Marked for Danila Rulev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2028
The match ball belongs to Leon Aiba, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match12 Feb 2028
No mercy from Zvezda
Yenisey 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 12‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zvezda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match12 Feb 2028
It had gone 13 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad14 Feb 2028
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market14 Feb 2028
Danila Rulev 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 Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Pavel Solomatin, 35, rolls back the years — 8.35
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zvezda have done the hard part with Kuban, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sevastjan Faizulin is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Zvezda
Leon Aiba 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
3 matches without a goal for Zvezda
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Igor Smirnov 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
0‑1 to Torpedo Vladimir, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The medical room confirms 51 days on the sidelines for Roman Gagarin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match22 Nov 2027
The half-term report on Zvezda
Position 10, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Danila Rulev
“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
Squad11 Oct 2027
Anton Ponomarev damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Igor Smirnov 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Zvezda
Arsen Nyshanaliev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Maxim Kopitets
“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 Oct 2027
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zvezda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zvezda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
Zvezda have made Danila Rulev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zvezda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Danila Rulev is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Zvezda
Anton Shadura 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Zvezda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Voronkov 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Kopitets, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 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
Squad16 Nov 2026
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zvezda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Zvezda
Andrey Zaitsev 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.
Loan watch16 Nov 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 Zvezda, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Zvezda
Something was said to Danila Rulev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Zvezda will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
A side in position 2 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 20 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zvezda
Andrey Zaitsev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Zvezda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yaroslav Voronkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Alexandr Yegunov 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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 Maxim Malafeev is on it.
Market12 Oct 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Petr Timofeev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fedor Semenov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zvezda
Andrey Zaitsev 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Yaroslav Voronkov 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Zaitsev
“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.
Loan watch28 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 Zvezda, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 23 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Zvezda have a decision that made itself.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Torpedo Moscow is saying, and nobody at Zvezda is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zvezda
Andrey Zaitsev 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 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Damir Zhelegotov commits to Zvezda for another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Barnaul have kept their man, and Zvezda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergei Avdeev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gennady Mamonov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergey Terekhov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrei Efimov 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan move for Anton Shadura is in the works
Zvezda have made the call to Dinamo Barnaul. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.