Marked for Marcelo Valverde
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Aktobe
Pablo Álvarez 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Aktobe
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Shushenachev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Aktobe know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marcelo Valverde wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Aktobe now know that too.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nani gets picked when it counts
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 Nani is on it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aktobe. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: MSK Zilina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Aktobe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Aktobe have gone to Ordabasy with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Aktobe
Pablo Álvarez 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Artur Shushenachev 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to NK Domzale: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcelo Valverde and Aktobe agree another 1 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Aktobe man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Daniel Sosah was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
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Market
Experience through the door at Aktobe
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Market
The shop window has Nani in it
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The dugout
Kairat Shomko knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nacional have kept their man, and Lusitano Évora go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leandro Tipote and Lusitano Évora agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Lusitano Évora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Lusitânia Lourosa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for João Conceição is in the works
Lusitano Évora have made the call to Benfica. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Estoril Praia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.