Marked for Brian Mansilla
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Nov 2026
Akhmat win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Dinamo Moscow will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match7 Nov 2026
10 unbeaten for Akhmat
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Akhmat did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Musab Al-Juwayr 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ismael 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Maksim Samorodov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akhmat.
Squad9 Nov 2026
22 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.97. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Akhmat told Musab Al-Juwayr something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
9 unbeaten for Akhmat
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Akhmat did not have in the autumn.
Squad2 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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Musab Al-Juwayr
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2026
8 unbeaten for Akhmat
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Akhmat did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Musab Al-Juwayr 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ismael
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Manuel Keliano 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.55, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Oct 2026
7 unbeaten for Akhmat
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Akhmat did not have in the autumn.
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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mehdi Zare
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Akhmat told Sergey Pryakhin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Oct 2026
Akhmat win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Krasnodar will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Akhmat right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Musab Al-Juwayr 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.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan Paulo Figueroa 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mohamed Konaté’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akhmat.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Keliano 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Akhmat had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Akhmat
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match30 Sep 2026
Akhmat through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Alania, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Musab Al-Juwayr 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
At 23 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for Akhmat, 2‑0 the final word against Orenburg in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ramón Córdoba
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Akhmat
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Akhmat are no longer polite ones.
Market28 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Sep 2026
Ismael wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match26 Sep 2026
Akhmat cannot find the net
4 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Giorgi Shelia 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ismael 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Schetinin, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Miroslav Bogosavac 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ismael 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The phone has started ringing about Vadim Uljanov again, and this time the name on the line is Krylya Sovetov. Akhmat are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Galymzhan Kenzhebek commits to Akhmat for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
Klisman Cake 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 Akhmat can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ismael
“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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Spartak Moscow left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Brian Mansilla 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Galymzhan Kenzhebek again, and this time the name on the line is Rotor. Akhmat are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ismael 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramón Córdoba, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.31 on the card, and the Akhmat support went home talking about one name.
Match29 Aug 2026
Akhmat and Rostov take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Akhmat have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Egas Cacintura’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akhmat.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.73. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad24 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Rizvan Utsiev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Akhmat has been clear about where Rizvan Utsiev stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
Akhmat say no — this time
The offer from Nizhniy Novgorod for Galymzhan Kenzhebek 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ousmane Ndong again, and this time the name on the line is SKA Khabarovsk. Akhmat are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Brian Mansilla 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
Ismael 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.36 on the card, and the Akhmat support went home talking about one name.
Market17 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Klisman Cake has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Akhmat.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Vadim Uljanov
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Akhmat
Ramón Córdoba arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 27 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Egas Cacintura and Akhmat agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Akhmat
Brian Mansilla 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Galymzhan Kenzhebek has come up in conversations Akhmat were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Keliano 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
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
Akhmat may not be able to give Ismael what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ismael wants continental football; whether Akhmat can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lechi Sadulaev and Akhmat agree another 3 years.
Squad3 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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akhmat, another week without a signature from Giorgi Shelia.