Marked for Erbol Abiken
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akzhaiyk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Abzal Baizhanov 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Grassi, and the manager let it.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Irtysh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Akzhaiyk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akzhaiyk, another week without a signature from Victor Chuvilov.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Serikzhan Nurgaliev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Irtysh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Irtysh
Ğafurzhan Süiimbaev 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Oluwabori Falaye 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oluwabori Falaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oluwabori Falaye signs something — a contract at Irtysh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Abzal Baizhanov 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 watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Akzhaiyk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Irtysh runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bruno Grassi and Akzhaiyk agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Akzhaiyk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Akzhaiyk until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The paperwork begins on Lev Kurgin
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akzhaiyk have done the hard part with Kairat, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Akzhaiyk
Abzal Baizhanov 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ruslan Gorshkov again, and this time the name on the line is Tobol. Akzhaiyk are listening politely and promising nothing.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Irtysh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Akzhaiyk and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Akzhaiyk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rinat Nurgaliev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout14 Sep 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 Akzhaiyk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Shakhter this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oluwabori Falaye 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Pakhtakor 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Irtysh
0‑1 against Okzhetpes, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Irtysh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oluwabori Falaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ordabasy have kept their man, and Irtysh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Akzhaiyk: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
No place for Erbol Abiken in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Irtysh are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ruslan Yudenkov
Nobody at Irtysh is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 18 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match1 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Irtysh
A 0‑5 beating by Kairat was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Karim Smykov gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Karim Smykov has just signed for Irtysh, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bohdan Sarnavskyi commits to Irtysh for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Irtysh
Bauyrzhan Islamkhan 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Irtysh dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Aktobe: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.