Marked for Dzmitry Malevich
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 May 2027
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Volna Pinsk will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market10 May 2027
Yuri Pavlov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match8 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stanislau Zhavnerchik. 2‑1 against Volna Pinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 May 2027
Aliaksandr Bykau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces10 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Aliaksandr Bykau 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.
The dugout10 May 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Lokomotiv Gomel had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout10 May 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout10 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotiv Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 19 actions, 7.04, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Dzmitry Malevich is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Lokomotiv Gomel's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lokomotiv Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
Market12 Apr 2027
Yuri Pavlov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Yahor Arlouski 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Ostrovets leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout12 Apr 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.” Aliaksandr Yablonski chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Lokomotiv Gomel's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lokomotiv Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
Match20 Mar 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Lokomotiv Gomel and Lida, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match20 Mar 2027
Lida left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Aliaksandr Bykau 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 dugout22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dzmitry Malevich
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Yuri Pavlov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuri Pavlov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets15 Mar 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Mozyr have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
32 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Yahor Arlouski is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Match13 Mar 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout8 Mar 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 ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 7.65 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Yahor Arlouski 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Lokomotiv Gomel
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.
Match6 Mar 2027
1‑3 to Osipovichi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktar Pavlov commits to Lokomotiv Gomel for another 4 years.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market1 Mar 2027
The offer from BATE for Stanislau Zhavnerchik was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market1 Mar 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Lokomotiv Gomel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market1 Mar 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Mar 2027
The deal that would have taken Sergei Rios to Belshina has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Lokomotiv Gomel with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad1 Mar 2027
48 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ is saying, and nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Mar 2027
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dzmitry Malevich
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slutsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market22 Feb 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 Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Gomel, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Mozyr have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Lokomotiv Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanislau Zhavnerchik 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 dugout22 Feb 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
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lokomotiv Gomel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market15 Feb 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 Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The deal with Vitebsk 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Yahor Arlouski 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Lokomotiv Gomel asked and Slavia Mozyr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Neman: 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
Steady
Market1 Feb 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 Lokomotiv Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Neman, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Lokomotiv Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanislau Zhavnerchik 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Aliaksandr Bykau 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Wages eat 92% of everything Lokomotiv Gomel 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.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dzmitry Malevich's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maksim Savitski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market1 Feb 2027
No place for Yuri Pavlov in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yuri Pavlov has his answer from Lokomotiv Gomel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Yahor Arlouski 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanislau Zhavnerchik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotiv Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Dzmitry Malevich for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Lokomotiv Gomel will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Yahor Arlouski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aliaksandr Klimovich, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 92% of the Lokomotiv Gomel income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
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
Aliaksandr Bykau 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
49 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Aliaksandr Bykau is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 93% of the Lokomotiv Gomel income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Dzmitry Malevich is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Yahor Arlouski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanislau Zhavnerchik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Raman Zhavnerchik for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Lokomotiv Gomel will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
a squad player has seen enough of Dnepr Mogilev
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lokomotiv Gomel, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Dzmitry Malevich is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Lokomotiv Gomel, another week without a signature from Anton Volodko.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
35 days out for Uladzimir Pavlov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotiv Gomel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Yahor Arlouski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Lokomotiv Gomel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dnepr Mogilev runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Dzmitry Malevich's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout12 Oct 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 Lokomotiv Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
25 days out for Uladzimir Pavlov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotiv Gomel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv Gomel close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanislau Zhavnerchik 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Bumprom Gomel had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Lokomotiv Gomel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dnepr Mogilev runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Sergei Rios
A mark of 7.73, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lokomotiv Gomel told Anton Signevich something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 Aug 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Neman 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Lokomotiv Gomel asked and 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.