Marked for Eldor Tukhtasinov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jun 2028
Obod taken apart
0‑4 to Navbahor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Jasur Abdullaev out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match24 Jun 2028
7 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Market26 Jun 2028
Odil Ahmedov 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Kokand 1912; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
$1.1M on the table at Andijon. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Obod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Qizilqum, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Jaloliddin Hasanov 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nodir Fayzullaev 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 May 2028
A hiding for Obod
Beaten 0‑4 by Bunyodkor, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market8 May 2028
“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.
Match6 May 2028
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Obod
Jaloliddin Hasanov 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.
Match6 May 2028
The goals have deserted Obod
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad8 May 2028
Mario Marković 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 dugout8 May 2028
“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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Inquest at Obod
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout8 May 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Mar 2027
Navbahor punish Obod for switching off
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Mario Marković will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Obod escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A brace, and Mario Marković takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mario Marković provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Obod
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eldor Tukhtasinov and Obod agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Odil Ismailov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
He is 23 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amir Abdullaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mario Marković 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Obod
Odil Ismailov 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.