The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Volna Pinsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 2, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Volna Pinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Volna Pinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Bumprom Gomel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sergey Kirikovich. The answer from Volna Pinsk has not changed — yet.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ruslan Gogniev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Volna Pinsk prefer.
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A brace, and Ilja Vasin takes the afternoon — 9.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ilja Vasin provided it, and the 9.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Denis Polyakov 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Tolkachev 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Volna Pinsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 9.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Volna Pinsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 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.
Andrey Zaleskiy 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Sotnikov 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Yahor Hleb was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Arsenal Dzerzhinsk dressing room was either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Volna Pinsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Molodechno waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Volna Pinsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitriy Matyash. 1‑0 against Orsha, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Oreshkevich and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
11 goals in 21 games at Volna Pinsk — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Volna Pinsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Vitaliy Kibuk 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Stanislau Nekhaichik kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yahor Martynovich has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Anton Hryshyn has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uladzislau Skavysh has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uladzislau Palitsevich has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
91 minutes played. Dmitriy Matyash found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Baranovichi went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 Volna Pinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Volna Pinsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mikita Skavysh has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Position 4 on 30 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kirill Kovalevich 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.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
138% of the income goes out in wages at Volna Pinsk
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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Kuradovets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Denis Polyakov 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Artem Gurenko. 2‑0 against Slonim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexandr Naumovich is on it.
8 goals in 12 games at Volna Pinsk — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Position 3, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Vitaliy Kibuk 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Volna Pinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Kuradovets 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.
Something was said to Dmitriy Nizhnik and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stanislau Nekhaichik was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Volna Pinsk dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Daniil Tkachik and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dzmitry Stasevich has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vitaliy Kibuk is on it.
The dugout10 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Stanislau Nekhaichik chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Denis Polyakov 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 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.
“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.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Yahor Hleb to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Nikita Kaplenko and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
7 goals in 8 games at Volna Pinsk — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Position 3, 18 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Vitaliy Kibuk 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.
8.23. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Volna Pinsk, another week without a signature from Vladislav Dybin.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yahor Hleb after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kirill Kovalevich 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Stanislau Nekhaichik kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitriy Matyash provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitriy Matyash. 3‑1 against Slonim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Stanislau Nekhaichik, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vladislav Dybin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Volna Pinsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Vitaliy Kibuk 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dmitriy Lesnyak 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.
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Volna Pinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petr Kazantsev 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.
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stanislau Nekhaichik was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Volna Pinsk dressing room was either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Volna Pinsk, another week without a signature from Alexandr Chizh.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladislav Dybin and Volna Pinsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Vitaliy Kibuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexey Stroychuk 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Stanislau Nekhaichik could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Volna Pinsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
Vitaliy Kibuk 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutVitaliy Kibuk knocks on the manager's door
Vitaliy Kibuk 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.
Nobody at Volna Pinsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Petr Kazantsev on the training pitch
Petr Kazantsev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmitriy Matyash is on it.
In brief
The dugoutRuslan Gogniev asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Letsko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Volna Pinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vitaliy Kibuk 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.
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Anton Susha 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.
Nobody at Volna Pinsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Volna Pinsk could ask drops and the wages Vitaliy Kibuk can ask rise.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Stanislav Letsko’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Volna Pinsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Letsko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Volna Pinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Petr Kazantsev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Vlasov, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Pavel Sedich 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Volna Pinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Vitaliy Kibuk and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmitriy Matyash is on it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Volna Pinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Sedich 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Volna Pinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Orsha had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Volna Pinsk did not stop to explain themselves.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Volna Pinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Azam Radzhabov 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kirill Kovalevich did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Daniil Tkachik again, and this time the name on the line is Uni-X Labs. Volna Pinsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Volna Pinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Susha 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.
Minute 88, against Dnepr Mogilev, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Volna Pinsk, another week without a signature from Vitaliy Kibuk.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.