Marked for Ivan Semin
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Aug 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
7 matches without a win for Slonim
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Slonim are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Belts tighten at Slonim
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match31 Jul 2027
A bad afternoon for Slonim against Smorgon
1‑2 to Smorgon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Tkatsevich, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The award goes to Arseniy Zhukovskiy, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Dzmitry Rios to a room that had heard them before.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Arseniy Zhukovskiy is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Jul 2027
Arseniy Zhukovskiy had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Belshina were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Market26 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 The request is on a desk at Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A brace, and Arseniy Zhukovskiy takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arseniy Zhukovskiy provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match24 Jul 2027
6 matches without a win for Slonim
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Slonim are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Roman Mushulov 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 dugout26 Jul 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
Match12 Jun 2027
At last: Slonim win one
18 matches without a win, and then this, against Baranovichi. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad14 Jun 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 Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Roman Mushulov 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Three points for Slonim, 2‑1 the final word against Baranovichi in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 152% of everything Slonim 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.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Ninety minutes of Roman Mushulov at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Slonim.
The dugout14 Jun 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
The one goal a footballer does not get to celebrate and does not get to forget either. His name is in the wrong column and nothing about it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 May 2027
The wait goes on for Slonim
17 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.
Market31 May 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 Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaliy Para 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.
Match29 May 2027
Honours even between Slonim and Slutsk
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Slonim counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Slonim now.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Semin, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Half-satisfied: Dzmitry Rios on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout31 May 2027
A promise honoured at Slonim
Something was said to Ivan Semin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Slonim
16 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.
Match24 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Slonim
Position 13 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market24 May 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.
Match22 May 2027
Slonim leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Market24 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zikrula Abdurakhmanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slonim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 May 2027
Roman Mushulov 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 terraces24 May 2027
He is 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Chuyko 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 dugout10 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Roman Mushulov 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
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matvey Papulin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Slonim.
The dugout10 May 2027
Ivan Semin gets picked when it counts
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 Ivan Semin is on it.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Arseniy Zhukovskiy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Slonim needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Nikita Chuyko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Slonim say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad10 May 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Slonim will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
12 matches without a win for Slonim
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Slonim are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Apr 2027
Arseniy Zhukovskiy scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Orsha, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
132% of the income goes out in wages at Slonim
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Konev
“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 ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Dzmitry Rios to a room that had heard them before.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Vitaliy Para 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Tkatsevich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Slonim's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Slonim has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Apr 2027
Chastening afternoon for Slonim
A 0‑4 beating by Lida was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Roman Mushulov 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 dugout12 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
Nobody left the Slonim 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 0 saves does not settle it either way.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Uneasy
Match3 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Slonim's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Slonim has to find a result from somewhere.
Match31 Mar 2027
Slonim out of the cup
Minsk ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ivan Semin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Chuyko 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 terraces5 Apr 2027
At 22 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitriy Sai
“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
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
6.99, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Slonim had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kirill Sivakov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kirill Dragun has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Viktor Berg 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Artur Chuyko
“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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Nikita Chuyko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Slonim say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Slonim lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market24 Aug 2026
Slonim say no — this time
The offer from Legion for Ivan Semin 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.
Market24 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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Slonim come up short against Niva
Niva left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Mushulov 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Orsha will make the call about Zikrula Abdurakhmanov this week. Slonim have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 0‑2 Dzmitry Rios left the room before anybody could ask which.