Marked for Vladislav Pulkach
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mikhail Bashilov 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 Mar 2027
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match13 Mar 2027
Late, late show earns Vitebsk a point
Minute 92, against Isloch, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match13 Mar 2027
A 3‑3 draw with Isloch leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladislav Pulkach and Vitebsk agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 3‑3, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout15 Mar 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 Zakhar Chervyakov is on it.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andrey Solovey’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Vitebsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Vitebsk close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Vitebsk say no — this time
The offer from Slonim for Vladislav Pulkach 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The deal that would have taken Ivan Novichkov to Minsk has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Vitebsk with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Vitebsk know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Vitebsk
Mikhail Bashilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Semyon Yegorov commits to Vitebsk for another 3 years.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Lisovskiy, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Vitebsk
Something was said to Roman Lisovskiy 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
Steady
Market22 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Smorgon waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market22 Feb 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 Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Vitebsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Bashilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Vitebsk
Roman Lisovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market22 Feb 2027
The name of Vladislav Pulkach has come up in conversations Vitebsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout22 Feb 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 Feb 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Vitebsk will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roman Lisovskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vitebsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Nikita Naumov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Vitebsk
Sten Reinkort 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 targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Vitebsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Marin Žgomba 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Frol Panarin 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 Frol Panarin is on it.
Market8 Feb 2027
Vitebsk have made Yegor Dorofeev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Anufriev
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slutsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market1 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Brian Leroy Onana to Naftan has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Vitebsk with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Vitebsk
Sten Reinkort and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Vitebsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Bashilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Radivoj Bosić
“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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Slonim have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladislav Pulkach. The answer from Vitebsk has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Molodechno 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Smorgon 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Alexandr Anufriev damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mikhail Bashilov 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Alexandr Anufriev damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market11 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 Vitebsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 2027
53 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mikhail Bashilov 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Sten Reinkort
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Yevhen Protasov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Anufriev
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitebsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Dec 2026
82 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Vitebsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Bashilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Vitebsk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match17 Oct 2026
2 behind and going nowhere, until Radivoj Bosić decided otherwise. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Squad19 Oct 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Marin Žgomba delivers — 7.46
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Marin Žgomba scored, was marked 7.46, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match17 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Vitebsk
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Vitebsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Bashilov 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
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.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Nikita Naumov
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Player ratings
Evgeniy Krasnov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Vitebsk's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitebsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 15 in, 4 out at Vitebsk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market14 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Vitebsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitebsk have done the hard part with Anorthosis, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Rijeka is saying, and nobody at Vitebsk is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Vitebsk
Mikhail Bashilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Sep 2026
Dinamo Brest left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Vitebsk asked and Dukla Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Radivoj Bosić, and the manager let it.