Marked for Eldor Hasanov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Azimjon 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ariel Harush 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
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Eldor Hasanov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Metallurg
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Ariel Harush
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
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 The request is on a desk at Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
Metallurg leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ariel Harush 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Neftchi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Metallurg's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Metallurg has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
Metallurg cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mirzohid G'ofurov 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Metallurg
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ariel Harush 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Suhrobjon Sultonov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mirzo Ahmedov and Metallurg agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Pakhtakor, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ariel Harush 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ariel Harush
“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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Metallurg 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.
Market10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad10 Aug 2026
17 new faces, and Metallurg are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market10 Aug 2026
Islom Abdullaev is 16, and Metallurg have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.