Marked for Artem Malashko
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Apr 2028
24 days out for Ilya Aleksievich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for Artem Malashko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Malashko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Minsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Ksenofontov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Apr 2028
Gomel take the points off Minsk
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Alexandr Gutor
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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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
Squad20 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Artem Malashko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Malashko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Minsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Turich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“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 dugout20 Mar 2028
Nobody at Minsk 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
Emir Ernisov 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 Minsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Mar 2028
The name of Daouda Natama keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Minsk say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Minsk will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
66 days out for Ilya Aleksievich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Minsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 Mar 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Minsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match4 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Minsk's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Minsk has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Mar 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Minsk
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Savitski
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orsha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Minsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Feb 2028
“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.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Minsk have done the hard part with Dinamo Minsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Ksenofontov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitebsk have kept their man, and Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market21 Feb 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Minsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Feb 2028
94 days out for Ilya Aleksievich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Niva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Minsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Feb 2028
Isloch come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Turich 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 targets7 Feb 2028
Minsk asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
A loan move for Yan Shumskiy is in the works
Minsk have made the call to BATE. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Dinamo Moscow 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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Krasnodar 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
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 123 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Alexandr Ksenofontov 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
Uneasy
Squad3 Jan 2028
130 days out for Ilya Aleksievich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Minsk have had the benefit of it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Minsk
Daouda Natama 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Market3 Jan 2028
28 games and 4 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Ilya Dubinets has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Minsk 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Malashko, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Alexey Tumanov 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 Alexey Tumanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Jan 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Minsk, another week without a signature from Vsevolod Narushevich.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Minsk close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Minsk have done the hard part with Slavia Mozyr, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market13 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Artem Malashko reports back to Minsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Minsk
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nikolay Sobolev has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Minsk have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich 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 targets13 Sep 2027
Minsk asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The clock did what Gomel would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orsha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Minsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market23 Aug 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 Minsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Ilya Aleksievich, 36, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Dinamo Moscow; Minsk go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The deal with Naftan is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daouda Natama and Minsk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Aleksievich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orsha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Minsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Ksenofontov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Artem Malashko has come up in conversations Minsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad16 Aug 2027
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Yatskevich, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Minsk have made the call to Dinamo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Minsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Minsk and Torpedo-BelAZ have settled on $94.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market2 Aug 2027
Minsk say no — this time
The offer from Orsha for Artem Malashko 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.
Squad2 Aug 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 Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Ilya Aleksievich 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 targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match31 Jul 2027
Orsha made Minsk work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
At 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2027
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Jul 2027
Artem Malashko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vitebsk is saying, and nobody at Minsk is enjoying the guessing.
Match24 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Minsk
4 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Minsk
Daouda Natama and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Ksenofontov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Minsk have kept their man, and Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match24 Jul 2027
Dinamo Minsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Minsk
Daouda Natama 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Ilya Aleksievich 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 targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Molodechno have kept their man, and Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Minsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Dinamo Minsk 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Kirill Semashko is in the works
Minsk have made the call to Neman. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
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The dugout
Ilya Dubinets has become a man the manager trusts
-
The dugout
Emir Ernisov knocks on the manager’s door
-
Match
Continental football is in reach for Minsk
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Minsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Minsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Jun 2027
Minsk say no — this time
The offer from Bumprom Gomel for Artem Malashko 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy 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 Jun 2027
Ilya Aleksievich 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 targets28 Jun 2027
Minsk asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match26 Jun 2027
Slavia Mozyr left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Gutor, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Jun 2027
Minsk up to position 3
29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market14 Jun 2027
Artem Malashko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Minsk
Daouda Natama 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 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Ksenofontov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
He is 23 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Alexandr Ksenofontov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Minsk.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Marked 8.25 — 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilya Dubinets and Minsk agree another 4 years.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 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 Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich 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.
Match15 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Minsk against Neman
0‑2 to Neman, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emir Ernisov, and the manager let it.
Squad17 May 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout17 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Alexandr Gutor's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Minsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Apr 2027
Artem Malashko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Minsk
Daouda Natama 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Three points for Minsk, 1‑0 the final word against Orsha in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Minsk had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Vadzim Korzun kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Nobody at Minsk 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Ksenofontov 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 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Veretennikov and Minsk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Pavel Tarletskiy has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Artem Malevich damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexandr Ksenofontov provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market8 Mar 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Minsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Minsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 Mar 2027
Prokhor Struk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Minsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Minsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilya Aleksievich commits to Minsk for another 2 years.
In brief
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Player ratings
A hand in 2 of them from Artem Turich — 7.93
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Squad
Daouda Natama in a row with a teammate
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Boardroom
4 academy graduates step up at Minsk
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Ilya Aleksievich out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Minsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Artem Malevich
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Minsk and Vitebsk have settled on $410.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Minsk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Everything agreed with Dinamo Minsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Minsk
Daouda Natama 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
“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 Minsk know it.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Minsk asked and Dinamo Brest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The clock did what Torpedo-BelAZ would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Gutor
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Minsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market15 Feb 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 Minsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Minsk
Daouda Natama 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
Minsk asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Emir Ernisov
“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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Slavia Mozyr 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
A loan move for Vadim Galko is in the works
Minsk have made the call to Smorgon. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.