The Volga Sentinel
Squad12 Oct 2026
35 days out for Vladislav Yakovlev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Volga will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Volga
Position 17 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Volga
Kirill Folmer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Oct 2026
Alexandr Saplinov’s goal not enough for Volga
Alexandr Saplinov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Ural, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market12 Oct 2026
Volga promote Ilya Dorokhov from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ilya Dorokhov 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Volga promote Vitaliy Lobanov from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vitaliy Lobanov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Volga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ruslan Shagiakhmetov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Savely Burov faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Savely Burov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Volga 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.
In brief
- The dugout Aidar Khabibullin gets it from the manager
- Player ratings Artur Murza was unplayable
- Market Talks stall between Volga and Andrey Kostin