Marked for Jesús Rueda
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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; Sapovnela are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jesús Rueda 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nikita Kaplenko 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Shukura, and it could have been more.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Levan Kakabadze at 19 — 9.71
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Levan Kakabadze did not need any: 9.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Zaid Karouch yet — 8.32
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jesús Rueda 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 Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Levan Kakabadze 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Kaplenko, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Shukura blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Shukura tried to reorganise, Sapovnela did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Jesús Rueda
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Jesús Rueda yet — 8.43
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.43 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kaplenko 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Javi Hervás
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Jesús Rueda’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sapovnela.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Miroljub Kostić 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Sapovnela's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sapovnela has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Zaid Karouch 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 Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nikita Kaplenko 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Jesús Rueda gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Zaid Karouch keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sapovnela say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
An afternoon Stef Nijland will want back
Marked 5.47. 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
Uneasy
Match15 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Sapovnela
1‑1 against Dinamo Tbilisi, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 10 of the 19 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Sapovnela
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sapovnela are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jesús Rueda 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 Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kaplenko 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miroljub Kostić, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sapovnela, another week without a signature from Sfundo Shezi.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sapovnela
18 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jakub Trojanowski and Sapovnela agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jesús Rueda 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 Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Kaplenko 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stef Nijland, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Sapovnela
Stef Nijland arrives at 38 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market10 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Sapovnela
Francesco Renzetti arrives at 38 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market10 Aug 2026
At 39, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Match8 Aug 2026
Point won or two lost for Sapovnela?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Tskhinvali? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.