Marked for Rustam Turdimurodov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pakhtakor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pakhtakor know it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Sherzod Nasrullayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Mahmudjon Mahamadjonov again, and this time the name on the line is Taraz. Pakhtakor are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Aziz Turg'unboyev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pakhtakor will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Pakhtakor know which stage they are at.
Market15 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dostonbek Hamdamov signs something — a contract at Pakhtakor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pakhtakor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Pakhtakor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bashar Resan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Pakhtakor asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Pakhtakor
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Bashar Resan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bashar Resan is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pakhtakor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Feb 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Pakhtakor 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Pakhtakor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bashar Resan 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Pakhtakor asked and Navbahor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Abdurauf Bo'riev 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Pakhtakor have made the call to Navbahor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dilshod Saitov, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sherzod Nasrullayev is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pakhtakor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match25 Jan 2027
The view from the top for Pakhtakor
26 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
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 Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kairat is saying, and nobody at Pakhtakor is enjoying the guessing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Jonathan Dellarossa 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andijon have kept their man, and Pakhtakor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Nobody at Pakhtakor will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pakhtakor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 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 Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Pakhtakor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bashar Resan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to KAA Gent: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Kairat have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aziz Turg'unboyev is on it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dostonbek Hamdamov signs something — a contract at Pakhtakor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Qizilqum waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pakhtakor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Pakhtakor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Navbahor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jonathan Dellarossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Muhammadali Dilshodbekov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Bashar Resan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout11 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Neftchi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pakhtakor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 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 Pakhtakor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Pakhtakor will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Pakhtakor have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Pakhtakor
Jonathan Dellarossa 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bunyodkor have kept their man, and Pakhtakor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pakhtakor told Vladimir Nazarov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Andijon will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Asilbek Aliev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Imeda Ashortia 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Market28 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Martin Boakye signs something — a contract at Andijon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Andijon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Andijon
Abdurahmon Komilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Damir Temirov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Damir Temirov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Andijon
Nemanja Ćalasan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pakhtakor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad14 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 Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Bashar Resan gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bashar Resan is on it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Andijon can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Andijon
Martin Boakye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Imeda Ashortia, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Andijon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sardor Azimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 90% of the Andijon income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Martin Boakye signs something — a contract at Andijon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shohjahon Yorqinboyev is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Pakhtakor had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Muhammadqodir Hamroaliyev 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 Nov 2026
Ibrohim Ibragimov 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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Irtysh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Pakhtakor and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
The dugout16 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.
The dugout16 Nov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pakhtakor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager plants his flag on Bashar Resan
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Bashar Resan’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohir Komilov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Imeda Ashortia 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Martin Boakye
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Andijon against Shortan
0‑1 to Shortan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sardor Azimov 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Rustam Ahmedov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Andijon squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Martin Boakye 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Bukhara made Andijon work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Bukhara blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Bukhara tried to reorganise, Andijon did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rustam Ahmedov on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Damir Temirov
“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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Navbahor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrohim Yo'ldoshev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Andijon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Imeda Ashortia 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
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Abdurahmon Komilov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Andijon are still strangers to each other
16 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.
The dugout14 Sep 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 1‑3 Rustam Ahmedov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout14 Sep 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
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Andijon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match12 Aug 2026
Andijon bow out of the cup
Sogdiana go through and Andijon go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Andijon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Asadbek Habibullayev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad17 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 Andijon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Iraklis have kept their man, and Andijon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Andijon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.