2023 Belarusian Premier League

Belarusian Premier League
Season2023
ChampionsDinamo Minsk
RelegatedBelshina Bobruisk
Energetik-BGU Minsk
Champions LeagueDinamo Minsk
Conference LeagueIsloch Minsk Raion
Neman Grodno
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino
Matches played142
Goals scored364 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorerPavel Savitsky
Vladislav Morozov
Yegor Karpitsky
(12 goals each)
Biggest home winDinamo Minsk 7–2 Belshina Bobruisk
(1 July 2023)
Biggest away winSmorgon 0–4 Isloch Minsk Raion
(7 April 2023)
Gomel 0–4 Dinamo Minsk
(13 May 2023)
Highest scoringShakhtyor Soligorsk 7–3 Belshina Bobruisk
(9 April 2023)
Longest winning run6 matches
Neman Grodno
Longest unbeaten run12 matches
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino
Longest winless run10 matches
Energetik-BGU Minsk
Longest losing run8 matches
Naftan Novopolotsk
← 2022
2024 →
All statistics correct as of 17 September 2023.

The 2023 Belarusian Premier League was the 33rd season of top-tier football in Belarus. Shakhtyor Soligorsk were the defending champions (although they were stripped of their title as a result of a match-fixing scandal).[1][2]

The winners (Dinamo Minsk, their eighth title win) qualified for the 2024–25 Champions League first qualifying round. The 2023–24 Belarusian Cup winners (Neman Grodno) qualified for the 2024–25 Conference League second qualifying round, with the third and fourth-placed teams (Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino and Isloch Minsk Raion) qualifying for the first qualifying round. The fourteenth-placed team (Energetik-BGU Minsk) qualified for the Belarusian Premier League play-off, losing and being relegated to the 2024 Belarusian First League alongside the bottom-placed team (Belshina Bobruisk).

Teams

The bottom-placed teams from the 2022 season (Vitebsk and Dnepr Mogilev) were relegated to the First League. They were replaced by Naftan Novopolotsk and Smorgon, champions and runners-up of the 2022 Belarusian First League respectively.

14th-placed team of the last season (Arsenal Dzerzhinsk) were relegated after they lost relegation/promotion playoffs against First League third-placed team Maxline Rogachev. Despite winning the play-off, Maxline Rogachev were denied Premier League license[3] and remained in the First League. As no other potential replacement team applied for the license, it was decided to play 2023 season with just 15 clubs.

Team Location Venue Capacity Position in 2022
BATE Borisov Borisov Arena 13,126 3rd
Belshina Bobruisk Spartak Stadium 3,700 12th
Dinamo Minsk Minsk Dinamo Stadium 22,000 4th
Dynamo Brest Brest OSK Brestsky 10,169 13th
Energetik-BGU Minsk RCOR-BGU Stadium 1,500 2nd
Gomel Gomel Central Stadium 14,307 7th
Isloch Minsk FC Minsk Stadium 3,000 5th
Minsk Minsk FC Minsk Stadium 3,000 6th
Naftan Novopolotsk Atlant Stadium 5,300 1st (First League)
Neman Grodno Neman Stadium 8,479 9th
Shakhtyor Soligorsk Stroitel Stadium 4,200 1st
Slavia Mozyr Yunost Stadium 5,300 10th
Slutsk Slutsk City Stadium 1,896 11th
Smorgon Smorgon Yunost Stadium 3,200 2nd (First League)
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino Torpedo Stadium 6,524 8th
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Locations of the 2023 Belarusian Premier League teams

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Dinamo Minsk (C) 28 22 3 3 72 21 +51 69 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Neman Grodno 28 19 5 4 60 22 +38 62 Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round[a]
3 Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 28 12 13 3 33 18 +15 49 Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round
4 Isloch Minsk Raion 28 14 5 9 40 29 +11 47[b]
5 BATE Borisov 28 14 5 9 49 32 +17 47[b]
6 Gomel 28 11 8 9 45 48 −3 41
7 Slavia Mozyr 28 11 7 10 32 30 +2 40
8 Slutsk 28 9 8 11 38 40 −2 35
9 Minsk 28 8 9 11 21 26 −5 33
10 Dynamo Brest 28 9 3 16 33 50 −17 30
11 Smorgon 28 7 3 18 28 59 −31 24
12 Naftan Novopolotsk 28 6 5 17 28 57 −29 23
13 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 28 13 5 10 50 40 +10 9[c]
14 Energetik-BGU Minsk (R) 28 7 6 15 25 42 −17 4[d] Qualification for the Belarusian Premier League play-off
15 Belshina Bobruisk (R) 28 3 5 20 21 61 −40 3[e] Relegation to the Belarusian First League
Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Matches won; 7) Goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Neman Grodno qualified for the Conference League second qualifying round by winning the 2023–24 Belarusian Cup. Since they qualified based on league position, the second Conference League first round spot was passed to the fourth-placed team.
  2. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Isloch Minsk Raion 4, BATE Borisov 1.
  3. ^ Shakhtyor Soligorsk were deducted 35 points for match-fixing.[4]
  4. ^ Energetik-BGU Minsk were deducted 23 points for match-fixing.[4]
  5. ^ Belshina Bobruisk were deducted 11 points for match-fixing.[4]


Results

Each team plays home-and-away once against every other team for a total of 28 matches over 30 matchdays.

