Marked for Karolis Satkus
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Jul 2027
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ivan Vorobjev decided nobody was going anywhere. Niva had no time left to answer.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
No sign of nerves from Erik Torosyan at 20 — 7.83
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Torosyan did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Uni-X Labs have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Aug 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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Ivan Vorobjev delivers — 7.40
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ivan Vorobjev scored, was marked 7.40, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Uni-X Labs had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Neman, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Matvey Svidinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Erik Torosyan and Uni-X Labs agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Naftan have kept their man, and Uni-X Labs go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Uni-X Labs, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
An order from above at Uni-X Labs: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uni-X Labs have done the hard part with Dinamo Brest, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Matvey Svidinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Uni-X Labs asked and Bumprom Gomel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Svidinskiy, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch5 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Molodechno to sit and watch. I want to come back to Uni-X Labs and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Lida: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Nemanja Ilić out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stumbras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atlantas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stumbras is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stumbras is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Saulius Mikoliunas commits to Stumbras for another 3 years.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Stumbras
Arnas Valskis 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 dugout11 Jan 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
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stumbras will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Dimitrijević 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Stumbras the difference is visible from the back of the stand.