Marked for Ehsan Noorafkan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Ishkhan Geloyan out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veles will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Veles have done the hard part with Fakel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Dmitry Sadov 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 Veles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 177% 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A loan move for Yegor Plotnikov is in the works
Veles have made the call to Mashuk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Bogdan Markov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bogdan Markov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Ishkhan Geloyan out for 78 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veles will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Veles people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Veles is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Dmitry Sadov 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 Veles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Dmitry Kuchugura has come up in conversations Veles were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jul 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Salyut have kept their man, and Veles go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Veles can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 100% of everything Veles earn
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Market
Dmitry Sadov linked with a move away
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Match
Continental football is in reach for Veles
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Dmitry Sadov breaks a bone — 35 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom24 May 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Veles
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Veles is running low.
Market24 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Veles they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Veles counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Veles now.
Squad24 May 2027
The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Nikolai Suslov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market24 May 2027
The Pavel Kotov story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pavel Kotov signs something — a contract at Veles or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market24 May 2027
The clock does Ehsan Noorafkan’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Veles could ask drops and the wages Ehsan Noorafkan can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
Dmitry Sadov breaks a bone — 63 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Veles
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Veles is running low.
Market26 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Veles is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The numbers do not look good at Veles
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Sadov
“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 dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
Market26 Apr 2027
The Pavel Kotov story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pavel Kotov signs something — a contract at Veles or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Apr 2027
The clock does Ehsan Noorafkan’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Veles could ask drops and the wages Ehsan Noorafkan can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
Dmitry Sadov breaks a bone — 70 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Artur Koloskov damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Oleg Smirnov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oleg Smirnov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Veles the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Veles can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
105% of the income goes out in wages at Veles
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Artur Koloskov
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Vladislav Volkov 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
The Dmitry Sadov story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dmitry Sadov signs something — a contract at Veles or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Dmitry Sadov breaks a bone — 92 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Artur Koloskov
39 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Veles
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Veles is running low.
Market29 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Veles they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Dmitry Sadov 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 Veles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Veles counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Veles now.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Veles training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ionafan Sapozhnikov 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 dugout29 Mar 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zakhar Tarasenko signs something — a contract at Veles or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Artur Koloskov
96 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rubin Yalta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Veles is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market1 Feb 2027
Parnu 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.
Market1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Dmitry Sadov 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 Veles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Veles counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Veles now.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Veles can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
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The dugout
When it matters, Yegor Sysoev plays
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Boardroom
Open for business: Veles enter the window
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Match
Veles have something to play for
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Veles
Dmitry Sadov 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 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Zakhar Tarasenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Artur Koloskov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Veles is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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 dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes Karim Giraev a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Veles. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
13 starts and a season average of 6.63. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Veles is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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 dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ionafan Sapozhnikov 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Ilja Kuptsov 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Veles
Something was said to Ivan Nikin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market23 Nov 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ehsan Noorafkan may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.