Marked for Daniel Sosah
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Ajdin Hrustić 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.
Squad20 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.
Market20 Sep 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ajdin Zeljković signs something — a contract at Aktobe or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Sep 2027
Aktobe up to position 1
48 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match1 Sep 2027
The cup run ends for Aktobe
1‑2 against Ordabasy, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Sosah
15 goals and a season average of 7.58 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Alexandr Zarutskii 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.
Squad6 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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad6 Sep 2027
9 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Aug 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Aug 2027
Ordabasy paid $81.0K and Aktobe took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zhalğas Zhaqsylyqov, and the manager let it.
Market16 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aktobe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The move was somebody else's story. What it left behind was a dressing-room stall nobody has taken and a player who keeps looking at it.
Market16 Aug 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Nikita Korzun leaves Aktobe the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Jul 2027
Whatever happens, Aktobe do not lose
17 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
9 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 102 days on the sidelines for Rashid Sumaila, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sanzhar Kemelbek, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
The one thing Daniel Sosah could not do
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Match31 Jul 2027
Point won or two lost for Aktobe?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zhetysu? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Jul 2027
16 unbeaten for Aktobe
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 16 matches without defeat is a foundation Aktobe did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Sosah
15 goals and a season average of 7.59 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market26 Jul 2027
Aktobe get their man
The chase for Sanzhar Kemelbek ended with $280.0K changing hands and Taraz out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Alexandr Zarutskii 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.82, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bağdat Qaiyrov, and the manager let it.
Match24 Jul 2027
Honours even between Aktobe and Tobol
2‑2, 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
Triumph
Match17 Jul 2027
Aktobe cannot stop winning
8 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Sosah
14 goals and a season average of 7.59 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Pablo Álvarez 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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match17 Jul 2027
Atyrau made Aktobe work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmytro Topalov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match3 Jul 2027
Aktobe cannot stop winning
6 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.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aktobe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jul 2027
11 goals and a season average of 7.53. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad5 Jul 2027
132 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match3 Jul 2027
A 1‑0 win over Ordabasy, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match23 Jun 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Daniel Sosah obliged against Tobol. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Aktobe.
Match26 Jun 2027
Nobody wants to play Aktobe right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Ajdin Hrustić 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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A defender's afternoon for Nikita Korzun
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market28 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Aktobe have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market28 Jun 2027
Ordabasy pay $180.0K, 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.
Match26 Jun 2027
A 2‑1 win over Shakhter, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.99, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market21 Jun 2027
The Astana deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Artur Shushenachev reports back to Aktobe with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Match19 Jun 2027
Aktobe make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Aktobe have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Daniel Sosah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.53 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad21 Jun 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
A performance of 9.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match19 Jun 2027
Okzhetpes made Aktobe work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Marked 8.08 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Jun 2027
Still nobody has beaten Aktobe
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Daniel Sosah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.52 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad7 Jun 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 9.30 — 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
Irtysh made Aktobe work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 9.07 — 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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bağdat Qaiyrov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 May 2027
7 unbeaten for Aktobe
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Aktobe did not have in the autumn.
Squad31 May 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.82 on the card, and the Aktobe support went home talking about one name.
Squad31 May 2027
Arman Keńesov is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.25 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Pablo Álvarez 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.
Match22 May 2027
Whatever happens, Aktobe do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match22 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Artur Shushenachev. 3‑1 against Kairat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings24 May 2027
A performance of 9.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.98, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings24 May 2027
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
6 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Temirlan Erlanov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 May 2027
Aktobe are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 21 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aktobe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A performance of 9.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Bağdat Qaiyrov 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.
Match15 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Sosah. 2‑1 against Zhetysu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 8.97 — 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Daniel Sosah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.39 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad17 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 May 2027
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad10 May 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
“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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match8 May 2027
Aktobe and Tobol cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Tobol came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 May 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match1 May 2027
Nobody wants to play Aktobe right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Ajdin Hrustić 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 9.34 — 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.
Match1 May 2027
Aktobe get the job done against Atyrau
A 3‑1 win over Atyrau, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 May 2027
A performance of 9.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 8.64 — 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Daniel Sosah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.30 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad3 May 2027
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Aktobe have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad26 Apr 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match24 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Sosah. 4‑3 against Akzhaiyk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A performance of 9.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 8.70 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Apr 2027
4‑1, and Daniel Sosah took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Aktobe tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Daniel Sosah takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match19 Apr 2027
Aktobe up to position 3
11 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad19 Apr 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Ordets
“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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
91% of the income goes out in wages at Aktobe
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Apr 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Apr 2027
Shakhter left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.51, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 5.71, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A wage question at Aktobe
Bağdat Qaiyrov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Squad12 Apr 2027
At 26 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Aktobe have a decision that made itself.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Pablo Álvarez 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Marked 9.36 — 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Ajdin Zeljković’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aktobe.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Marked 8.81 — 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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Mar 2027
3‑0, and Arion Sulemani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Aktobe tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Ajdin Hrustić 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad29 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad29 Mar 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Aktobe have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Aktobe's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aktobe has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
93% of the income goes out in wages at Aktobe
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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
The afternoon belonged to Yaw Ackah
A mark of 7.43, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad22 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 ratings22 Mar 2027
Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Match20 Mar 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Irtysh defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Aktobe
Ajdin Hrustić 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.
Squad15 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Boikanyo Komane, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager plants his flag on Daniel Sosah
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Daniel Sosah’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A welcome sight on the training pitch: Timur Dosmağambetov has come through recovery and is pushing for a place again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Aktobe
Ajdin Hrustić 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 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aktobe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Daniel Sosah is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Ordets and Aktobe agree another 2 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 Aktobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Aktobe have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Match1 Aug 2026
It needed Arman Keńesov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Zhetysu, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.