2004 Belarusian Premier League

Belarusian Premier League
Season2004
ChampionsDinamo Minsk
RelegatedLokomotiv Vitebsk
Belshina
Champions LeagueDinamo Minsk
UEFA CupMTZ-RIPO Minsk
BATE Borisov
Intertoto CupNeman
Matches played241
Goals scored657 (2.73 per match)
Top goalscorerBelarus Valery Strypeykis (18)
Biggest home winMTZ-RIPO 6–0 Lokomotiv Vitebsk
Biggest away winBelshina 0–5 BATE;
MTZ-RIPO 0–5 Torpedo Zhodino
Highest scoring5–2 – 3 games;
6–1 – 1 game
← 2003
2005 →

The 2004 Belarusian Premier League was the 14th season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 15 and ended on November 11, 2004. Gomel were the defending champions.

Team changes from 2003 season

Two lowest placed teams in 2003 (Lokomotiv Minsk and Molodechno-2000) relegated and were replaced by two best teams from 2003 First League: newcomers MTZ-RIPO Minsk and Lokomotiv Vitebsk, who previously competed in Premiere League as KIM, Dvina and Lokomotiv-96 and is a different team from Lokomotiv Vitebsk, who relegated to First League in 1995 and after a few seasons in First and Second Leagues was disbanded in late 2000.

Overview

Dinamo Minsk won their 7th champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up BATE Borisov and 2004–05 Cup winners MTZ-RIPO Minsk qualified for UEFA Cup. 2001 champions Belshina Bobruisk finished on last place and directly relegated to the First League. Lokomotiv Vitebsk and MTZ-RIPO Minsk shared 14th and 15th places with equal number of points and had to play one-legged play-off on a neutral ground to determine who will relegate and who will stay. Lokomotiv Vitebsk lost the game and relegated to the First League. Torpedo-SKA Minsk, who finished 6th, lost financial support from their sponsor in early 2005 and, after losing almost all their main squad and not having funds to pay entrance fee for next season's Premiere League, had to relegate to Second League.

Teams and venues

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Location of teams in 2004 Belarusian Premier League
Team Location Venue Capacity Position in 2003
Gomel Gomel Central Stadium 10,600 1
BATE Borisov City Stadium (Borisov) 5,500 2
Dinamo Minsk Minsk Dinamo Stadium 40,000 3
Torpedo-SKA Minsk Torpedo Stadium (Minsk) 5,200 4
Shakhtyor Soligorsk Stroitel Stadium 3,000 5
Torpedo Zhodino Torpedo Stadium (Zhodino) 2,020 6
Neman Grodno Neman Stadium 6,300 7
Naftan Novopolotsk Atlant Stadium 5,300 8
Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev Spartak Stadium (Mogilev) 6,800 9
Belshina Bobruisk Spartak Stadium (Bobruisk) 3,000 10
Dinamo Brest Brest OSK Brestskiy 3,000 11
Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk Traktor Stadium 17,600 12
Darida Minsk Raion Darida Stadium[1] 3,000 13
Slavia Mozyr Yunost Stadium 5,300 14
Lokomotiv Vitebsk Vitebsky CSK[2] 8,100 First league, 1
MTZ-RIPO Minsk Traktor Stadium 17,600 First league, 2
  1. ^
    One game played at Torpedo Stadium in Minsk.
  2. ^
    One game played at Torpedo Stadium in Minsk and one game at Spartak Stadium in Mogilev.

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Dinamo Minsk (C) 30 24 3 3 64 18 +46 75 Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2 BATE Borisov 30 22 4 4 59 25 +34 70 Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 30 19 8 3 55 21 +34 65
4 Torpedo Zhodino 30 19 2 9 57 28 +29 59
5 Gomel 30 13 7 10 42 41 +1 46
6 Torpedo-SKA Minsk (R) 30 13 7 10 37 31 +6 46 Relegation to Belarusian Second League[a]
7 Neman Grodno 30 11 7 12 37 33 +4 40 Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
8 Dinamo Brest 30 10 9 11 39 41 −2 39
9 Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 30 11 4 15 29 37 −8 37
10 Naftan Novopolotsk 30 10 5 15 45 50 −5 35
11 Darida Minsk Raion 30 9 8 13 38 48 −10 35
12 Slavia Mozyr 30 9 4 17 32 51 −19 31
13 Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk 30 7 8 15 31 56 −25 29
14 MTZ-RIPO Minsk (O) 30 6 9 15 32 56 −24 27 UEFA Cup first qualifying round and relegation play-offs[b]
15 Lokomotiv Vitebsk (R) 30 8 3 19 34 54 −20 27 Relegation to Belarusian First League[c]
16 Belshina Bobruisk (R) 30 2 6 22 21 62 −41 12
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd matches won; 3rd head-to-head
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Torpedo-SKA Minsk were relegated to the Second League due to the financial reasons.
  2. ^ MTZ-RIPO Minsk qualified for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round by winning the 2004–05 Belarusian Cup.
  3. ^ MTZ-RIPO Minsk and Lokomotiv Vitebsk finished the season level on points so the Football Federation of Belarus decided to organise a playoff game to determine which side will be relegated to the First League.

