov game in future,

The second takeaway is the fact Fiorentina's fans in the away section simply did not stop singing. Granted, it's probably easier in such a dominant and winning position, but something tells me they would have been just as passionate had they somehow lost the game 3-0. The vast majority of fans in the stadium seemed to be youngsters from Prešov excited to see some former Premier League megastars, with a few Polissya fans here and there.

Naturally, the rain started again as we left the ground, but thankfully it was nowhere near as ungodly as it had been. As I reflect on what was a fun and delightful evening, it should be said that I would have much rather not had attended this game tonight in Prešov. I would much rather the Ukrainian fans have been able to watch the game in peace in Zhytomyr, while I chose a more local tie. All that said, I hope and pray I'll be able to attend a Polissya Zhytomyr fixture in a peaceful Ukraine very soon, European or otherwise.

And of course, once again, Sláva Ukrajině!