Marked for Rustam Mirzaev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Sep 2026
Obod are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market14 Sep 2026
Eldor Komilov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Saleh Al-Qumayzi 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Qizilqum left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Obod
1‑9 against Kokand 1912, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Beaten 9 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Abbey Benson 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ulugbek Nematov among the goals in a wild afternoon
10 goals in one match, Ulugbek Nematov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Obod and Kokand 1912.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Saleh Al-Qumayzi 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.
Squad7 Sep 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
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Doniyor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Obod
0‑2 against Pakhtakor, 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
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.54, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 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.
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
Abbey Benson 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saleh Al-Qumayzi 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Obod are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Obod taken apart
1‑9 to Sogdiana, 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A debut Doniyor Ganiev will not forget — 7.37
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.37 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market3 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.
Squad3 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
10 goals as Obod and Sogdiana go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Obod and Sogdiana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simphiwe Mtsweni 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sherzod Ahmedov, and the manager let it.
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.