Marked for Jackson Nsofor
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Aug 2028
Raouf Soltani 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 Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Vladislav Kucheiko 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Roman Surmiy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“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 ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“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 Kuban Holding know it.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Kuban Holding had the best player on the pitch.
Match5 Aug 2028
Point won or two lost for Kuban Holding?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sevastopol? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Raouf Soltani 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 ratings24 Jul 2028
A performance of 9.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match22 Jul 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Osman Gasanbekov. 2‑0 against Angusht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raouf Soltani, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
93% of the income goes out in wages at Kuban Holding
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Vladislav Kucheiko 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 Jul 2028
68 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market10 Jul 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jackson Nsofor may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“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 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Belkovskiy signs something — a contract at Kuban Holding or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Bogdan Chistov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Kuban Holding can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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 Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“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 Kuban Holding know it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The numbers do not look good at Kuban Holding
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Dmitry Solovjov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Jun 2028
Position 11, 24 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kuban Holding are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Vladislav Kucheiko 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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Wages eat 90% of everything Kuban Holding 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bilal Bilalov has his answer from Kuban Holding; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
Bogdan Chistov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Kuban Holding can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Jun 2028
“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.
Market5 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Sergey Kopylov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Kopylov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kuban Holding the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The numbers do not look good at Kuban Holding
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“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.
Market5 Jun 2028
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Raouf Soltani knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kuban Holding, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A new face in his position, and Radislav Veselovskiy suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Kuban Holding have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Kuban Holding
Position 11 and 24 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Jackson Nsofor: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kuban Holding have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 May 2028
Raouf Soltani 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 May 2028
“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 watch29 May 2028
“I did not go to Legion to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kuban Holding and fight for my place.” 14 appearances in 46 matches say the rest.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Wages eat 88% of everything Kuban Holding 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 May 2028
Position 11, 24 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad1 May 2028
Vladislav Kucheiko 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.
Loan watch1 May 2028
“I did not go to Legion to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kuban Holding and fight for my place.” 14 appearances in 42 matches say the rest.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Wages eat 86% of everything Kuban Holding 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.
Squad1 May 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kuban Holding has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market1 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilya Rabeshko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Apr 2028
Sergey Kopylov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kuban Holding they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
The numbers do not look good at Kuban Holding
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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 Kuban Holding know it.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match3 Apr 2028
Position 11, 24 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kuban Holding may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch3 Apr 2028
“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 Kuban Holding, and 2 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladislav Kucheiko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Mar 2028
Sergey Kopylov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kuban Holding they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Dmitry Solovjov 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.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The numbers do not look good at Kuban Holding
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kuban Holding
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Dmitry Solovjov 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
30 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Dec 2027
11 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.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Vladislav Kucheiko 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Druzhba left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilya Rabeshko
“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 ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market6 Dec 2027
Kuban Holding shop where it costs nothing
Nika Ghlonti signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
Market6 Dec 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kuban Holding, another week without a signature from Nika Ghlonti.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Kuban Holding's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kuban Holding has to find a result from somewhere.
Market15 Nov 2027
Matteo Dashi 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 Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Osman Gasanbekov 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.
Match13 Nov 2027
Dinamo Stavropol left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Nov 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.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
“I watch every Kuban Holding game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sevastopol runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Nov 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 Kuban Holding, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ilya Rabeshko signs something — a contract at Kuban Holding or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Sep 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Spartak Nalchik, and it could have been more.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Raouf Soltani 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 ratings13 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Ilya Rabeshko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilya Rabeshko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 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 Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Kuban Holding
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Kuban Holding are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Dmitry Solovjov 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 ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Solovjov
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 89% of everything Kuban Holding 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.
Match4 Sep 2027
Point won or two lost for Kuban Holding?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Druzhba? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 12. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
5.69 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Aug 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 Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kuban Holding is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Dmitry Solovjov 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 ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Marked 8.92 — 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mousa Assiri and Kuban Holding agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kuban Holding are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
The shirt still fits. Ruslan Terekhov is back at Kuban Holding, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market19 Jul 2027
The shirt still fits. Tikhon Protasov is back at Kuban Holding, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market19 Jul 2027
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. German Goncharov is a Kuban Holding player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market19 Jul 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad19 Jul 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 Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Point won or two lost for Kuban Holding?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Nart? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad19 Jul 2027
At 17 years old, Ruslan Terekhov became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
Raouf Soltani 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.
Squad21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Tadas Jankauskas is 36 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Gerasimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market21 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilya Rabeshko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
177% of the income goes out in wages at Kuban Holding
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Maxim Belkovskiy 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.
Squad22 Feb 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 Kuban Holding know it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ilya Rabeshko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilya Rabeshko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A new face in his position, and Ilya Rabeshko suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Kuban Holding have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 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 Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Kuban Holding will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season on the outside for Matteo Dashi
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kuban Holding has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 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 Kuban Holding know it.
Market8 Feb 2027
The fee is $24.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sevastopol drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Raouf Soltani 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
Squad30 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 Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
352% of the income goes out in wages at Kuban Holding
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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Nart leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Osman Gasanbekov 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.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Loan watch26 Oct 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 Kuban Holding, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Match24 Oct 2026
It needed Dmitry Solovjov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Spartak Nalchik, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Kuban Holding had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sergey Mokrousov 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
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Jackson Nsofor, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I watch every Kuban Holding game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nosta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.37 on the card, and the Kuban Holding support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.