Marked for Vasyl Ivanytskyy
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Christophe Kabongo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Králik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I watch every Mlada Boleslav game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chornomorets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 May 2027
David Pech has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mlada Boleslav 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 watch10 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Maxim Kalabus’s exile
8 goals in 8 games at Liepaja — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mlada Boleslav updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout10 May 2027
David Kozel 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 David Kozel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vojtěch Vorel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Loan watch10 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Matouš Krulich’s exile
3 goals in 13 games at Pribram — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mlada Boleslav updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout10 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Ondřej Karafiát and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Kabongo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every Mlada Boleslav game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chornomorets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Filip Špatenka
“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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
David Pech has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mlada Boleslav 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Mikuláš Bakaľa 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 Mlada Boleslav, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mlada Boleslav know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
5 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Maxim Kalabus had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Zenit 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.
Squad11 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 Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Kabongo 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Mlada Boleslav go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I watch every Mlada Boleslav game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chornomorets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Martin Stanek is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chornomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Chornomorets 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Kapliienko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Bucharest have kept their man, and Chornomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleksandr Kapliienko, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 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 Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ahrobiznes scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.97 on the card, and the Chornomorets support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Chornomorets people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Sep 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Oleksandriya pay $880.0K, 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Oleksandr Kapliienko 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Add another name to the list: Nyva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Muhammed Jobe. The answer from Chornomorets has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Chornomorets know which stage they are at.
Squad7 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Chornomorets 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A loan move for Jakub Hromada is in the works
Chornomorets have made the call to Rapid Bucharest. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.