Marked for Ilya Rabeshko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
$330.0K from Vitebsk for Dmitriy Sibilev. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
Niva sell a favourite for $330.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Dmitriy Sibilev was one of the reasons people came, and $330.0K does not replace that by itself.
Squad15 Feb 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 Niva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Torpedo-BelAZ 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 enquiry to Lokomotiv Gomel: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Maxim Mardas asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout15 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 Alexandr Chizh is on it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Ruslan Belov 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ruslan Belov has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Niva will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
Roman Kozel hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Niva can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
$5.0K on the table at Osipovichi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Niva
Andrey Emeljanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Anton Savitski has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Niva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Rabeshko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
BATE 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 targets8 Feb 2027
Isloch 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Grin
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Maxim Mardas 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 Niva, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Niva
Dmitriy Sibilev 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market18 Jan 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Pivovarchik commits to Niva for another 3 years.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Niva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Kislyak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Alexandr Chizh is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 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 Niva, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikhail Gordeychuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Niva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Chizh and Niva agree another 4 years.
Squad7 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 Niva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ilya Rabeshko 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 dugout7 Dec 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Niva, another week without a signature from Mikhail Gordeychuk.
Market7 Dec 2026
Nikita Paderin is 20, and Niva have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Niva will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Niva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Niva have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Artem Kuratnik has agreed terms with Dinamo Brest for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Niva
Dmitriy Sibilev 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
A row about effort at Niva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Rabeshko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Niva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Dmitriy Galuza 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Niva
Dmitriy Sibilev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Niva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kuratnik 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Grin
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 98% of the Niva 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Niva will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout5 Oct 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 Niva, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clock does Dmitriy Galuza’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Niva could ask drops and the wages Dmitriy Galuza can ask rise.