Marked for Daouda Natama
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Egor Zubovich breaks a bone — 160 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 160 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Minsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Prokhor Struk is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Gutor
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
167 days out for Egor Zubovich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Minsk
Daouda Natama was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Bondarenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Torpedo-BelAZ next, and one man in the Minsk dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Alexey Ivanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Minsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Ilya Sviridenko asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Alexandr Makas out for 93 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Minsk
Daouda Natama and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Prokhor Sheremet, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Ksenofontov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alexandr Makas breaks a bone — 100 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Minsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Sep 2026
Ilya Dubinets has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match26 Sep 2026
Minsk make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Minsk have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Minsk
Daouda Natama and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets28 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
107 days out for Alexandr Makas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Artem Turich at 21 — 7.68
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Artem Turich did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market21 Sep 2026
Prokhor Struk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Artem Turich’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Minsk.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Yatskevich, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.69 on the card, and the Minsk support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alexandr Makas breaks a bone — 115 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Minsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Artem Turich, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Minsk close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market14 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Dinamo Minsk moved on, Alexey Tumanov reports back to Minsk, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Aleksievich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitatea Cluj have kept their man, and Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
Minsk supporters have found a favourite in Artem Turich
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Artem Turich has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
125 days out for Alexandr Makas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Minsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zalgiris keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Minsk asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ilya Aleksievich falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A loan enquiry to Baltika: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Artem Turich
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Artem Turich has come out of that comparison in the side, and Minsk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
141 days out for Alexandr Makas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match19 Aug 2026
Minsk out of the cup
Molodechno ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market24 Aug 2026
BATE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ilya Dubinets has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Zalgiris is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Minsk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Minsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Arseniy Migdalenok has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alexandr Gutor decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match12 Aug 2026
Minsk through in the cup
A 1‑1 win over Ostrovets, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Alexey Ivanov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Minsk
Daouda Natama was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Minsk asked and Paksi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.27, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Minsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Aug 2026
Minsk say no — this time
The offer from Molodechno for Prokhor Struk was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Minsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiv Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 7.91. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Minsk
Daouda Natama and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match8 Aug 2026
Minsk get the job done against Smorgon
A 3‑1 win over Smorgon, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bucharest have kept their man, and Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.57 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilya Aleksievich commits to Minsk for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Minsk
Daouda Natama and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Minsk asked and Wisla Krakow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Minsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Egor Zubovich. 1‑0 against Molodechno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Konstantin Kuchinskiy’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
In brief
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Squad
7 new faces, and Minsk are still learning each other
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Transfer targets
Minsk ask about Daniil Veselov
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The dugout
The view from the dugout