Marked for Daniil Zelinskyi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2028
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match25 Sep 2028
Position 16 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market25 Sep 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denys Smetana 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.
Squad25 Sep 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Sep 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Sep 2028
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match30 Aug 2028
Kolos ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Lucas Henrique 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia now.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denys Smetana 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.
Squad4 Sep 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
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
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Miguel Sánchez: 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.” Metalurh Zaporizhzhia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Jul 2028
Miguel Sánchez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metalurh Zaporizhzhia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Daniil Zelinskyi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jun 2028
The name of Anton Riabokon has come up in conversations Metalurh Zaporizhzhia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad19 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The caretaker keeps it: Viktor Shevchuk confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match5 Jun 2028
17 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market5 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Zelinskyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metalurh Zaporizhzhia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sulejman Seitkhalilov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 May 2028
“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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 May 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Artem Sitalo
“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
Uneasy
Boardroom8 May 2028
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Match8 May 2028
17 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad8 May 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom8 May 2028
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Market8 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Zelinskyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metalurh Zaporizhzhia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom8 May 2028
An order from above at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Metalurh Zaporizhzhia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Apr 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2028
17 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Radion Lisniak out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metalurh Zaporizhzhia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Apr 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia is running low.
Squad3 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Mar 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sulejman Seitkhalilov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2028
Position 16 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad13 Mar 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad13 Mar 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Metalurh Zaporizhzhia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Denys Smetana 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, another week without a signature from Daniil Zelinskyi.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Feb 2028
The Obolon deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Miguel Sánchez reports back to Metalurh Zaporizhzhia with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad28 Feb 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Radion Lisniak out for 127 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metalurh Zaporizhzhia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Jan 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Karpaty come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Metalurh Zaporizhzhia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Jan 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.
Squad31 Jan 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Mamrosenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Radion Lisniak out for 134 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metalurh Zaporizhzhia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
7.70, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Denys Smetana 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 Jan 2028
Ivan Mamrosenko 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 terraces24 Jan 2028
At 21 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
A 1‑0 win over UCSA, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“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.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia now.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Jan 2028
The run now stands at 33, and the questions being asked around Metalurh Zaporizhzhia are no longer polite ones.
Match1 Jan 2028
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market3 Jan 2028
“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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 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.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Metalurh Zaporizhzhia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Lucas Henrique 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 Jan 2028
Ivan Mamrosenko 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.
Match1 Jan 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Chernihiv came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Dec 2027
The run now stands at 29, and the questions being asked around Metalurh Zaporizhzhia are no longer polite ones.
Market6 Dec 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 Metalurh Zaporizhzhia can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Dec 2027
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad6 Dec 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Denys Smetana 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radion Lisniak 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Sitalo, and the manager let it.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
An afternoon Denys Smetana will want back
Marked 4.68. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match14 Aug 2027
12 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Lucas Henrique 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Metalurh Zaporizhzhia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Sánchez 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
0‑1 to Feniks, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.