Marked for Eldar Ćivić
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baltika can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Baltika may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 Mar 2027
Baltika say no — this time
The offer from Naftan for Maxim Shnaptsev 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Filin and Baltika agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Maxim Petrov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Innokentiy Balabanov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Anger at Baltika spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Baltika boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Mar 2027
Maxim Petrov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baltika can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slutsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Baltika is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Baltika close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Mar 2027
Orenburg paid $220.0K and Baltika took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Baltika know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Baltika have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match22 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Baltika
Position 14 and 18 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ruslan Shagiakhmetov has, at Baltika, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market22 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Maxim Shnaptsev again, and this time the name on the line is Naftan. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market22 Feb 2027
The paperwork is done: Ruslan Shagiakhmetov joins from Volga in a deal worth $510.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Baltika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Belikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Baltika can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match6 Feb 2027
0‑3 to Dinamo Makhachkala, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Baltika and Arsenal Tula have settled on $300.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Match6 Feb 2027
The goals have deserted Baltika
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Baltika can tell you which week it ends in.
Market8 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Naftan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Belikov. The answer from Baltika has not changed — yet.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Baltika board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Baltika
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Baltika is running low.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Baltika may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
$83.0K settles it between the clubs for Artur Anisimov
KAMAZ have accepted the money. What Baltika do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match30 Jan 2027
5 matches without a goal for Baltika
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” NK Maribor had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Match25 Jan 2027
Baltika are in real trouble now
Position 14, 18 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Baltika
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Baltika say no — this time
The offer from Puskas Akademia for Yegor Golenkov 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
4 matches without a goal for Baltika
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad25 Jan 2027
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Baltika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Petrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Match16 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Jan 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Eldar Ćivić again, and this time the name on the line is NK Maribor. Baltika are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Baltika
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match16 Jan 2027
Dinamo Moscow left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mingiyan Beveev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kano Pillars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Baltika is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match9 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Baltika
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Baltika — 7.32
1 for Ilja Kirsh, marked 7.32, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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 terraces11 Jan 2027
The crowd has taken to Ilja Kirsh
At 22 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gavriil Shestakov 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Belikov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
7 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Baltika
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market4 Jan 2027
Cukaricki come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Baltika did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Baltika
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Jan 2027
Baltika leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Petrov 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Baltika may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Mikhail Ryadno, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Baltika
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Maxim Petrov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Dec 2026
1‑3 to CSKA Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match26 Dec 2026
Baltika are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Krasnodar, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Baltika may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Baltika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Baltika dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market7 Dec 2026
Juan Véliz hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baltika can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mingiyan Beveev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Baltika can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Honours even between Baltika and Akron
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.07. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The armband comes off Fahd Moufi
Baltika 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
The form table has caught Carlos Gallego
-
Looking ahead
Fahd Moufi faces his old club
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
The drought breaks for Baltika
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nizhniy Novgorod were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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 terraces30 Nov 2026
At 22 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ivan Belikov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Mingiyan Beveev
“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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Nov 2026
Baltika sink to position 14
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Baltika
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Maxim Petrov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Yegor Kortsov
“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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Brayan Gil
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.43 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Baltika had the best player on the pitch.
Squad23 Nov 2026
6 new faces, and Baltika 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Nov 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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Baltika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Belikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Baltika
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Baltika can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Baltika
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oleg Kobzev 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
One of our own: Vlad Fadeev joins the Baltika first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vlad Fadeev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Filin
“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.
Match9 Nov 2026
Baltika at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 12, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vladlen Chaykovsky after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Baltika
A 0‑5 beating by Zenit was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Baltika
Ivan Belikov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Baltika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Petrov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eldar Ćivić, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Baltika dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 98% of everything Baltika 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Kortsov, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mingiyan Beveev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goal that put Dinamo Makhachkala ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Baltika equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Baltika are still strangers to each other
20 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vladlen Chaykovsky after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Carlos Gallego dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
The drought breaks for Baltika
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Sochi were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Maxim Petrov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Brayan Gil’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Baltika.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Véliz and Baltika agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mingiyan Beveev
“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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nikolay Titkov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Baltika.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
In brief
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Squad
No place for Juan Véliz in the new shape
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Market
Baltika bring in an old head
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Market
Experience through the door at Baltika
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Stefan Kovač beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Baltika
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Sep 2026
Baltika bow out of the cup
Uralets-TS go through and Baltika go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Baltika
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Baltika can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Belikov 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Belikov
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 126% of everything Baltika 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Baltika dressing room in a hurry
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Squad
Hugo Castillo signs on for more
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for Baltika
Position 14 and 6 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Hugo Castillo arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hugo Castillo has, at Baltika, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Baltika
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Gassama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Kortsov, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Lokomotiv Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Baltika
18 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Vladlen Chaykovsky left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
12 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Baltika
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Baltika are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Maxim Petrov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Levin, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Baltika will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Yegor Kortsov dropped after a run of poor form
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Yegor Kortsov 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
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market31 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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Baltika have done the hard part with Akron, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Baltika had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Maxim Petrov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
Baltika say no — this time
The offer from Lokomotiv Moscow for Maxim Petrov 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vladislav Levin gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vladislav Levin has just signed for Baltika, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Baltika have gone to Dinamo Brest with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Luka Ivanušec rejects the move
Baltika had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nizhniy Novgorod left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mingiyan Beveev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Krylya Sovetov, and it could have been more.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Yegor Golenkov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Ilmari Niskanen would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ilmari Niskanen is living that version at Baltika, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with CSKA Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Baltika had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rubin, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brayan Gil and Baltika agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Konstantin Pliev is a Baltika player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Spartak Moscow, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fahd Moufi and Baltika agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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 Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 20 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mingiyan Beveev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Baltika dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months and counting on Fahd Moufi
Still no offer on the table, and Fahd Moufi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.