Marked for Marat Bogdaev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Marat Bogdaev 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marat Bogdaev goes up and wins it — 7.97
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spartak Tambov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Gadjimurad Abdullaev 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 terraces11 Jan 2027
At 23 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad11 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Alexey Shulgin: 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.” Spartak Tambov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Daniil Gurchenko 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Spartak Tambov can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 222% of everything Spartak Tambov earn
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.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
At 23 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Bondar', and the manager let it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Bogdaev 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.62 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Spartak Tambov had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
Paulinho Campos 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxim Sergeev and Spartak Tambov agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Rotor 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Strogino spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Age has not caught Murad Omarov yet — 7.84
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad7 Dec 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
20 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Kuptsov. 1‑0 against Strogino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marat Bogdaev 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vyacheslav Frolov and Spartak Tambov agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Daniil Gurchenko is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
223% of the income goes out in wages at Spartak Tambov
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Marat Bogdaev 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Bondar'
“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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Daniil Gurchenko at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spartak Tambov.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shmarov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Rodina M leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Pavel Khodeev damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Daniil Gurchenko 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Bogdaev 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
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Pavel Khodeev damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Spartak Tambov — 7.98
1 for Marat Bogdaev, marked 7.98, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad9 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Gurchenko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Alexandr Shmarov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Alexey Shulgin: 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.” Spartak Tambov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Paulinho Campos 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Spartak Tambov can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Murad Omarov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Marat Bogdaev 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roman Petrov commits to Spartak Tambov for another 3 years.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.60, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Pavel Khodeev 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.
Squad12 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Ryazan will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gadjimurad Abdullaev 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 303% of everything Spartak Tambov earn
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Bogdaev 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
Steady
Match26 Sep 2026
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad28 Sep 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Gurchenko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad28 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Metallurg tried to reorganise, Spartak Tambov did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marat Bogdaev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Maxim Levin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alexandr Shmarov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
Volga come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Spartak Tambov did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Paulinho Campos 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Spartak Tambov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulinho Campos, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Marat Bogdaev 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
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Spartak Tambov know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market14 Sep 2026
Kosmos are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Spartak Tambov will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Paulinho Campos commits to Spartak Tambov for another 3 years.
Squad7 Sep 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Sep 2026
Kvant pay $9.0K, 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Vladislav Konyrev has left for Strogino in a $7.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market7 Sep 2026
Add another name to the list: Kosmos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ilja Tikhomirov. The answer from Spartak Tambov has not changed — yet.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Maxim Levin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartak Tambov.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Shmarov 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
Market31 Aug 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 Spartak Tambov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 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.
Squad31 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 Spartak Tambov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Khodeev, and the manager let it.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
1‑1 against Dinamo Kirov, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fakel come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Spartak Tambov did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Alexandr Bazhenov: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Market24 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 Spartak Tambov can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Maxim Sergeev 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Dmitry Kuptsov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.59
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.59, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Bogdaev 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Shmarov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniil Gurchenko and Spartak Tambov agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Daniil Gurchenko 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Dinamo Bryansk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Bondar', and the manager let it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Spartak Tambov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marat Bogdaev 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.