The Sochi Sentinel
Match8 Aug 2026
Dinamo Makhachkala punish Sochi for switching off
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. François Kamano will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Sochi escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Zakhar Fedorov at 21 — 8.32
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zakhar Fedorov did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Soldatenkov and Sochi agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sochi rebuffed over Saminu Abdullahi
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAMAZ have kept their man, and Sochi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sergey Volkov 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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Zakhar Fedorov
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Roman Yezhov
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
Alexey Glushakov steps up from the Sochi academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexey Glushakov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Fedot Smirnov joins the Sochi first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fedot Smirnov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market Sochi promote Pyotr Kalinovsky from within
- Market Aleksei Medvedev steps up from the Sochi academy
- Player ratings Ninety minutes of François Kamano at his very best