Marked for Ivan Novichkov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jul 2029
4 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match25 Jul 2029
Gomel are out and Torpedo-BelAZ go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market30 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Torpedo-BelAZ have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Jul 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lida had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market30 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Grenik Petrosyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo-BelAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo-BelAZ can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slovan Bratislava keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Anton Suchkov 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 dugout30 Jul 2029
This is not rotation. Grigoriy Martyanov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Dec 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Budko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Budko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo-BelAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo-BelAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Grigoriy Martyanov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Torpedo-BelAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soslan Takulov 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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
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 dugout18 Dec 2028
Vadim Kiselev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo-BelAZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market18 Dec 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vadim Kiselev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market18 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Grenik Petrosyan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo-BelAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Grigoriy Martyanov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Kiselev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“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 Torpedo-BelAZ know it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
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 Soslan Takulov is on it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Vadim Pobudey knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vadim Pobudey trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market23 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Grenik Petrosyan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Aug 2028
Terms done: Matt Zver is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uni-X Labs waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo-BelAZ can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Gaevoy
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Gaevoy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torpedo-BelAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
$340.0K on the table at BATE. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market7 Aug 2028
The paperwork is done: Ivan Novichkov joins from Vitebsk in a deal worth $340.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Vadim Pobudey 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.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
$58.0K was the most the club would pay and Neman were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ivan Novichkov from Vitebsk for $340.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Soslan Takulov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Aug 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Vitebsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
Ivan Novichkov has gone, the accounts have $340.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Fakel, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
$74.0K on the table at Slutsk. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Roman Lisovskiy 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
Torpedo-BelAZ paid $340.0K and Vitebsk took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad7 Aug 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Uladzislau Kislyak is living that version at Vitebsk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Jul 2028
Vitebsk ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market31 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and BATE waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
$340.0K settles it between the clubs for Ivan Novichkov
Vitebsk have accepted the money. What Torpedo-BelAZ do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market31 Jul 2028
Niva come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Torpedo-BelAZ did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Vadim Pobudey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Danila Zhulpa has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitebsk have kept their man, and Torpedo-BelAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Kiselev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergey Ignatovich, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Belshina waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market17 Jul 2028
Vitebsk say no — this time
The offer from Slutsk for Alexandr Burnos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
$570.0K was the most the club would pay and Torpedo-BelAZ were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Vitebsk asked and Slutsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Vitebsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonard Chatelin Gweth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Jul 2028
Three points for Vitebsk, 2‑1 the final word against Smorgon in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Marked 6.83 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Jun 2028
Isloch will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torpedo-BelAZ were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Torpedo-BelAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torpedo-BelAZ can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jun 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Torpedo-BelAZ and Vitebsk have settled on $430.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Kirill Premudrov, 36, rolls back the years — 8.20
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torpedo-BelAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Anatoly Anisimov out for 89 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vitebsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Vitebsk
Roman Lisovskiy 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.
Match17 Jun 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Vitebsk and Dnepr Mogilev, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match17 Jun 2028
Dnepr Mogilev left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Zakhar Chervyakov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Vitebsk asked and Torpedo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market19 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: Osipovichi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Artem Korolev. The answer from Vitebsk has not changed — yet.
Loan watch19 Jun 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vitebsk, and 5 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Mikhail Bashilov 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
No place for Maxim Abramov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Vitebsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ivan Novichkov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vitebsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Burnos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market27 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitriy Kharitonov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Promotion, confirmed and mathematical, and a town that will not sleep much tonight. Whatever else this season had in it, it ends a division higher than it began.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market6 Dec 2027
Only the photograph left for Anton Susha
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Anton Susha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Dec 2027
58 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad6 Dec 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marin Žgomba commits to Vitebsk for another 4 years.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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.
Market6 Dec 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vitebsk, another week without a signature from Anton Susha.
Market6 Dec 2027
Vitebsk have let the market know Dmitriy Kharitonov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 2027
155 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vitebsk, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Evgeniy Krasnov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Kharitonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Oct 2027
Ivan Novichkov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Vitebsk
Mikhail Bashilov 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.
Loan watch25 Oct 2027
“I watch every Vitebsk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Belshina runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Evgeniy Krasnov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roman Lisovskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market25 Oct 2027
Vitebsk have let the market know Roman Lisovskiy can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Oct 2027
First, on 49 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vitebsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market11 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Anton Susha
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Anton Susha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vitebsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Oct 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Naumov, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Roman Lisovskiy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Vitebsk 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Kharitonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Oct 2027
“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.
Market11 Oct 2027
Vitebsk have let the market know Dmitriy Kharitonov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Sep 2027
Vitebsk out of the cup
BATE ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Anton Susha breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Sep 2027
Ivan Novichkov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match22 Sep 2027
Nobody wins at Vitebsk
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match22 Sep 2027
The run is over for Vitebsk
4 matches without defeat, and then BATE. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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 Evgeniy Krasnov is on it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The plan did not have a place for Nikita Naumov
Nobody at Vitebsk is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.