Relegation play-off

Lokomotiv Vitebsk1 – 4MTZ-RIPO Minsk
Yeremeyev 66' Report Zelmikas 15'
Mkhitaryan 34'
Fedorchenko 55'
Parfenov 61'
Lokomotiv Stadium, Baranovichi
Attendance: 1,000

Results

Home \ Away BAT BSH DAR DBR DMI DNE GOM LVI MTZ NAF NEM SHA SLA TZH TMI ZBM
BATE Borisov 2–1 4–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 3–1 3–2 3–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 4–0 2–1 3–1 2–3
Belshina Bobruisk 0–5 2–2 0–0 1–3 0–1 1–4 2–1 1–2 0–0 0–3 1–2 0–0 0–1 0–1 4–1
Darida Minsk Raion 2–3 1–0 0–1 0–4 1–1 1–1 0–3 2–0 1–3 1–0 2–2 3–0 1–2 0–1 3–1
Dinamo Brest 1–1 2–2 0–3 0–3 3–1 0–1 0–1 4–0 3–0 2–0 0–0 0–1 2–2 3–1 2–2
Dinamo Minsk 2–0 5–0 2–2 3–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 6–1 1–0 1–0 4–2 2–1 0–1 4–0
Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 0–1 2–0 0–1 0–0 0–1 1–2 1–0 1–1 0–3 3–2 1–1 3–1 0–1 1–0 2–1
Gomel 0–1 4–1 1–1 1–1 2–0 0–4 2–0 2–1 2–2 1–0 1–0 2–1 3–0 0–0 0–0
Lokomotiv Vitebsk 0–1 2–1 1–3 2–3 1–3 0–1 0–1 2–2 1–0 1–2 0–3 2–1 0–0 0–1 2–1
MTZ-RIPO Minsk 0–3 2–1 2–0 1–2 0–0 0–1 5–2 6–0 2–1 0–2 1–4 1–4 0–5 0–3 0–0
Naftan Novopolotsk 0–2 3–0 1–2 3–1 1–3 0–2 1–0 0–3 2–2 3–1 0–1 3–1 2–3 2–2 5–1
Neman Grodno 1–1 1–1 2–2 0–1 0–2 2–1 4–1 1–1 0–0 0–2 1–2 1–0 2–1 2–2 2–0
Shakhtyor Soligorsk 5–1 2–0 4–1 5–2 0–1 1–0 2–1 4–1 3–3 1–0 0–0 2–1 2–1 0–0 1–0
Slavia Mozyr 0–1 2–1 3–1 1–0 1–3 2–0 1–0 3–1 1–1 2–0 1–3 0–5 0–2 2–2 0–0
Torpedo Zhodino 0–2 3–0 2–0 2–1 0–1 3–0 4–0 4–1 3–0 3–1 1–0 1–2 3–1 1–0 5–2
Torpedo-SKA Minsk 0–3 3–0 1–0 2–3 2–0 5–1 2–4 2–1 0–0 2–1 1–2 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–1
Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk 0–2 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–3 2–0 3–3 1–4 3–0[a] 2–4 0–3 0–0 2–0 0–2 1–0
Source: football.by (in Belarusian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ MTZ-RIPO was awarded a technical loss for entering the field of a disqualified player.

Belarusian clubs in European Cups

Round Team #1 Agg. Team #2 1st leg 2nd leg
2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup
First round Odra Wodzisław Poland 1–2 Belarus Dinamo Minsk 1–0 0–2
Second round Dinamo Minsk Belarus 4–3 Serbia and Montenegro Smederevo 1–2 3–1 (aet)
Third round Lille France 4–3 Belarus Dinamo Minsk 2–1 2–2
2004–05 UEFA Cup
First qualifying round Nistru Otaci Moldova 3–2 Belarus Shakhtyor Soligorsk 1–1 2–1
BATE Borisov Belarus 2–4 Georgia (country) Dinamo Tbilisi 2–3 0–1
2004–05 UEFA Champions League
First qualifying round Gomel Belarus 1–2 Albania Tirana 0–2 1–0

Top scorers

Rank Name Team Goals
1 Belarus Valery Strypeykis Naftan Novopolotsk 18
2 Belarus Raman Vasilyuk Dinamo Brest 17
3 Russia Aleksandr Sokolov Darida Minsk Raion 16
4 Belarus Yawhen Zuew Torpedo Zhodino 15
5 Ukraine Vitaliy Bondarev Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 14
Belarus Artsyom Hancharyk Shakhtyor Soligorsk 14
7 Belarus Oleg Strakhanovich BATE Borisov 13
8 Brazil Edu Torpedo-SKA Minsk 12
Belarus Dzmitry Parfyonaw MTZ-RIPO Minsk 12
Belarus Andrey Razin Dinamo Minsk 12

See also