[1] The competition was originally called as a Football championship of UkrSSR among the best teams of sports societies in 1936 and 1937.

It also included all three better Ukrainian teams (Kyiv, Kharkiv, Stalino) that competed in the Soviet Cup.

Since then, the Ukrainian Cup was officially regarded as the competition of the collective of physical culture (KFK), a Soviet term for the amateur sports.

Following dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian Cup was re-established as a normal competition which involves participation of all professional football clubs.

During the World War II, the crystal trophy, cup of the Ukrainian SSR, was not evacuated and was stolen by one of employees of the All-Ukrainian Council of Physical Culture.

[1] In such way the athletes who later labeled as "traitors" by the Soviet regime saved the trophy for Ukrainian football of post war period.

Starting from 1949, the competition was finally integrated into the Soviet Cup as its preliminary stage for good.

In 1970s, there was an attempt to organize a parallel competition for the "teams of masters" (Soviet professional status) which did not last for long.

The first tournament was conducted as part of the All-Ukrainian Dynamo Festival which was organized on the orders of the top OGPU official in Ukraine Vsevolod Balitsky.