Marked for Dmitry Biryukov
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Ernesto Gómez: 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.” AE Kition have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christodoulos Thoma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AE Kition the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Nikola Stojiljković 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.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
10 shut-outs in 26 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Dimitris Dimitriou has been having a lot of them.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christodoulos Thoma, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
10 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AE Kition. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market10 Apr 2028
The name of Chabos Kyriakou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AE Kition say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A brace, and İbrahim Yılmaz takes the afternoon — 8.73
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. İbrahim Yılmaz provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Both jobs done by Pere Pons — 6.90
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 19 actions, 6.90, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad28 Feb 2028
At 20 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Match26 Feb 2028
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad28 Feb 2028
André Ceitil in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AE Kition this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
“I watch every AE Kition game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pafos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match26 Feb 2028
2‑2, 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
Steady
Match24 Nov 2027
Apollon ended it 2‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
A cup embarrassment at Apollon follows AE Kition home
2-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad29 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 AE Kition this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Dmitry Biryukov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match24 Nov 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between AE Kition and Apollon, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AE Kition can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to İbrahim Yılmaz, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at AE Kition
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jimmy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
128% of the income goes out in wages at AE Kition
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AE Kition may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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; AE Kition are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad27 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 AE Kition this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Sep 2027
1‑2 to Akritas Chlorakas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Youssef Amyn 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Marios Alexandrou to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Youssef Amyn has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AE Kition 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
The name of İbrahim Yılmaz keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AE Kition say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Sep 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market13 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AE Kition is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Jorge Miramón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Dmitry Biryukov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dmitry Biryukov has, at AE Kition, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match11 Sep 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Đorđe Ivanović’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AE Kition.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Youssef Amyn 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 dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathías González, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Astana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Veles is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market15 Feb 2027
Zenit Penza come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Veles did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market15 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Veles have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Veles
Dmitry Sadov 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Karim Giraev 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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
12 shut-outs in 24 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Alexandr Krasnopevtsev has been having a lot of them.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Artur Koloskov 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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
18 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Veles may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Veles
Dmitry Sadov 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.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
20 appearances at Legion and the goals have stopped going in. Veles lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Dmitry Sergeev 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.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
16 appearances at Nosta and the goals keep coming. Veles are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitry Sadov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dmitry Biryukov
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Veles lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Veles can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Veles
Dmitry Sadov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 406% of everything Veles 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.
The dugout28 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Dmitry Sadov is still paying for one afternoon at Veles
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
17 appearances at Legion and the goals have stopped going in. Veles lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Karim Giraev 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 Karim Giraev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 Dec 2026
The name of Karim Giraev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Veles say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Veles lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Veles
Ishkhan Geloyan 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Karim Giraev 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 Veles, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
8 clean sheets from 16 appearances at Legion. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout21 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitry Sadov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Veles lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Veles
Ishkhan Geloyan 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Shubin
“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 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Veles know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Manuk Harutyunyan is on it.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
11 appearances away from home and 3 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout14 Dec 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 Veles, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
12 starts now, an average of 6.70, and the team sheet at Nosta has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Questions about Kirill Korolkov on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.