From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Eduardo Simo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market13 Sep 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Zenit Penza signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
4 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 68 days on the sidelines for Eduardo Simo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0-2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Evgeny Yegorov
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 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 Jul 2027
The shirt still fits. Pyotr Bolshakov is back at Zenit Penza, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market19 Jul 2027
The shirt still fits. German Gavrilov is back at Zenit Penza, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market19 Jul 2027
The shirt still fits. Foma Vasin is back at Zenit Penza, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad19 Jul 2027
99 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match17 Jul 2027
Three points for Zenit Penza, 1-0 the final word against Spartak Tambov in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Jul 2027
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market12 Jul 2027
Eduardo Simo 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 Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages eat 105% of everything Zenit Penza 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Artem Kulakov 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 Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zenit Penza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Zenit Penza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market28 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Vaagn Osipyan is 20, and Zenit Penza have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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
The bid was some way short and Zenit Penza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zenit Penza have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 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.
Market10 May 2027
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Zenit Penza could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 2027
Gabriel Leiva 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 Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Eduardo Simo
“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.
Market29 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Aarón Carnero may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ivan Uzunov 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zenit Penza money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2027
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 13, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
173% of the income goes out in wages at Zenit Penza
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Evgeny Yegorov commits to Zenit Penza for another 3 years.
Market22 Mar 2027
Francis Schlupp is 36 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market22 Mar 2027
The name of Gabriel Leiva keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zenit Penza say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Zenit Penza did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Eduardo Simo: 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.” Zenit Penza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Nikita Kolesin has come up in conversations Zenit Penza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match30 Jan 2027
Strogino left with the points after a 0-2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Zenit Penza's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zenit Penza has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Dec 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 Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
Match14 Dec 2026
Zenit Penza are in real trouble now
Position 13, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Eduardo Simo 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Kvant will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Simón Guajardo: 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.” Zenit Penza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 194% of everything Zenit Penza 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Eduardo Simo 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.
Market2 Nov 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Zenit Penza
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zenit Penza are no longer polite ones.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tsubasa Nishizawa commits to Zenit Penza for another 4 years.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 228% of everything Zenit Penza 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Eduardo Simo 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad5 Oct 2026
6 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Arsenal Tula 2 will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
Gleb Geikin has left for Rodina M in a $37.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market7 Sep 2026
Stepan Degtev has left for Rubin Yalta in a $7.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 158% of everything Zenit Penza 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
0-1 to Salyut, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zenit Penza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Zenit Penza, 1-0 the final word against Kvant in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Eduardo Simo
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Rodina M are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Zenit Penza will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market31 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Timofey Kashitsyn may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.