Marked for Maksym Boiko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Vorskla
Kyrylo Dryshliuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Vorskla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahima Dabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Prince Chisom Chibueze is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2027
24 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad15 Feb 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.
Market15 Feb 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Vladyslav Khameliuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Feb 2027
1‑3 to Metalist, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Kucheruk, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Maksym Boiko 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Eduard Zinchenko has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Victoriia Sumy can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Vorskla, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Denis Norenkov 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Boiko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad8 Feb 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Vladyslav Kucheruk knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eduard Zinchenko after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Vladyslav Kucheruk is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Livyi Bereh: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Timon Näpfer scored in the 87th minute, Probiy had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Victoriia Sumy took the lot.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Victoriia Sumy
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Pavlo Rotan out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoriia Sumy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
$280.0K settles it between the clubs for Mollo Bessala
LNZ have accepted the money. What Victoriia Sumy do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad1 Feb 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 Victoriia Sumy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
He is 21 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Probiy. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match30 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Timon Näpfer. 1‑0 against Probiy, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Maksym Boiko
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Pavlo Rotan breaks a bone — 24 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
Artem Riabyi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoriia Sumy can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match23 Jan 2027
5 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Denis Norenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Jan 2027
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Victoriia Sumy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Boiko 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.
Looking ahead25 Jan 2027
Probiy next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 101% of the Victoriia Sumy income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jan 2027
Position 14, 20 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Victoriia Sumy can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Denys Dolinskyi: 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.” Victoriia Sumy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match16 Jan 2027
4 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Denis Norenkov 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Boiko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match19 Dec 2026
8 matches without a win, and then this, against Bukovyna. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Denis Norenkov 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 3‑1 win over Bukovyna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
He is 20 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.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Eduard Zinchenko kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Vitalii Lobko, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Victoriia Sumy would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Victoriia Sumy's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Victoriia Sumy has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Denis Norenkov 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Prykarpattia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Vitalii Lobko
“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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vladyslav Khameliuk’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Victoriia Sumy needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑3 to Ahrobiznes, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match21 Nov 2026
5 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Denis Norenkov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Victoriia Sumy can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Timon Näpfer and Victoriia Sumy agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Victoriia Sumy dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Boiko, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Victoriia Sumy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Denis Norenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Karpaty have kept their man, and Victoriia Sumy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Watts and Victoriia Sumy agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Stanislav Sharay is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award goes to Stanislav Sharay, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Polissia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Nobody at Victoriia Sumy will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Aug 2026
0‑1 against Metalist, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Victoriia Sumy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Denis Norenkov 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Victoriia Sumy asked and Metalist said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eduard Zinchenko after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Denys Riabyi
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Danylo Knysh beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.0M — a club that wants Kiril Popov enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Chornomorets wanted more than $760.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad17 Aug 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 Victoriia Sumy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hlib Savchuk commits to Victoriia Sumy for another 4 years.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Victoriia Sumy asked and LNZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The game went through Artem Riabyi — 7.44
Marked 7.44 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Maksym Boiko 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Vitalii Lobko is in the works
Victoriia Sumy have made the call to Dynamo Kyiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.