Marked for Kirill Apanasevich
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” BATE may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Juan Moreno 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 BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at BATE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Saviolo 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Shvedchikov commits to BATE for another 4 years.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every BATE game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Belshina runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
When it matters, Juan Moreno 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Noah Saviolo 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 BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at BATE
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Suchkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
BATE are still strangers to each other
19 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Anton Kovalev gets picked when it counts
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 Anton Kovalev is on it.
Market19 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Juan Moreno’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes Danila Sokol a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BATE. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Maxim Telesh 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
Still no signature from Egor Kress
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what BATE could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kirill Pogrebnyak
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Belshina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Belshina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Belshina
Nikita Golub 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Belshina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Solanovich 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Apanasevich, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Nobody at Belshina 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
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Belshina until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Belshina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Solanovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Viktar Signevich 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and Belshina 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 dugout14 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Vladislav Yatskevich scored in the 89th minute, Neman had already begun thinking about the journey home, and BATE took the lot.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
An offer of $310.0K for Juan Moreno
BATE have gone to La Luz with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yuriy Kovalev and BATE agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at BATE
Yuriy Kovalev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at BATE
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Sokol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladislav Varaksa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Vladislav Yatskevich’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to BATE.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. BATE have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
Belshina say no — this time
The offer from Irtysh for Nikita Golub 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Nikita Golub takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikita Golub provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Solanovich and Belshina agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Belshina
Pavel Prishivalko 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 Aug 2026
Ramazan Ibragimov 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. Ramazan Ibragimov has, at Belshina, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Belshina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Solanovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.