Marked for Maxim Shvetsov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Maxim Shvetsov: 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.” Dinamo Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Karen Vardanyan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Dinamo Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roger Manríque 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Aldiiar Ältaev at 19 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aldiiar Ältaev did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mikhail Alexandrov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alexey Ivanov 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Shvetsov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Koper come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andrei Vlad 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 terraces17 Aug 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Dinamo Brest, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Dinamo Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Shvetsov 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
Andrei Vlad has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Dinamo Minsk know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dinamo Minsk had the best player on the pitch.
Squad17 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Dinamo Minsk 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
Ural come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
178 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Dinamo Minsk know what they have.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexey Ivanov and Dinamo Minsk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.22 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market3 Aug 2026
Kirill Kaplenko is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dinamo Minsk has been clear about where Kirill Kaplenko stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Matvey Dubatovka 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.
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 Dinamo Minsk, another week without a signature from Evgeniy Malashevich.