Marked for Osman Minatulaev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
The match ball belongs to Stanislav Biblyk, whose 6 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match6 Oct 2027
Orenburg through in the cup
A 6‑3 win over Astrakhan, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market11 Oct 2027
Jhon Palacios 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 Orenburg can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Oct 2027
Orenburg sink to position 14
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad11 Oct 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Orenburg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Jersson González 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 ratings11 Oct 2027
Stanislav Biblyk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Orenburg's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orenburg has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
No thanks: Maxim Petrov rejects the move
Orenburg had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baltika, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The match ball belongs to Jersson González, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Mamadou Camara gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mamadou Camara has just signed for Orenburg, and for once the answer mattered.
Market9 Aug 2027
Shakhter come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Orenburg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market9 Aug 2027
The fee is $510.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Torpedo Moscow drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Daniil Zorin is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Orenburg
Grigory Emelyanov 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout24 May 2027
Evgeny Shlyakov: 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.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market24 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ufa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Luis Ángel Díaz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kojo Peprah Oppong was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout24 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Davide Marfella
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
95 days out for Filip Mrzljak after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ufa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Filip Mrzljak: 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.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kojo Peprah Oppong was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georgy Gongadze. 1‑0 against Shinnik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Wages eat 118% of everything Ufa 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.95 on the card, and the Ufa support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Davide Marfella damages knee ligaments — 108 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
139 days out for Filip Mrzljak after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ufa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match18 Nov 2026
The small margins put Ufa out
Out, 0‑3 to Ural, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
A cup hiding at Ural leaves Ufa explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Osman Minatulaev: 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.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Ufa
4 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Ufa
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ufa can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ivan Lomaev 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Ufa
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Dilan Ortíz
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Match
A bad afternoon for Ufa against Rotor
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
125 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ufa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match7 Nov 2026
7 unbeaten for Ufa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Ufa did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oleg Gromov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
126% of the income goes out in wages at Ufa
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Denis Kutin 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Osman Minatulaev at 20 — 7.70
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Osman Minatulaev did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Ufa told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Market2 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ufa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Nov 2026
The Ivan Lomaev signing is not working
9 appearances at an average of 6.28, and the senior players have stopped making excuses for him. It happens to good footballers; it still costs somebody their job.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 unbeaten for Ufa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Ufa did not have in the autumn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kojo Peprah Oppong was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ufa get the job done against Sokol
A 2‑1 win over Sokol, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Konstantin Troyanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The match ball belongs to Dilan Ortíz, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match30 Sep 2026
Ufa through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Dinamo St Petersburg, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ufa come from 2 down to beat Yenisey
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Ufa found something the first half had given no notice of, and Yenisey could not hold what they had.
Match30 Sep 2026
Ufa win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Dinamo St Petersburg will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ufa get the job done against Yenisey
A 6‑5 win over Yenisey, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ufa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets5 Oct 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Ufa
A 0‑4 beating by Ural was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kojo Peprah Oppong 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 dugout21 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Ufa 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Ufa will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ivan Lomaev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Ufa
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Looking ahead
The leaders are next for Ufa
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Squad
Migran Ageyan: “I am not a substitute”