From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Persebaya
The unbeaten run reaches 18. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match12 May 2027
Persebaya march on in the cup
Persik are out and Persebaya go through, 1-0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match17 May 2027
29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Wages eat 173% of everything Persebaya earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
3 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match15 May 2027
It finished 1-1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persebaya know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad17 May 2027
Dedik Setiawan 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 Persebaya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 May 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 16 matches without defeat is a foundation Persebaya did not have in the autumn.
Squad10 May 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.
Match8 May 2027
Three points for Persebaya, 1-0 the final word against Arema in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Miloš Raičković
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Bruno Paraíba 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.
Market10 May 2027
Jefferson linked with a move away
The name of Jefferson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Persebaya say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 May 2027
Beaten 0-1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 May 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.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I did not go to Atyrau to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nasaf and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Squad3 May 2027
Nasaf 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.
Squad3 May 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 Nasaf, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces3 May 2027
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market3 May 2027
Experience through the door at Nasaf
Youssef Mabkhout arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Squad3 May 2027
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
Market3 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nasaf know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Mar 2027
Nasaf through in the cup
A 2-1 win over Metallurg, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 4 of the 18 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match3 Apr 2027
Beaten 0-1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Nasaf have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Yusuf Otubanjo unhappy with how he is being used
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Yusuf Otubanjo has let it be known that he does not like the way Nasaf are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Market5 Apr 2027
The name of Oybek Rustamov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nasaf say nothing, which says plenty.
Market5 Apr 2027
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Apr 2027
Still nobody has beaten Persebaya
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Charles Traoré
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Samandar Muratboyev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match3 Apr 2027
It finished 1-1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Persebaya 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy goes to Bruno Moreira. It is not a job that wins matches, but a dressing room always notices who is given it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Mar 2027
Still nobody has beaten Persebaya
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
155% of the income goes out in wages at Persebaya
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Match20 Mar 2027
Honours even between Persebaya and PSM
1-1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad22 Mar 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
The name of Francisco Rivera keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Persebaya say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yusuf Otubanjo commits to Nasaf for another 2 years.
Market8 Mar 2027
The shirt still fits. Eldor Abdullaev is back at Nasaf, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market8 Mar 2027
The shirt still fits. Sardor Mirzaev is back at Nasaf, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market8 Mar 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market8 Mar 2027
The shirt still fits. Amir Ismailov is back at Nasaf, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Match6 Mar 2027
Kokand 1912 left with the points after a 3-4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Beaten 4 times, with 1 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Squad8 Mar 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Nasaf have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten Persebaya
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match27 Feb 2027
Persis made Persebaya work for it, but the scoreboard read 1-0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market1 Mar 2027
The name of Mihailo Perović keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Persebaya say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad1 Mar 2027
At 22 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Persebaya have a decision that made itself.
Squad1 Mar 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 Persebaya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Jefferson named in the team of the week
A rating of 6.81 was enough for the selectors, and nobody who watched the match is going to argue with them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
Ordabasy come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nasaf did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The manager comes out for Adenis Shala
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Adenis Shala has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Nasaf have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market1 Feb 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Nasaf will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market1 Feb 2027
The Adenis Shala talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nasaf know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
Andijon come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nasaf did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Samandar Toirov
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Sharof Muhiddinov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nasaf say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A new face in his position, and Davronbek Usmonov suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Nasaf have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Nasaf have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market11 Jan 2027
Obod are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Nasaf will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Nasaf could get for him.
Market21 Dec 2026
Nasaf have made Akromjon Komilov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad21 Dec 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 Nasaf, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasaf is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Experience through the door at Nasaf
Shahriar Nekounam arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Stefan Čolović 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The Adenis Shala talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nasaf know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Abduvohid Ne'matov: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match19 Aug 2026
Nasaf bow out of the cup
AGMK go through and Nasaf go home, 2-2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Persijap come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nasaf did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasaf is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Pakhtakor left with the points after a 0-1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Nasaf
A 2-0 win over Metallurg, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market17 Aug 2026
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasaf they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Nasaf have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Adenis Shala finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Nasaf have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Muhammadjon Valiyev, 20 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Market17 Aug 2026
The Adenis Shala talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nasaf know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Nasaf have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kingsley Sokari unhappy with how he is being used
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Kingsley Sokari has let it be known that he does not like the way Nasaf are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.