Marked for Aziz Ganiev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Obod board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Obod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sherzod Shomurodov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Aziz Ganiev 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
When it matters, Aziz Ganiev plays
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Supporters organise against the Obod board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Obod
Odil Akhmedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dostonbek Nematov commits to Obod for another 1 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Doniyor Ahmedov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Obod who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match5 Sep 2026
Obod taken apart
1‑4 to Kokand 1912, 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Obod are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market7 Sep 2026
Aziz Ganiev 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Obod close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 0 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sherzod Shomurodov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Obod
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 1‑6 beating by Bunyodkor was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match12 Aug 2026
Obod bow out of the cup
Pakhtakor go through and Obod go home, 2‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
What a way to start for Aziz Ganiev — 7.84
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.84 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Obod are taken apart by Pakhtakor — and the town wants answers
It finished 2-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 33 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Every first appearance is one of two stories, and this was the harder one: 5.68, and a long walk to the tunnel. The second appearance is the one that decides what the first one meant.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Doniyor Ahmedov 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.