Marked for Ilja Kazakov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Druzhba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordon Ibe 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 terraces23 Nov 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Eddi Tsanava gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
The afternoon belonged to Ilja Kazakov
A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dmitry Malakhov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
A test against the best for Druzhba
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Nart.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Druzhba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match24 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Druzhba
A 0‑4 beating by Sevastopol was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Druzhba
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Druzhba are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Druzhba
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Druzhba can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordon Ibe 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 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 Druzhba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
Doors closed at Druzhba
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Druzhba are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Druzhba
Tamerlan Khachirov 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mads Abrahamsen, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Druzhba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chris Popov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
11 new faces, and Druzhba are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.18. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Nikita Philippov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Rostov 2 came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 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 Druzhba can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Druzhba asked and Arsenal Tula said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Druzhba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tamerlan Khachirov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ivan Nesterov 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ilja Kazakov
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Druzhba, another week without a signature from Alexandr Usov.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Vladislav Anisimov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Ilja Kazakov has moved up it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Druzhba have let the market know Alan Khapishtov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Asker Delok: 11 seasons and counting
247 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Druzhba know exactly what they have.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kirill Yushko and Druzhba agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Druzhba have gone to Spartak Nalchik with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eddi Tsanava 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Druzhba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tamerlan Khachirov 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Astrakhan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Druzhba, another week without a signature from Asker Delok.