Marked for Ablikm
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Arturo Cheng: 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.” Zhejiang FC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Alexandru Mitriţă 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
No place for Ablikm in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ablikm has his answer from Zhejiang FC; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Sun Guowen 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 Sun Guowen is on it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Kosei Suwama knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zhejiang FC, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Shanghai Shenhua next, and one man in the Zhejiang FC dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 4 out at Zhejiang FC
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Alexandru Mitriţă 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Alexander N'Doumbou left off the list on the foreign quota
A rule about passports rather than about football has decided he cannot play. Zhejiang FC had more of them than the form allows, and somebody had to be the name that did not fit.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ablikm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Sun Guowen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zhejiang FC 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
Wang Shiqin 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.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Meizhou Hakka in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout1 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A season on the outside for Romário Baldé
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zhejiang FC has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer from Beijing Guoan for Alexandru Mitriţă 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tim Chow 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 Zhejiang FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Zhejiang FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandru Mitriţă 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Zhao Bo has left for Chengdu Rongcheng in a $72.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Zhejiang FC asked and Botafogo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Yunnan Yukun have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Wu Wei. The answer from Zhejiang FC has not changed — yet.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Sun Guowen 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 Sun Guowen is on it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Ablikm 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Romário Baldé moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Zhejiang FC than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from Chengdu Rongcheng for Wang Yudong 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Huo Shenping breaks a bone — 21 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zhejiang FC have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 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 Zhejiang FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Xu Junchi and Zhejiang FC agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Kosei Suwama is in the works
Zhejiang FC have made the call to Yokohama F. Marinos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout11 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 Saúl Guarirapa is on it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Wang Shiqin
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ablikm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Alexandru Mitriţă 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
When it matters, Wang Yudong plays
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Zhejiang FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ablikm 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
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alexandru Mitriţă 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.
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 Alexandru Mitriţă is on it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ablikm 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
Crisis
Match4 Nov 2026
The small margins put Zhejiang FC out
Out, 1‑3 to Shanghai Shenhua, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Wang Yudong, 19, steals the show — 7.75
Marked 7.75 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Alexandru Mitriţă 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Saúl Guarirapa
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bi Jinhao and Zhejiang FC agree another 1 years.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alexander N'Doumbou.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Sun Guowen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zhejiang FC 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
Squad19 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 Zhejiang FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Zhao Bo 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Alexandru Mitriţă at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zhejiang FC.
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Zhao Yangyang to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ablikm 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tim Chow has to sit this one out
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Zhejiang FC lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Xu Junchi dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alexandru Mitriţă and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Zhejiang FC 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
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Zhao Bo 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 Zhao Bo is on it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Zhao Yangyang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Zhejiang FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ablikm 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Shenzhen Peng City came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market28 Sep 2026
The Zhao Bo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zhao Bo signs something — a contract at Zhejiang FC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.