From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Sep 2027
Atyrau are in real trouble now
Position 11, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Samat Nurgaliev has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Atyrau can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market6 Sep 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market6 Sep 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Atyrau have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market6 Sep 2027
Ordabasy pay $280.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
$769.0K taken back off the Atyrau table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Market6 Sep 2027
The name of Abylaikhan Zhūmabek keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Atyrau say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Elliot Collier joins up with his country. Atyrau lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Oleksandr Noiok keeps the shirt for now, at Atyrau's convenience rather than his own.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Egor Khvalko asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Egor Tkachenko has come up in conversations Atyrau were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market16 Aug 2027
Mario Rabiu linked with a move away
The name of Mario Rabiu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Atyrau say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Egor Khvalko 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 Atyrau, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Egor Khatkevich knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match17 Jul 2027
Honours even between Atyrau and Aktobe
1-1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jul 2027
Atyrau are in real trouble now
Position 11, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Ian Trufanov has come up in conversations Atyrau were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jul 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match10 Jul 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Astana defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Egor Tkachenko 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 Atyrau, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Abylaikhan Zhūmabek keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Atyrau say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2027
15 matches without a win for Atyrau
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Atyrau are no longer polite ones.
Match29 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Atyrau against Ordabasy
0-1 to Ordabasy, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Egor Tkachenko
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
6 matches without a win for Atyrau
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Atyrau are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Beaten 1-2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Egor Khatkevich. Atyrau will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad5 Apr 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Atyrau have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
61 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Egor Tkachenko commits to Atyrau for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Nov 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 Atyrau can pretend not to have heard.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“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 Atyrau, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Rinat Zhūmatov plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Oct 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 Atyrau can pretend not to have heard.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“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 Atyrau, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Abylaikhan Zhūmabek plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Sep 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 Atyrau can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“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 Atyrau, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Atyrau
A 1-0 win over Taraz, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Akam Moses commits to Atyrau for another 3 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Atyrau have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Oleksandr Noiok keeps the shirt for now, at Atyrau's convenience rather than his own.
Market17 Aug 2026
Atyrau have made Saiat Zhūmağali available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mayed Muhsin commits to Atyrau for another 3 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
Shakhter are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Atyrau will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Atyrau signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Egor Khatkevich keeps the shirt for now, at Atyrau's convenience rather than his own.