Home \ Away BAT BSH DMI DBR ENE GOM ISL FCM NAF NEM SHA SLA SLU SMR TZH
BATE Borisov — 2–1 1–3 4–0 1–1 1–2 1–2 1–2 1–2 3–2 2–0 1–1 4–3 2–0 1–2
Belshina Bobruisk 0–3 — 0–4 1–0 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–2 0–3 0–2 1–4 1–1 1–1 2–0 0–0
Dinamo Minsk 0–1 7–2 — 4–1 2–0 2–1 3–0 1–0 3–1 2–1 1–0 2–2 3–1 7–0 1–0
Dynamo Brest 1–2 3–2 1–3 — 0–2 3–3 0–1 1–0 2–2 1–3 3–3 0–1 2–1 2–1 0–1
Energetik-BGU Minsk 1–0 0–0 1–4 1–0 — 1–2 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–3 1–4 3–1 1–0 2–4 1–2
Gomel 0–2 2–0 0–4 1–4 1–0 — 0–2 2–0 3–2 3–3 3–2 3–2 4–5 2–0 0–3
Isloch Minsk Raion 1–1 2–0 2–3 3–0 3–2 3–1 — 0–0 5–1 0–3 2–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 1–2
Minsk 2–2 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–2 2–1 — 1–0 0–1 0–0 2–0 0–1 2–1 1–0
Naftan Novopolotsk 0–7 0–1 0–3 0–3 4–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 — 0–3 1–1 2–2 2–1 2–2 0–1
Neman Grodno 0–1 3–1 1–0 3–1 2–0 2–2 0–0 3–0 6–1 — 0–1 1–0 2–0 3–1 0–0
Shakhtyor Soligorsk 3–0 7–3 0–4 2–0 3–2 1–1 3–0 1–0 2–1 2–5 — 0–1 1–0 2–0 0–1
Slavia Mozyr 0–2 4–1 0–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 2–1 1–0 1–0 0–2 3–1 — 1–0 4–1 0–1
Slutsk 1–0 2–1 1–2 2–0 1–1 3–1 1–1 1–1 3–1 0–2 3–2 1–0 — 3–3 0–0
Smorgon 1–2 1–0 3–1 3–1 1–0 0–3 0–4 0–0 1–0 1–3 1–3 0–2 3–2 — 1–1
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–2 1–1 0–0 2–1 1–0 5–0 1–1 1–1 2–2 0–1 2–1 —
Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Belarusian Premier League play-off

The fourteenth-placed club (Energetik-BGU Minsk) faced the third-placed club from the 2023 Belarusian First League (Vitebsk) for the final place in the following season's Belarusian Premier League.

First leg

6 December 2023 Energetik-BGU Minsk 0–0 Vitebsk Minsk
16:00 BST Stadium: RCOR-BGU Stadium

Second leg

9 December 2023 Vitebsk 1–0
(1–0 agg.)		Energetik-BGU MinskVitebsk
16:00 BST Teverov 7' (pen) Stadium: Vitebsky Central Sport Complex

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 2 December 2023[5]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Belarus Vladislav Morozov Dinamo Minsk 16
2 Belarus Yahor Zubovich Neman Grodno 14
3 Belarus Pavel Savitsky Neman Grodno 13
4 Belarus Yegor Karpitsky Shakhtyor Soligorsk 12
Belarus Mikhail Gordeychuk Dynamo Brest 12
6 Russia Andrei Panyukov Naftan Novopolotsk 10
7 Montenegro Dušan Bakić Dinamo Minsk 9
Togo Euloge Placca Fessou Shakhtyor Soligorsk 9
Kazakhstan Denis Mitrofanov Isloch Minsk Raion 9
Belarus Denis Kozlovskiy Gomel 9

Attendances

# Football club Home games Average attendance[6]
1 Dinamo Minsk 14 5,133
2 Dynamo Brest 14 4,967
3 FC Gomel 14 3,082
4 FC Slavia Mozyr 14 2,729
5 BATE Borisov 14 2,535
6 Neman Grodno 14 2,286
7 Torpedo Zhodino 14 1,750
8 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 14 1,353
9 FC Smorgon 14 1,264
10 FC Slutsk 14 1,167
11 Belshina Bobruisk 14 991
12 Naftan Novopolotsk 14 487
13 Isloch Minsk Raion 14 420
14 FC Minsk 14 402
15 FC Energetik-BGU Minsk 14 330

References

  1. ^ "2022 Belarusian Premier League". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Федэрацыя футбола пазбавіла салігорскі "Шахцёр" чэмпіёнства 2022 года". euradio.fm. 11 May 2023.
  3. ^ Maxline can't play in the 2023 top flight (in Russian)
  4. ^ a b c "Официально". Football Federation of Belarus. 11 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Football.by | Statistica". football.by.
  6. ^ https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/archive/blr/aveblr23.htm