Marked for Robert Łukowiak
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naftan have done the hard part with BATE, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market3 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Naftan
Artem Salygo 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alimkhan Zainivov 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 dugout3 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Evgeniy Alymov
“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.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
Nobody at Naftan 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“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 Naftan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokomotiv Gomel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Naftan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Naftan and Neman have settled on $210.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market20 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
The offer went to Torpedo-BelAZ this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Roman Shmelev arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Roman Shmelev has, at Naftan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market20 Aug 2029
Molodechno are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Naftan will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Robert Łukowiak commits to Naftan for another 3 years.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Mark Tychko
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
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The dugout
When it matters, Mark Tychko plays
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Market
The Matvey Susha talk will not go away
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jan 2029
Fedor Černych breaks a bone — 95 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kauno Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
$81.0K settles it between the clubs for Justas Sernas
Atlantas have accepted the money. What Kauno Zalgiris do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market29 Jan 2029
Only the photograph left for Motiejus Burba
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Motiejus Burba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Damjan Pavlović 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.
Match29 Jan 2029
Position 5 on 13 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market29 Jan 2029
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Kauno Zalgiris money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2028
Vykintas Slivka damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for Rokas Lekiatas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rokas Lekiatas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Robert Łukowiak has agreed terms with Trakai for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Vykintas Slivka 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
Fedor Černych has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
The shop window has Marvin Owen in it
Kauno Zalgiris have let the market know Marvin Owen can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
18 days out for Robert Łukowiak after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kauno Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Damjan Pavlović: 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.” Kauno Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match15 Apr 2028
8 matches without a win, and then this, against Atlantas. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Apr 2028
Three points for Kauno Zalgiris, 1‑0 the final word against Atlantas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Marko Konatar 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.
Match17 Apr 2028
Half the programme played, position 4, 7 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Lirim Kastrati 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
Match5 Apr 2028
Siauliai ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match8 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Kauno Zalgiris are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Robert Łukowiak out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kauno Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.24, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kauno Zalgiris may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Apr 2028
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Ignas Vaitkunas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Anton Tolordava 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
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Apr 2028
35 days out for Robert Łukowiak after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kauno Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match3 Apr 2028
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match1 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Kauno Zalgiris are no longer polite ones.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Amine Benchaib: 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.” Kauno Zalgiris have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for Rokas Lekiatas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rokas Lekiatas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Fedor Černych and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Kauno Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lirim Kastrati 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Robert Łukowiak out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kauno Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match25 Mar 2028
5 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tomas Švedkauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Mar 2028
Suduva left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Lirim Kastrati 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saverio D'Onofrio, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Anthony Kalik's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Donatas Kuklys to a room that had heard them before.
Squad27 Mar 2028
5 new faces, and Kauno Zalgiris are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.94, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match18 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Kauno Zalgiris's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kauno Zalgiris has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Mar 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 Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
The dugout20 Mar 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Siauliai scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Marko Konatar 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Tomas Švedkauskas knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Mar 2028
0‑4 to Zalgiris, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Robert Łukowiak out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kauno Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kauno Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Tomas Švedkauskas 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Kauno Zalgiris can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Kauno Zalgiris training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lirim Kastrati 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
The medical room confirms 45 days on the sidelines for Ignas Vaitkunas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout13 Mar 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.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Robert Łukowiak out for 63 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kauno Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Léo Ribeiro, 33, rolls back the years — 7.94
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market6 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Rokas Lekiatas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rokas Lekiatas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anthony Kalik commits to Kauno Zalgiris for another 3 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Tomas Švedkauskas 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marius Paulauskas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aidas Eliosius 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Feb 2028
70 days out for Robert Łukowiak after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kauno Zalgiris will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Darius Novikovas for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Kauno Zalgiris will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lukas Kuklys and Kauno Zalgiris agree another 3 years.
Squad28 Feb 2028
5 new faces, and Kauno Zalgiris are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
When it matters, Léo Ribeiro plays
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.
The dugout28 Feb 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.
Market28 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kauno Zalgiris know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Damjan Pavlović has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Robert Łukowiak out for 78 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kauno Zalgiris will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Feb 2028
Kauno Zalgiris refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market21 Feb 2028
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Atlantas moved on, Deividas Mikelionis reports back to Kauno Zalgiris, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Liam Poulin arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Liam Poulin has, at Kauno Zalgiris, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Lirim Kastrati 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Marko Stanojević, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 Feb 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 Vykintas Slivka is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Feb 2028
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Trakai moved on, Lirim Kastrati reports back to Kauno Zalgiris, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market14 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kauno Zalgiris they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Lirim Kastrati 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.
Squad14 Feb 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 Kauno Zalgiris this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Feb 2028
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Squad14 Feb 2028
No place for Amine Lazrak in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kauno Zalgiris are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Amine Benchaib
“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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Fedor Černych has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kauno Zalgiris 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kauno Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Feb 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 Kauno Zalgiris, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 4 in, 3 out at Kauno Zalgiris
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zalgiris is saying, and nobody at Kauno Zalgiris is enjoying the guessing.
Market7 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Rokas Lekiatas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rokas Lekiatas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kauno Zalgiris the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market7 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Amine Benchaib reports back to Kauno Zalgiris with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tomas Švedkauskas 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Matteo Arrighi arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Matteo Arrighi has, at Kauno Zalgiris, and the first month will show what that does to a man.