Marked for Dmitriy Sibilev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
José Acosta 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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitriy Sibilev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Naftan
Shola Ogundana 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 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitriy Sibilev
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market1 Mar 2027
10 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Naftan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market1 Mar 2027
Naftan spent the window trying to move Alexandr Alexandrovich on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
José Acosta 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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Naftan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Abakar Akaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abakar Akaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Dec 2026
José Acosta 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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Vadim Yakovlev: 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.” Naftan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market16 Nov 2026
Vadim Yakovlev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
José Acosta 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
Squad5 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 83 days on the sidelines for Nikita Matskharashvili, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market5 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
José Acosta 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
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 31, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market7 Sep 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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 112 days on the sidelines for Nikita Matskharashvili, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market7 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
José Acosta 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
197% of the income goes out in wages at Naftan
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitriy Latykhov. 2‑0 against Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.74, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Naftan's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Naftan has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
José Acosta 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.
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market24 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.