Marked for Daniel Kuznetsov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2027
60 days out for Denis Norenkov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoriia Sumy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match6 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Victoriia Sumy's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Victoriia Sumy has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Denis Norenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Kucheruk, and the manager let it.
Match6 Nov 2027
0‑1 to Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Victoriia Sumy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danylo Knysh 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Răzvan Tache named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Răzvan Tache is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Hlib Savchuk 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match30 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Victoriia Sumy's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Victoriia Sumy has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoriia Sumy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Nov 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 120% of the Victoriia Sumy income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Eduard Zinchenko chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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 dugout1 Nov 2027
Hlib Savchuk 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 Victoriia Sumy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Denis Norenkov out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoriia Sumy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Denis Norenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Gegi Geguchadze
“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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nazar Yurchenko has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Victoriia Sumy.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Daniel Kuznetsov is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Prykarpattia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoriia Sumy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dmytro Ulianov and Victoriia Sumy agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages swallow 125% of the Victoriia Sumy income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Danylo Knysh 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 dugout4 Oct 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
113 days out for Denis Norenkov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoriia Sumy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Victoriia Sumy may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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 Victoriia Sumy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 7.63 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Dmytro Ulianov, 33, rolls back the years — 7.90
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Denis Norenkov 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hlib Savchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Sep 2027
The goal that put Chornomorets ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Victoriia Sumy equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Sep 2027
Denis Norenkov breaks a bone — 120 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
Anger at Victoriia Sumy spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match11 Sep 2027
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market13 Sep 2027
Rukh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Victoriia Sumy did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Daniel Kuznetsov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Victoriia Sumy — 7.92
1 for Denys Riabyi, marked 7.92, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Victoriia Sumy close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Denis Norenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and Victoriia Sumy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Victoriia Sumy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kryvbas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoriia Sumy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kolos have kept their man, and Victoriia Sumy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Victoriia Sumy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danylo Knysh 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Daniel Kuznetsov is the month’s best young player
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Victoriia Sumy will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Danylo Knysh
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 110% of everything Victoriia Sumy 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Aug 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A brace, and Daniel Kuznetsov takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Kuznetsov provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoriia Sumy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer from LNZ for Vladyslav Kucheruk 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The deal with Shakhtar is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Denis Norenkov 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Victoriia Sumy asked and Obolon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes of Artem Riabyi at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Victoriia Sumy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Victoriia Sumy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Aug 2027
27 days out for Gunner Elliott after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Victoriia Sumy will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Aug 2027
Probiy will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Victoriia Sumy were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A brace, and Daniel Kuznetsov takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Kuznetsov provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market9 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Răzvan Tache, 21, steals the show — 7.82
Marked 7.82 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoriia Sumy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Victoriia Sumy asked and Poltava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Victoriia Sumy will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Victoriia Sumy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Danylo Knysh 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 110% of everything Victoriia Sumy 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Daniel Kuznetsov is 19, and Victoriia Sumy 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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Hlib Savchuk knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hlib Savchuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Bersant Celina out for 48 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Apr 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristhián Rivas and Ferencvaros agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Mariano Gómez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Benjámin Gólik is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Bersant Celina has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
27 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout5 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mariano Gómez signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Feb 2027
Mariano Gómez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Ferencvaros hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Szilárd Lestál 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 dugout15 Feb 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ferencvaros has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
23 appearances at Szentlőrinc and the goals keep coming. Ferencvaros are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ferencvaros will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
10 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.
Match9 Dec 2026
0‑2 against Young Boys. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Naby Keïta 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Kuznetsov and Ferencvaros agree another 3 years.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.84 on the card, and the Ferencvaros support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Kisvárda leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Szilárd Lestál falls out with a teammate over standards
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Squad
Defences have started doubling up on Callum O'Dowda