The third soccer championship was played in the Ukrainian SSR in 1923 as part of the First All-Ukrainian Spartakiad, the final of which, by tradition, took place in the capital of Soviet Ukraine - Kharkov from September 9 to 16, 1923 . The selection was carried out at the provincial Games, the winners of which ended up in the final tournament.
Initially, it was planned that the final tournament would be held with the participation of 12 teams representing all 9 provinces of the Ukrainian SSR - Volyn, Donetsk, Yekaterinoslav, Kiev, Odessa, Podolsky, Poltava, Kharkov and Chernigov, as well as the Republic of Crimea (RSFSR), and the Ekaterinoslav and Odessa provinces should were delegated by 2 representatives. A dozen teams were divided into 3 groups on a league basis (in accordance with a kind of “rating” according to the results of the last season), in the first group the football players from Kharkov, Odessa, Kiev and Nikolaev were to play the championship (last year's semifinalists), in the second group the athletes would compete Druzhkovka, Yekaterinoslav , Poltava (quarter-finalists of the 1922 season) and Crimea, and in group III - debutants of such tournaments, football players of Zaporozhye, Chernigov, Vinnitsa and Zhytomyr. However, even before the start of the games, the Cossacks refused to participate in the competitions, and, in order not to change the tournament bracket, were replaced by athletes from the Lenin Youth Sports Club (who took 2nd place at the Donetsk provincial Spartakiad).
However, the failure to attend the competition of the football players of Kiev, Nikolaev and Chernigov made serious adjustments to the plans of the organizers, who had to significantly redraw the competition program. At the same time, Odessa residents added a headache, since in the opening match of the tournament the Odessa “Mestran” players, losing after a goal from the free kick to the Kharkiv 0: 1, left the field without permission and returned, thus eliminating the further rally. It was decided that the team that beat everyone in the Third Group continues the tournament, rising to the Second group. In parallel with this, the teams of the Second group will also reveal the winner among themselves. In the future, the two best teams of the Second and Third groups will play a match for reaching the First group, where the Champion will be determined in the confrontation with the Kharkiv.
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