Marked for Luka Puzović
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for KAMAZ
12 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Artem Popov 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 KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 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 Dec 2026
A row about effort at KAMAZ
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Kalistratov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Anderson Magrão dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Chernomorets leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Spartak Kostroma in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad21 Dec 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. KAMAZ have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to KAMAZ's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KAMAZ has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Maxim Laikin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Laikin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KAMAZ the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at KAMAZ
Artem Popov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Yenisey left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 171% of everything KAMAZ 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saminu Abdullahi, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bogdan Bulgakov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Timofey Kalistratov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at KAMAZ
Artem Popov 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
KAMAZ asked and Orenburg 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 dugout7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at KAMAZ
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
KAMAZ have made the call to Gimnasia La Plata. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Banik Ostrava 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bogdan Bulgakov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Kian Visser 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Luka Puzović has had enough of the bench
“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 KAMAZ will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 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 KAMAZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
David Khubaev goes up and wins it — 7.41
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.41 for the rest of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at KAMAZ
Artem Popov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at KAMAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Karaev 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
KAMAZ asked and Akron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Legia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sion 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
It needed David Khubaev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Chernomorets, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Anderson Magrão for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KAMAZ will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Radnik Surdulica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at KAMAZ
Artem Popov 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 targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Anderson Magrão. 1‑0 against Chelyabinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Appearance number 100 for Maxim Laikin
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Kian Visser dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Bogdan Bulgakov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.