Marked for Denys Marchenko
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad18 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Volodymyr Adamiuk
159 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obolon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Sep 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Obolon
Juan Martín Rojas 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Armando Bernaola 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 terraces18 Sep 2028
At 21 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Three points for Obolon, 1‑0 the final word against Chernihiv in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch18 Sep 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Obolon, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Aug 2028
Vladyslav Rybak damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match5 Aug 2028
The run at home goes on for Obolon
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Volodymyr Shepeliev and Obolon agree another 4 years.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
At 23 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.
Match5 Aug 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Roman Salenko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Obolon.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Obolon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denys Marchenko and Obolon agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Mar 2028
Obolon up to position 3
55 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market6 Mar 2028
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Kudrivka moved on, Juan Cruz Careaga reports back to Obolon, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market6 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Obolon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Taras Moroz 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pavlo Polehenko commits to Obolon for another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market21 Feb 2028
Kudrivka come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Obolon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Babenko 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Inhulets left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Feb 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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Radosław Seweryś commits to Obolon for another 3 years.
Loan watch21 Feb 2028
“I watch every Obolon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Slovan Bratislava runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market21 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Denys Ustymenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Jan 2028
Whatever happens, Obolon do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad24 Jan 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Maksym Tretiakov did the work nobody counts — 6.70
10 combined actions and 6.70. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad24 Jan 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.
Loan watch24 Jan 2028
“I watch every Obolon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Slovan Bratislava runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
A mark of 7.57, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad24 Jan 2028
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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Obolon
Juan Martín Rojas 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Nobody wins at Obolon
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Ruslan Babenko 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yevhenii Shevchenko, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Loan watch27 Dec 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Obolon, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Match25 Dec 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Victoriia Sumy leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad27 Dec 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A mark of 5.80 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Dec 2027
1‑1 against Dinamo Bucharest, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Nino Marcelli 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Denys Marchenko is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Slovan Bratislava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rahim Ibrahim 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Elseid Hysaj
“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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Nov 2027
Obolon are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 33 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match27 Nov 2027
Whatever happens, Obolon do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
A brace, and Denys Ustymenko takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Denys Ustymenko provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Obolon
Juan Martín Rojas 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Ruslan Babenko 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.
Match27 Nov 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Denys Ustymenko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Obolon.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Nov 2027
Obolon up to position 2
27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market1 Nov 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Denys Tesliuk: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Obolon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match30 Oct 2027
Whatever happens, Obolon do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market1 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Obolon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Obolon
Juan Martín Rojas 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 Nov 2027
Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruslan Babenko, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes of Roman Volokhatyi at his very best
Marked 8.59. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Obolon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Oct 2027
Obolon are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market4 Oct 2027
Andrii Lutsyk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Obolon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Ruslan Babenko 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.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Obolon, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Match2 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Denys Ustymenko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Obolon.
Squad4 Oct 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Cruz Careaga, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
The afternoon belonged to Maksym Chekh
7.98, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Obolon had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Maksym Chekh
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Maksym Chekh has come out of that comparison in the side, and Obolon have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
Vojtěch Novák damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Age has not caught Andraž Šporar yet — 7.83
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Rahim Ibrahim for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Slovan Bratislava will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Match28 Aug 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 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 Slovan Bratislava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Denys Marchenko is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Match28 Aug 2027
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market16 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Obolon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Artem Plysiuk is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Babenko 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.
Squad16 Aug 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
The goal that put Prykarpattia ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Obolon equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A mark of 7.96, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match14 Aug 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2027
Ahrobiznes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Obolon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Jul 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yannick Reuten 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Taras Liakh is still paying for one afternoon at Obolon
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.
Squad19 Jul 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 Obolon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The deal that would have taken Roman Volokhatyi to Zorya has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Obolon with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad5 Jul 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A move Dmytro Panchenko would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dmytro Panchenko is living that version at Obolon, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrés Panesso and Obolon agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Jun 2027
Obolon say no — this time
The offer from Prykarpattia for Denys Marchenko 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Denys Smetana is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market21 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Juan Cruz Careaga again, and this time the name on the line is Victoriia Sumy. Obolon are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market21 Jun 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Zorya will make the call about Roman Volokhatyi this week. Obolon have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Babenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Obolon
Juan Martín Rojas 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
Denys Marchenko is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Mar 2027
Obolon are in real trouble now
Position 15, 25 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market15 Mar 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Denys Marchenko commits to Obolon for another 4 years.
Squad15 Mar 2027
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Wojciech Szafranek is living that version at Obolon, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Elías Pérez in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Dániel Póser breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Bekescsaba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 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 Bekescsaba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Yehor Prokopenko: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Obolon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Jan 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Denys Marchenko is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Serhii Kiblytskyi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Obolon have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denys Ustymenko. 1‑0 against Epicentr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denys Smetana 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.57 on the card, and the Obolon support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Obolon's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obolon has to find a result from somewhere.
Match2 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Obolon
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obolon can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Obolon
Juan Martín Rojas 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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Obolon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match2 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Obolon against Kudrivka
0‑1 to Kudrivka, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Elías Pérez 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.
Squad4 Jan 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.