Marked for Farhod Akhmedov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces17 May 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market17 May 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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.
Match15 May 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov 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.
Match15 May 2027
AGMK take the points off Obod
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulla Suyunov, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Abdulla Komilov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Apr 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match17 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
11 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.
Market19 Apr 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 The request is on a desk at Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match17 Apr 2027
5 matches without a goal for Obod
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Abdulla Suyunov 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
A bad afternoon for Obod against Nasaf
0‑1 to Nasaf, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Sardor Shomurodov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Abdulla Komilov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Odil Fayzullaev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Mar 2027
6 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Market15 Mar 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Umid Hasanov, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Nobody at Obod 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
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Obod know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov 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 dugout1 Mar 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.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Navbahor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout1 Mar 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 Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Jahongir Abdumo'minov keeps the shirt for now, at Obod's convenience rather than his own.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Umid Mirzaev 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 Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 Feb 2027
Obod spent the window trying to move Umid Hasanov on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Questions about Amir Akhmedov on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Abdulla Komilov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Obod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jasur Abdullaev commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Obod asked and Nasaf said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market8 Feb 2027
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Jasur Abdullaev 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Obod have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Shohruh Shomurodov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Farhod Akhmedov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Mirzo Masharipov 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 targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Navbahor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Navbahor 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
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Obod asked and Nasaf said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Obod have made the call to Navbahor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Pakhtakor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market11 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mirzo Masharipov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Obod.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jaloliddin Akhmedov, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 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 Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Farhod Akhmedov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Mashal, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Obod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Dušan Puletić wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Obod now know that too.
Transfer targets4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Obod have made the call to Mashal. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Anger at Obod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match28 Dec 2026
Obod are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Jahongir Abdumo'minov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dušan Puletić and Obod agree another 1 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Sherzod Ismailov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Anger at Obod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Market23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
71 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jaloliddin Akhmedov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Farhod Akhmedov is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Abdulla Suyunov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Obod will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
In brief
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Squad
A falling-out at Obod
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Obod
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: Bukhara at home
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Sherzod Ismailov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Aug 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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Obod
6 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The goals have deserted Obod
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$94.0K settles it between the clubs for Kamronbek Hamroyev
Mashal have accepted the money. What Obod do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Nasaf 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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nasaf have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
AGMK take the points off Obod
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Abdulla Komilov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Aug 2026
Obod out of the cup
Pakhtakor ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup embarrassment at Pakhtakor follows Obod home
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a goal for Obod
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Obod
Doniyor Ismailov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Obod against Neftchi
0‑1 to Neftchi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Farhod Akhmedov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Obod 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 0‑3 beating by Nasaf was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Jahongir Abdumo'minov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mirzo Masharipov commits to Obod for another 2 years.
The dugout3 Aug 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Obod 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 manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Abdulla Komilov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Mashal: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Andijon 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.