Marked for Eldor Abdullaev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Eldor Abdullaev out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 4 in, 2 out at Obod
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Feb 2028
The deal that would have taken Aziz Tukhtasinov to Metallurg has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Obod with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Asadbek Rahimjonov 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islombek Mamatkazin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Obod asked and Pakhtakor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
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
Squad31 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Eldor Abdullaev out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obod will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Jan 2028
“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.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Edin Ajdinović has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edin Ajdinović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qizilqum have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Obod are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Nobody at Obod will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
Azamat Komilov damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Jan 2028
Obod say no — this time
The offer from Pakhtakor for Rustam Ismailov 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Obod
Asadbek Rahimjonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metallurg have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islombek Mamatkazin 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 dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Shohruh Komilov
“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.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
A loan enquiry to Andijon: 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
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Asadbek Rahimjonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Obod
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Timur Abdullaev and Obod agree another 3 years.
Match6 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Obod against Navbahor
1‑3 to Navbahor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Ceccarelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aziz Nematov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sherzod Ismailov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eldor Abdullaev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.