Marked for Matvey Susha
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Denys Shelikhov
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naftan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Denys Shelikhov commits to Naftan for another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Naftan
Artem Drabatovich 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignat Pranovich 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 targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Brest have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Susha, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A loan move for Danila Sokol is in the works
Naftan have made the call to BATE. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Vitebsk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexey Legchilin
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naftan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Jul 2027
11 matches without a win for Naftan
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Naftan are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Jul 2027
11 matches without a goal for Naftan
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 11 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Naftan
Artem Drabatovich 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ignat Pranovich 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitebsk have kept their man, and Naftan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matvey Susha commits to Naftan for another 3 years.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Jun 2027
Nobody wins at Naftan
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match2 Jun 2027
Naftan bow out of the cup
Slavia Mozyr go through and Naftan go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Denys Shelikhov: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match5 Jun 2027
5 matches without a win for Naftan
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Naftan are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Jun 2027
5 matches without a goal for Naftan
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Naftan
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignat Pranovich 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 May 2027
Nobody wins at Naftan
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Naftan
Artem Drabatovich and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 May 2027
The goals have deserted Naftan
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Naftan can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignat Pranovich 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 dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Sachkovskiy, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A mark of 7.36, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout31 May 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.” Maksim Arlouski chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout31 May 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 May 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 Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout24 May 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Naftan
Artem Drabatovich 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Fedortsov 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.
Match22 May 2027
Slutsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Maksim Arlouski left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Tikhonov
“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 dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Drabatovich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Ignat Pranovich 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.
Match8 May 2027
Naftan come up short against BATE
BATE left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matvey Susha and Naftan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Egor Yuschenko, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Maksim Arlouski left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market10 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naftan, another week without a signature from Egor Yuschenko.
Squad10 May 2027
Young player of the week: Matvey Susha
At 19 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout10 May 2027
Timur Galimzyanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Naftan 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 dugout10 May 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 May 2027
Naftan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 18 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match1 May 2027
The run at home goes on for Naftan
14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Matvey Susha, 19, steals the show — 7.89
Marked 7.89 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 ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Naftan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Fedortsov 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 terraces3 May 2027
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match1 May 2027
A 1‑0 win over Slavia Mozyr, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Sachkovskiy, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 May 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Apr 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 17 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Vadim Yakovlev: 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.” Naftan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Apr 2027
4 matches without a win for Naftan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Naftan are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Apr 2027
Smorgon left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Naftan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignat Pranovich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Yamoussa Camara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denys Shelikhov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Lida come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Naftan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Nizhniy Novgorod 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Volna Pinsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alexey Stroychuk has pre-agreed a move to Naftan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ignat Pranovich has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vitaliy Laptev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Artem Hryshyn has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Egor Balanovich has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matvey Susha commits to Naftan for another 3 years.