Ukrainian midfielder Ivan Varfolomeyev and Lincoln City have won promotion to the English Championship, where they will play for the first time since the 1960/61 season.
Varfolomeyev joined Lincoln from Czech side Slovan in August 2025 for €800,000. Since then, the Ukrainian has played 33 games for the club, scoring one goal (4-0 against Northampton in February) and providing three assists.
The Ukrainian's team has played 41 matches in League One, the third division of English football, so far. The club holds the lead in the table with 90 points and has a 12-point advantage over Cardiff in second place.
Lincoln City's last match in the First League was against Reading. The Ukrainian club opened the scoring in the fifth minute and maintained this advantage throughout the match. In injury time, Reading equalized the score, but seven minutes later Lincoln snatched a 2-1 victory. Varfolomeyev spent 83 minutes on the field.
The win extended Lincoln City's unbeaten run in League One to 23 games, taking their record since November 2025 to 18 wins and five draws.
The victory earned the team early promotion to the English second division, where they will play for the first time in 65 years. Lincoln City last achieved promotion to the Championship in the 1951/52 season, after which they spent nine seasons at that level.
The top two teams in League One automatically qualify for the Championship. Lincoln City are 19 points clear of third-placed Bradford. With five games left in the season, Varfolomeyev's side are unlikely to leave the top two.
Varfolomeev will become the second legionnaire from Ukraine to play in the Championship next season. Also playing at this level is national team defender Maksym Taloverov, whose Stoke City are in 13th place in the table.
Ivan Varfolomeev: what is known about the football player
- A player of the youth national team of Ukraine, for which he has played 14 matches since 2024. He also played in the Euro 2027 qualifiers: he played six matches, but was not distinguished by effective actions.
- He represented Ukraine at the U16 and U19 age categories. With the junior national team in 2023, he reached the elite round of the Euro 2023 qualifiers.
- A pupil of Lviv football: he played for the junior teams of Karpaty and Rukh. In 2022, he moved to the Czech Slovan, for whom he played 63 matches.
- Varfolomeyev's debut in adult football took place in February 2021, when the midfielder first played for Rukh in the UPL, coming on as a substitute against Shakhtar (0:2). He played a total of three matches for the Lviv first team.
- Varfolomeev is one of two Ukrainian foreign players in the Premier League. Winger Timur Tutyerov also plays for Exeter, whose team is in 21st place in the table.