Marked for Denis Lebedev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Zvezda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match30 Jan 2027
8 matches without a win for Zvezda
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Zvezda are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Feb 2027
Roman Zaitsev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zvezda have done the hard part with Dinamo Bryansk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Zvezda
Zaurbek Ramonov 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Igor Smirnov 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
No hiding place for Leon Aiba
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leon Aiba, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match30 Jan 2027
Honours even between Zvezda and Kosmos
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Zvezda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match25 Jan 2027
Zvezda are in real trouble now
Position 15, 8 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nowhere to hide for Zvezda
0‑4 against Yenisey 2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market25 Jan 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 Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Zvezda
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Zvezda are no longer polite ones.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Zvezda
Zaurbek Ramonov 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Denis Lebedev 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 dugout25 Jan 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
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Zvezda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zvezda is running low.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Fyodor Savinov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market4 Jan 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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Zvezda
4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Zvezda
Zaurbek Ramonov 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Zvezda against Saturn
0‑2 to Saturn, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Denis Lebedev 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.
Looking ahead4 Jan 2027
A six-pointer for Zvezda
Irkutsk next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Zvezda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match28 Dec 2026
Zvezda are in real trouble now
Position 15, 7 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Dec 2026
Leon Aiba in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zvezda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Zvezda against Kolomna
1‑3 to Kolomna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Zvezda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Smirnov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
Leon Aiba puts it in writing
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Zvezda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Smirnov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Zvezda
Denis Lebedev 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 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fyodor Savinov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Zvezda dressing room was either.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Chertanovo will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Leon Aiba
Nobody at Zvezda 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Zvezda's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Market23 Nov 2026
Leon Aiba puts it in writing
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Zvezda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Zvezda come up short against Tver
Tver left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Zvezda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Lebedev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Zvezda
Position 15, 3 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Kopitets, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Fyodor Savinov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Zvezda's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑4 to Dinamo Vologda, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad9 Nov 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market9 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 Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Zvezda
Leon Aiba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gavriil Mikhaylov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alexei Kokorin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Lebedev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Zvezda's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Oct 2026
Zvezda cannot find the net
11 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxim Malafeev is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Zvezda
Zaurbek Ramonov 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Yenisey 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vadim Kabanov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aleksey Shestakov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Denis Lebedev 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 dugout12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Zvezda
A 0‑5 beating by Saturn was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Zvezda's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match19 Sep 2026
Zvezda cannot find the net
8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Zvezda
Leon Aiba 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 targets21 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Zenyuk
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Denis Lebedev 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Zvezda dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Zvezda
A 0‑3 beating by Kolomna was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Zvezda's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match12 Sep 2026
Zvezda cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Zvezda until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Yenisey have kept their man, and Zvezda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Zvezda
Denis Lebedev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 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 Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Zvezda
5 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The goals have deserted Zvezda
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zvezda can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Dinamo Stavropol is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Zvezda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zvezda
Denis Lebedev 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Zvezda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Kopitets 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Lebedev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match19 Aug 2026
Zvezda out of the cup
Irtysh ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Volna is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Zvezda's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
Zvezda cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Zvezda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zvezda
Denis Lebedev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.7K — a club that wants Yegor Besaev enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$19.0K was the most the club would pay and CSKA Moscow 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 Aug 2026
Zvezda asked and Rodina 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 Aug 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zvezda
Denis Lebedev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Spartak Moscow 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match8 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Zvezda
0‑3 against Tver, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with KAMAZ, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Barnaul keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to CSKA Moscow this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Damir Zhelegotov commits to Zvezda for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zvezda
Denis Lebedev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eduard Trofimov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Leonid Gubin joins the Zvezda first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Leonid Gubin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrey Zaitsev and Zvezda agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
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 Zvezda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Uralets-TS have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aikhan Bakhysh-Zade. The answer from Zvezda has not changed — yet.
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
The clock runs on Andrey Zenyuk's contract
49 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Savely Ratnikov is in the works
Zvezda have made the call to KAMAZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Zaurbek Ramonov is in the works
Zvezda have made the call to Alania. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Zvezda have made the call to Dinamo Barnaul. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.