From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
“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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Kvant come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zvezda did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Petr Timofeev and Zvezda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jun 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
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 2027
“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.
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zvezda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Berk Kızıldemir, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 90% of everything Zvezda 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.
Squad19 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Maxim Malafeev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zvezda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zvezda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 0-1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Leon Aiba gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Maxim Malafeev commits to Zvezda for another 3 years.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Tver to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zvezda and fight for my place.” 14 appearances in 20 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Zvezda
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
282% of the income goes out in wages at Zvezda
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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zvezda, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Zvezda have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Torpedo Vladimir will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
464% of the income goes out in wages at Zvezda
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 1-0 win over Cherepovets, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Zenyuk
“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.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zvezda, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad5 Oct 2026
29 years old, every age group at this club behind him, and a borrowed player of much the same standard in front of him every Saturday. The parents in the stand have noticed, and so has every kid below him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Roman Zaitsev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Zvezda's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mateo Stefan commits to Zvezda for another 4 years.
Match29 Aug 2026
Zenit 2 left with the points after a 0-1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Roman Zaitsev
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Denis Lebedev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zvezda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Zvezda out of the cup
Irtysh ended it 0-1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 11 of the 22 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match22 Aug 2026
0-1 to Luki-Energiya, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 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.