Marked for Kristian Nemec
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 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 Kuban this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kuban, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Victor Okishor is on it.
Market7 Dec 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mykyta Kolesov
“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.
Market7 Dec 2026
The name of Mikhail Ageev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kuban say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Kristian Nemec 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 Kuban, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dmitry Kotov breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Kuban
Mikhail Yakovlev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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; Kuban are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 233% of everything Kuban earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Danila Smirnov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Yefrem Karpov 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 Kuban, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Nov 2026
Nobody above Kuban
First, on 25 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dmitry Kotov breaks a bone — 34 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Kuban
Mikhail Yakovlev 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Molteninov, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kuban are still strangers to each other
6 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Ilja Bykovskiy 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
41 days out for Dmitry Kotov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kuban will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 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 Kuban this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mykyta Kolesov, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Kuban will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Danila Smirnov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Danila Smirnov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
48 days out for Dmitry Kotov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kuban will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Mykyta Kolesov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kuban have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
233% of the income goes out in wages at Kuban
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Kuban
Adam Gazdag 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Igor Tursunov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kuban.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Kristian Nemec
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kuban can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Daiki Matsuoka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Slovan Bratislava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rahim Ibrahim 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
DAC Dunajska Streda left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Peter Pokorný
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Tigran Barseghyan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slovan Bratislava 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Rahim Ibrahim may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Spartak Myjava, and it could have been more.
Market24 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.
Market24 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 Slovan Bratislava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Podbrezova; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
MFK Ruzomberok wanted more than $1.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MFK Ruzomberok have kept their man, and Slovan Bratislava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rahim Ibrahim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Samuel Ďatko 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.