Marked for Diyor Rahmatullayev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Islom Kenjaboyev. 3‑1 against Obod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Marked 8.69 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad31 May 2027
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Paparyga 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 ratings31 May 2027
Islom Kenjaboyev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Shohruh Mirzaev, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 May 2027
The wait goes on for Qizilqum
8 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Shahzod Rahmatullayev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Shahzod Turopov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 May 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Bukhara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout17 May 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad17 May 2027
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Qizilqum will feel it on Saturday.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Chances created: 9. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Player ratings17 May 2027
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Qizilqum's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Qizilqum has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Apr 2027
Qizilqum 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.
Squad19 Apr 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Paparyga 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Shohruh Mirzaev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Lokomotiv came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2027
Kokand 1912 next, and one man in the Qizilqum dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The plan did not have a place for Asror G'ofurov
Nobody at Qizilqum 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Nobody at Qizilqum 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
The goals have deserted Qizilqum
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Qizilqum can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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 Shohruh Mirzaev to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Apr 2027
Farrux Jo'rayev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Qizilqum has been clear about where Farrux Jo'rayev stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Sogdiana left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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 1‑2 Shohruh Mirzaev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Timur Shomurodov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Looking ahead22 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Neftchi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The plan did not have a place for Asror G'ofurov
Nobody at Qizilqum 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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.
Market22 Mar 2027
The name of Oleksiy Shchebetun keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Qizilqum say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksiy Shchebetun 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” G'iyosjon Rizaqulov and Qizilqum agree another 4 years.
The dugout22 Feb 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 dugout22 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 Qizilqum, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything was agreed with Mashal and then the doctor spoke. Qizilqum have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad25 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan move for Matías Kusmanis is in the works
Qizilqum have made the call to Central Espanol. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akmaljon Muzaffarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 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 Diyor Rahmatullayev is on it.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Oleksiy Shchebetun keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Qizilqum say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout25 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Qizilqum, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Islom Kenjaboyev 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Qizilqum asked and Almirante Brown said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Raised voices on the training ground at Qizilqum
It involved Nikola Kumburović, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
The dugout4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diyor Rahmatullayev and Qizilqum agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Lanús: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Sogdiana 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
91% of the income goes out in wages at Qizilqum
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shahzod Rahmatullayev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Dec 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 Diyor Rahmatullayev is on it.
Market28 Dec 2026
The name of Oleksiy Shchebetun keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Qizilqum say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Mirzo Mirzaev out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Qizilqum will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Qizilqum is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
105% of the income goes out in wages at Qizilqum
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
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qizilqum they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
105% of the income goes out in wages at Qizilqum
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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Qizilqum, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Market2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Akmaljon Muzaffarov 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
Market5 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shahzod Rahmatullayev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Qizilqum the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
144% of the income goes out in wages at Qizilqum
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.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I watch every Qizilqum game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Metallurg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Metallurg's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Metallurg has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Metallurg have done the hard part with Qizilqum, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Metallurg
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Asilbek Tojiddinov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Metallurg have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Metallurg
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 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 Mirzo Ganiev left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Qizilqum
A 4‑3 win over AGMK, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match15 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Qizilqum
0‑3 against Pakhtakor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match12 Aug 2026
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Murodali Usmonov decided nobody was going anywhere. AGMK had no time left to answer.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Aug 2026
Qizilqum say no — this time
The offer from Navbahor for Shahzod Rahmatullayev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sportivo Luqueno keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Qizilqum asked and Patronato said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.