Marked for Marcus Ryerson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Garrik Levin 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khetag Kochiev 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Urvantsev, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.34. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nikita Pershin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Chelyabinsk lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. SKA Khabarovsk will be the happier side with the point.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alexey Berdnikov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba N'Diaye 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
No place for Marcus Ryerson in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Chelyabinsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market12 Oct 2026
He is 14, and nobody at Chelyabinsk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Bulat Gatin
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Khetag Kochiev 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The clock runs on Endri Çelaj's contract
12 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nikita Pershin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nikolay Pridava’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chelyabinsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 HamKam can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Stian Daehli out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HamKam will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Markus Johnsgård and HamKam agree another 4 years.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Luc Mares gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at HamKam
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Snorre Strand Nilsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
HamKam will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
When it matters, Aksel Potur plays
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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Snorre Strand Nilsen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Brann next, and one man in the HamKam dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
HamKam through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Egersund, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match19 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. HamKam scored in the 114th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Eron Gojani at 19 — 7.84
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Eron Gojani did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
HamKam say no — this time
The offer from GIF Sundsvall for Anton Ekeroth 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 Aug 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 HamKam can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at HamKam
Henrik Udahl 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.