Elly Owande

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Zira
26 Jan 2027
Tuesday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 2 Transfers Relations Events 48 Awards Matches History

Marked for Elly Owande

15 Edition

The Zira Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad9 Nov 2026

Tempers go at Zira

Issa Djibrilla 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.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Words at Zira training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qismət Alıyev 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 ratings9 Nov 2026

Nothing got past Ange Mutsinzi

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

Match7 Nov 2026

Zira get the job done against Inter

A 1‑0 win over Inter, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

Brahim Konaté stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.68 on the card, and the Zira support went home talking about one name.

Market9 Nov 2026

Zira buy the years ahead of Buhle Majavu

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.

Squad9 Nov 2026

No hiding place for Ismayil Ibrahimli

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ismayil Ibrahimli, and the manager let it.

Player ratings9 Nov 2026

A defender's afternoon for Qismət Alıyev

Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad9 Nov 2026

Ismayil Ibrahimli is still paying for one afternoon at Zira

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.

In brief

Back issues
14 Edition

The Zira Herald

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad2 Nov 2026

A move Elly Owande 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. Elly Owande is living that version at Zira, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad2 Nov 2026

Issa Djibrilla 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 Zira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad2 Nov 2026

Idriz Batha 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.

Boardroom2 Nov 2026

Wages eat 202% of everything Zira 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.

Squad2 Nov 2026

The manager makes an example of Leroy-Jacques Mickels

“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 ratings2 Nov 2026

Davit Volkovi takes the honours

Marked 7.63 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Zira had the best player on the pitch.

In brief