Marked for Iskandar Soliyev
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Qizilqum close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market5 Feb 2029
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Humoyunshoh Sayyotov reports back to Qizilqum with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
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Squad5 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asror G'ofurov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Salem Hassan commits to Qizilqum for another 3 years.
Market5 Feb 2029
He is 18, and nobody at Qizilqum signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jan 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Qizilqum have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market15 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Qizilqum can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Qizilqum have done the hard part with Mashal, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kokand 1912 keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Oleksiy Shchebetun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahmud Jo'raboyev, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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 dugout11 Dec 2028
Bobur Ganiev has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bobur Ganiev has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qizilqum may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Islom Kenjaboyev 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
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From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout10 Jul 2028
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Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Qizilqum had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mashal, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
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 Jul 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Jul 2028
1‑2 to Neftchi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asror G'ofurov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Jaloliddin Hasanov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Jun 2028
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Match3 Jun 2028
Shortan made Qizilqum work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Andijon have kept their man, and Qizilqum go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samandar Shukurullayev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qizilqum.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Qizilqum
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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Squad17 Apr 2028
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
1‑2 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Iskandar Soliyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Grigol Chabradze
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market27 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Qizilqum is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Farhod Rahmatov 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“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.
Match25 Mar 2028
Neftchi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Qizilqum, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout13 Mar 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad13 Mar 2028
Islom Kenjaboyev 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 Mar 2028
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match11 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Farhod Rahmatov
“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 ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zafar Sa'dullayev and Qizilqum agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jaloliddin Hasanov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qizilqum they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Farhod Rahmatov 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Farhod Rahmatov 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 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Oleksiy Shchebetun’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Metallurg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Qizilqum is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
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Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Qizilqum until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bukhara is saying, and nobody at Qizilqum is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Feb 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Qizilqum asked and Navbahor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov 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 dugout7 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Too much change too quickly at Qizilqum
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.