Marked for Ilya Seleznev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Daniil Baran: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Naftan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad8 Nov 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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Golden Mafwenta 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Egor Yuschenko named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Egor Yuschenko is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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 dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vadim Yakovlev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Naftan
Yamoussa Camara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Jun 2027
A bad afternoon for Naftan against Minsk
0‑2 to Minsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Naftan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseniy Galushko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The medical room confirms 24 days on the sidelines for Alexandr Filippenkov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ilya Seleznev and Naftan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Hleb Laptev to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Naumovich, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Artur Nazarenko pops up at the right end — 7.85
7.85, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market5 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Vadim Yakovlev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Yakovlev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 22 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for Naftan, 1‑0 the final word against Gomel in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Naftan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Seleznev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ruslan Myalkovskiy
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ruslan Myalkovskiy has come out of that comparison in the side, and Naftan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.