On 26 May 1996 the Constituent Conference of non-amateur clubs took place which created the professional league, and confirmed its statute as well as its administration.

Most of the clubs that had previously participated in the Ukrainian football league competitions were reorganized as professional, a process that actually started in the late 1980s.

The league conducts its competition in a regular double round-robin format where each team plays with every other one twice.

Later there was an idea to decrease the number of members in all leagues in order to improve the quality of competition.

In 2017 there was created another precedent when a club that earned promotion was denied it based on administrative decision.

The relegation or promotion play-offs were previously usually organized under unforeseen circumstances such as a team's withdrawal from the league and often were not scheduled until after the season had concluded.

Since the turn of the millennium the frequency of withdrawals in the First League has increased among the competing clubs.

In order to fight this, the league has been applying a stricter approach to every club's financial situation to avoid withdrawals during a season.

Since the 2009–10 season the First League has started to broadcast selected matches over the internet in order to increase its popularity.

In 2016 Dynamo Kyiv withdrew its second team from professional competitions, while FC Hoverla was refused in attestation.

The first post-season feature consisted of a relegation mini tournament that took place in July 1998 in Kyiv and Boryspil.

[7] Club status is current of the 2023–24 season: Among notable players of the league are its top scorers.

Once among top scorers became a foreign player during the 2021–22 war season, Matheus Peixoto (Brazil, playing for Metalist Kharkiv).

With 2 league titles there are Valeriy Zuyev (both Dynamo-2 Kyiv), Oleksandr Ishchenko (Zirka and Illichivets), Yuriy Koval (Zirka and Zorya), Oleksandr Sevidov (Hoverla and Illichivets), Volodymyr Sharan (both Oleksandriya).