Marked for Evgeniy Bun
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 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 The request is on a desk at Niva, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Niva
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Mitskevich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Matvey Papulin
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The formation has left Stepan Asharin behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Niva will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market25 Jan 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Stepan Asharin arrives at Niva with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mikita Ihnatovich damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Niva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Durko 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Kozel, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Evgeniy Sakuta 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
The clock does Mikhail Gordeychuk’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Niva could ask drops and the wages Mikhail Gordeychuk can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Niva lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Dec 2026
48 days out for Roman Seredyuk after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Niva will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Artem Kuratnik
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Kuratnik will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Niva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
Market14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Roman Kozel 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 Roman Kozel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market14 Dec 2026
The Roman Durko talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Niva know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mikita Ihnatovich damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Dec 2026
Igor Monich has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Niva they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matvey Papulin commits to Niva for 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Gordeychuk, and the manager let it.
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
Evgeniy Bun 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Niva money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Niva lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Dmitriy Galuza
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitriy Galuza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Niva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets30 Nov 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Niva
Dmitriy Galuza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Niva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Sibilev 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Igor Monich 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Igor Monich'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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikhail Gordeychuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.