Marked for Hlib Ziniar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Prykarpattia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Damián Ramírez 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrii Bobynets
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Prykarpattia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Aug 2027
Kolos paid $230.0K and Poltava took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market23 Aug 2027
Prykarpattia pay $47.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valerii Voskonyan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 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 Prykarpattia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denys Smetana, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Marked 7.87 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Prykarpattia had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market23 Aug 2027
Hlib Ziniar is 20, and Prykarpattia 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.
Match21 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Oleksandr Vivdych 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Hlib Ziniar told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Hlib Ziniar has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Poltava.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Oleh Veremiyenko 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Volodymyr Odariuk’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Poltava that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Apr 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 Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Apr 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
“I watch every Poltava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Obolon runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 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 Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I watch every Poltava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at LNZ runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hlib Ziniar commits to Poltava for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Volodymyr Odariuk and Poltava agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“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 Poltava, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrii Savenkov, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Poltava has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Oleksandr Vivdych 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.
Squad1 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Market22 Feb 2027
Rukh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Poltava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad22 Feb 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad22 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleh Veremiyenko, and the manager let it.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Obolon to sit and watch. I want to come back to Poltava and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
Squad22 Feb 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Poltava pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market25 Jan 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Jan 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 8.97 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mykola Buzhyn
“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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Obolon to sit and watch. I want to come back to Poltava and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Polissia leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.69 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 116% of everything Poltava 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.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Obolon to sit and watch. I want to come back to Poltava and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Dec 2026
It needed Denys Halenkov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against LNZ, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad28 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Nov 2026
Poltava sink to position 14
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market30 Nov 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Poltava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 64 days on the sidelines for Oleksandr Piatov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Daniil Sukhoruchko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Poltava.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 9.42 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
149% of the income goes out in wages at Poltava
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.
Squad30 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Match2 Nov 2026
Poltava sink to position 14
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market2 Nov 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Dmytro Plakhtyr 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Poltava know it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
149% of the income goes out in wages at Poltava
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Epicentr, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Danylenko, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Poltava
6 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Oleksandr Piatov 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 252% of everything Poltava 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ihor Kotsiumaka commits to Poltava for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Aug 2026
The small margins put Obolon out
Out, 0‑2 to Poltava, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Obolon
6 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Obolon say no — this time
The offer from Epicentr for Denys Marchenko 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Kryvbas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Vuk Draškić lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 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.