From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Oct 2027
2-2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Prosper Ibekwe
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Artem Albastov 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 Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Jul 2027
5 matches without a win for Irkutsk
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Irkutsk are no longer polite ones.
Market26 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Irkutsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market26 Jul 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Irkutsk will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Prosper Ibekwe
“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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Spartak Moscow 2 will be the happier side with the point.
Market26 Jul 2027
The name of Danila Molodnyakov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Irkutsk say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 May 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 May 2027
Michel Estela 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 Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 May 2027
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Irkutsk money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 May 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.
Market3 May 2027
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Irkutsk could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Irkutsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Apr 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 Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Apr 2027
Irkutsk have made Prosper Ibekwe available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 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.
Squad12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Michel Estela 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 Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Irkutsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 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.
Squad5 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages eat 160% of everything Irkutsk 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Dmitry Pytlev 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 Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Mar 2027
The name of Dmitry Ikovanyuk keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Irkutsk say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 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
Steady
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
“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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
14 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Yegor Skichko has given nobody the chance.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fedor Motovilov commits to Irkutsk for another 2 years.
Squad8 Feb 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
Steady
Match2 Jan 2027
Tver made Irkutsk work for it, but the scoreboard read 1-0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
10 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Yegor Skichko has given nobody the chance.
Squad4 Jan 2027
No place for Yegor Belyaev on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Irkutsk pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad4 Jan 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 Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Irkutsk know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitry Ikovanyuk commits to Irkutsk for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Irkutsk, 2-1 the final word against Spartak Moscow 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Yegor Belyaev
“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
Crisis
The terraces12 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market12 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Match10 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Irkutsk
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Irkutsk are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Zenit 2 left with the points after a 0-1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Sep 2026
Michel Estela 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Fedor Motovilov
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Sep 2026
The Nosta deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kirill Chernyavskiy reports back to Irkutsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Michel Estela
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Irkutsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Arseny Lavrentjev keeps the shirt for now, at Irkutsk's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 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 Irkutsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrian Ziarek and Irkutsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Irkutsk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Irkutsk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Match15 Aug 2026
1-1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.