Marked for Mladen Kovačević
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Aug 2028
$1.6M — a new record at Zhetysu
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
$1.8M settles it between the clubs for Daniel Sosah
Aktobe have accepted the money. What Zhetysu do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match5 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Zhetysu's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zhetysu has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
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.
Squad7 Aug 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Sūltanbek Astanov from Ordabasy for $1.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Match5 Aug 2028
The goals have deserted Zhetysu
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zhetysu can tell you which week it ends in.
Match5 Aug 2028
Astana left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout7 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Živanović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zhetysu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zhetysu have done the hard part with Irtysh, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Akzhaiyk wanted more than $27.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match24 Jun 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Askhat Baltabekov 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 dugout26 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Shoqan Abzalov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Zhetysu is pretending otherwise.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rinat Shomko after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 May 2028
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Korets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 May 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Korets, and the manager let it.
Squad22 May 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 May 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 May 2028
Nūrbol Anuarbekov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zhetysu will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Looking ahead22 May 2028
Aktobe next, and one man in the Zhetysu dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad22 May 2028
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Zhetysu will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout22 May 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jul 2027
Rafkat Aslan breaks a bone — 133 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match10 Jul 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Tobol, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Irtysh waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zhetysu is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 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 Zhetysu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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 targets12 Jul 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zhetysu have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout12 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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Nobody left the Zhetysu 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
A row about effort at Zhetysu
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Player ratings
Mladen Kovačević beats them one at a time
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match23 Jun 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Marat Atipov obliged against Kairat. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Zhetysu.
Market28 Jun 2027
Zhetysu say no — this time
The offer from Shakhter for Nūrbergen Nūrbol 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.
Market28 Jun 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 Zhetysu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Astana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dinmūkhamed Qashken. The answer from Zhetysu has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets28 Jun 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.
Match26 Jun 2027
A 1‑0 win over Akzhaiyk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Match23 Jun 2027
Zhetysu rescue it on 87 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Kairat had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Apr 2027
Zhetysu up to position 3
15 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Askhat Baltabekov 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 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Zhetysu know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match24 Apr 2027
Tobol left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Apr 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shoqan Abzalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Matija Ninić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Apr 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
Upbeat
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zhetysu have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Matija Ninić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Jovan Pajović delivers — 7.83
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jovan Pajović scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad15 Mar 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mladen Kovačević. 3‑1 against Okzhetpes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Veselov, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zhetysu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Zhetysu support went home talking about one name.
In brief
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Squad
Costly mistake from Daniil Veselov
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The dugout
Daniil Veselov is still being punished for one mistake
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 6 in, 0 out at Zhetysu
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Mar 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; Zhetysu are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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 targets1 Mar 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rostov have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A last season at home is what Meik Karwot is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zhetysu know which stage they are at.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Shoqan Abzalov 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 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.