Marked for Kirill Cheburakov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Murad Alimov 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 Aug 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Vadim Livadnov, 19 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladimir Kasparyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
Rostov 2 say no — this time
The offer from Zenit Penza for Yaroslav Solovjov 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Danil Ryazanov 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Anton Shamonin. 2‑0 against Angusht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Amosov
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yaroslav Solovjov commits to Rostov 2 for another 3 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rostov 2, another week without a signature from Kirill Cheburakov.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rostov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Danil Ryazanov and Rostov 2 agree another 4 years.
Squad3 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 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.