Marked for Eldorbek Begimov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Nov 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Asadbek Sobirjonov 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
Uroš Kojić gets it from the manager
“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 dugout22 Nov 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at AGMK that is a harder question to answer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Giorgi Papava and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siavash Haghnazari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ali Abdurahmonov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AGMK.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Kojić, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dostonbek Shomurodov and AGMK agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout25 Oct 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.
The dugout25 Oct 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nurjahon Muzaffarov has written the date down.
Market25 Oct 2027
AGMK have made Fazliddin Zuhriddinov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2027
“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.
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AGMK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market26 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Akbar O'ktamov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Akbar O'ktamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGMK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match24 Jul 2027
At last: AGMK win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Qizilqum. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad26 Jul 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siavash Haghnazari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Qizilqum made AGMK work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 May 2027
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Match22 May 2027
A bad afternoon for AGMK against Mashal
0‑1 to Mashal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Giorgi Papava's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings24 May 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at AGMK, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout24 May 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.
Looking ahead24 May 2027
Metallurg next, and one man in the AGMK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Mar 2027
6 matches without a win for AGMK
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around AGMK are no longer polite ones.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for AGMK against Lokomotiv
0‑2 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout29 Mar 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Akmal Fayzullaev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout29 Mar 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 Eldorbek Begimov is on it.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Kokand 1912 next, and one man in the AGMK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
The dugout15 Feb 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Asadbek Sobirjonov has written the date down.
Market15 Feb 2027
AGMK opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Javohir Ilyosov stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Avazbek O'lmasaliyev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
AGMK close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eldorbek Begimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Avazbek O'lmasaliyev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at AGMK would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market1 Feb 2027
AGMK opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Avazbek O'lmasaliyev stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
Pakhtakor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AGMK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
AGMK have let the market know Javohir Ilyosov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Eldorbek Begimov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hamidullo Abdunabiyev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Jan 2027
The Uroš Kojić question follows AGMK around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Uroš Kojić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Uroš Kojić takes up the language
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Market18 Jan 2027
“Ambitious players need ambitious projects. Draw your own conclusions.” Akbar O'ktamov’s representative said it with a smile, and made sure everyone wrote it down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at AGMK
Eldorbek Begimov 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 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sherzodjon Komilov, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mirjamol Qosimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market7 Dec 2026
AGMK have let the market know Akbar O'ktamov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Eldorbek Begimov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AGMK lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Abror Karimov breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Mirjamol Qosimov: 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.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Javohir Ilyosov
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AGMK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Abror Karimov out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Sep 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Javohir Abdujabborov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means AGMK have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and AGMK 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
AGMK have let the market know Aziz Xolmurodov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AGMK have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Siavash Haghnazari commits to AGMK for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siavash Haghnazari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
AGMK asked and Universitatea Craiova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ali Abdurahmonov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Andijon, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and AGMK 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.