Marked for Kirill Davidenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kaluga may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Kaluga
Kirill Davidenko 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.
Squad11 Jan 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kaluga can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad7 Dec 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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Kirill Davidenko 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 787% of everything Kaluga 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.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Ryazan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kaluga and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Nov 2026
Kaluga are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 18 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad23 Nov 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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rinat Shakerov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Kirill Davidenko 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Kaluga pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Kosmos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kaluga and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Yegor Lipaev 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match17 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Kaluga?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Kuban? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market19 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilja Grischenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kaluga can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ilja Grischenko
“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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The team sheet said everything about Zakhar Kravtsov
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Zakhar Kravtsov.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A defender's afternoon for Daud Daliev
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Irtysh will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market12 Oct 2026
Daud Daliev linked with a move away
The name of Daud Daliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kaluga say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Kirill Davidenko 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 9.02 — 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 1379% of everything Kaluga 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.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Ryazan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kaluga and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dmitry Yugaldin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kaluga.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nikita Kuzin named player of the month
The award goes to Nikita Kuzin, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Market5 Oct 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Sep 2026
Kaluga are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 13 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Rodina 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Davidenko, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rinat Shakerov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Fakel
Ilnur Alshin 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stanislav Magkeev. 1‑0 against Chelyabinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Maxim Turischev 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A wage question at Fakel
Ravil Netfullin has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 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 Kaluga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Sep 2026
Volgar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kaluga did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sergey Iljin 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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kaluga, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Market21 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad21 Sep 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 Kaluga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market7 Sep 2026
The paperwork is done: Danila Yanov joins from SKA Khabarovsk in a deal worth $340.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Fakel
Ilnur Alshin 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
1043% of the income goes out in wages at Fakel
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Fakel signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Igor Yurganov
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad7 Sep 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 Fakel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baltika 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Akron come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Baltika 2 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 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 Baltika 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Bokov, and the manager let it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Chaika have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladimir Pochechura. The answer from Baltika 2 has not changed — yet.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Nikita Bokov
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arseny Popushoy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baltika 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 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 Baltika 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.78 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Baltika 2 had the best player on the pitch.
Match22 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Irkutsk came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Pavel Gorbachev 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.43 on the card, and the Baltika 2 support went home talking about one name.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladimir Malyshev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad10 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 Baltika 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.83 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Baltika 2 has been clear about where Kirill Davidenko stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pavel Gorbachev. 1‑0 against Kolomna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Artem Yashkov
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Baltika 2, another week without a signature from Vladimir Malyshev.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 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 Baltika 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pavel Gorbachev and Baltika 2 agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 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 Baltika 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
Three points for Baltika 2, 2‑0 the final word against Chertanovo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.