Marked for Hernán Paredes
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for Podillia
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market11 Sep 2028
Rukh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Podillia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match9 Sep 2028
4 matches without a goal for Podillia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Oleksandr Nikolyshyn 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Snizhko 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“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.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
88% of the income goes out in wages at Podillia
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Podillia's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podillia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match30 Aug 2028
Podillia bow out of the cup
Oleksandriya go through and Podillia go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces4 Sep 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 10 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Sep 2028
Podillia cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Korokhov 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yurii Potimkov, and the manager let it.
Match2 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Podillia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Podillia
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ryan Carr is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Oleksandr Nikolyshyn 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.
Match5 Aug 2028
Hernán Paredes scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Chernihiv, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Aug 2028
Serhii Zaiets is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Podillia has been clear about where Serhii Zaiets stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
5.25 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jul 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Podillia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Taras Shtokal is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Yurii Potimkov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Eskinja 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.
Squad15 May 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Hernán Paredes: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Podillia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Podillia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Nikolyshyn 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Artem Somka in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match15 Jan 2028
4 matches without a win for Podillia
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Podillia are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Denysenko 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Kudrivka left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Shkinder, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Marked 5.45, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
An afternoon Nazar Lys will want back
Marked 5.59. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yaroslav Kvasov
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Podillia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market27 Dec 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Podillia can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Daniil Denysenko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.55
A mark of 8.55 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Hernán Paredes: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Podillia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Oleksandr Nikolyshyn 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Gabriel Eskinja’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Podillia.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Denysenko 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.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Gabriel Eskinja was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.75. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
Yaroslav Kvasov damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market1 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Podillia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Oleksandr Nikolyshyn 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Gabriel Eskinja 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.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
At 19 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
UCSA made Podillia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2027
16 matches without a win for Podillia
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Podillia are no longer polite ones.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Denysenko 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Yaroslav Kvasov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Probiy, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The numbers do not look good at Podillia
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Podillia's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podillia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podillia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Artem Somka 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Podillia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Eskinja 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Chernihiv left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaroslav Kvasov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
5.62 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
Jarno Libert breaks a bone — 71 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tiago Ilori in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Podillia pay $12.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Jul 2027
Podillia are in real trouble now
Position 16, 25 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podillia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
106% of the income goes out in wages at Podillia
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
7 new faces, and Podillia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Jarno Libert breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
Feniks sell a favourite for $370.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Artur Remeniak was one of the reasons people came, and $370.0K does not replace that by itself.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hernán Paredes commits to Feniks for another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Feniks
Tiago Ilori 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Jarno Libert breaks a bone — 85 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Jun 2027
Philipp Simon hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feniks can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Feniks have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Jarno Libert breaks a bone — 99 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nazar Hrytsak
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feniks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Feniks know it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrii Kusyi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
150% of the income goes out in wages at Feniks
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Hernán Paredes damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad24 May 2027
Jarno Libert breaks a bone — 120 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Feniks
Tiago Ilori 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Hernán Paredes damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 May 2027
Jarno Libert breaks a bone — 127 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 127 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 May 2027
Philipp Simon hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feniks can pretend not to have heard.
In brief
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Squad
Tiago Ilori in a row with a teammate
-
Squad
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
Wages eat 163% of everything Feniks earn
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Hernán Paredes damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Andrii Bohdanov out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Feniks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 May 2027
Hernán Paredes: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feniks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Hernán Paredes damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad3 May 2027
A fracture rules Andrii Bohdanov out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Feniks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 May 2027
Tiago Ilori in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
Hernán Paredes damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Andrii Bohdanov out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Feniks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Apr 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hernán Paredes
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feniks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Apr 2027
Philipp Simon hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feniks can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oleksandr Chornomorets commits to Feniks for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feniks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tiago Ilori in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The numbers do not look good at Feniks
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Feb 2027
Philipp Simon hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Feniks can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
181% of the income goes out in wages at Feniks
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match20 Feb 2027
Bukovyna left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavlo Orikhovskyi, and the manager let it.
Market22 Feb 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Hernán Paredes may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Feniks
Tiago Ilori 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Serhii Kyslenko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Feniks.
Market8 Feb 2027
The name of Nazar Balaba has come up in conversations Feniks were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Hernán Paredes
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
9 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match30 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Feniks
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Feniks are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market1 Feb 2027
Nazar Balaba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Feniks they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Feniks know it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tiago Ilori in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The numbers do not look good at Feniks
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Feniks's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Feniks has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Andrii Kukharuk: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feniks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Feniks
Tiago Ilori 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feniks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match16 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Feniks
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Feniks are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tiago Ilori in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
5.55. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A mark of 5.62 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market11 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Feniks's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Feniks has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Hernán Paredes 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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.
Match9 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Feniks against UCSA
0‑1 to UCSA, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 5.76, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market4 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Feniks
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Feniks
Philipp Simon 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hernán Paredes, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nazar Hrytsak: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feniks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Feniks
Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán Paredes 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Match19 Dec 2026
It needed Serhii Kyslenko to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Probiy, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 75 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 75 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market30 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Feniks know it.
Squad30 Nov 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 Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Hernán Paredes 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 236% of everything Feniks earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.71, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jarno Libert. 1‑0 against Nyva, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Feniks
Philipp Simon 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets 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
Squad9 Nov 2026
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 96 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 96 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match4 Nov 2026
The cup run ends for Feniks
0‑3 against Metalist, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market9 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 12 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
Feniks are taken apart by Metalist — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Feniks know it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Feniks
Oleksandr Chornomorets 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Feniks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán Paredes 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serhii Kyslenko. 1‑0 against Bukovyna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andrii Tkachuk damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andrii Kukharuk: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Feniks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.