Marked for Dime Dimov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Faisal Charwetey
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bylis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 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 The request is on a desk at Bylis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Dime Dimov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Bylis will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bylis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Bylis
Gjorgi Stoilov 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Bylis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I watch every Bylis game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Laçi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Paulo Pjeshka has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bylis 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Aurel Marku 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 Bylis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
15 days out for Faisal Charwetey after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bylis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Bylis
Dime Dimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gjorgi Stoilov 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.
Loan watch16 Nov 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 Bylis, and 3 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Paulo Pjeshka has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bylis 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Paulo Pjeshka’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Bylis needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Aurel Marku 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 Bylis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Ousmane Kane story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ousmane Kane signs something — a contract at Bylis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market16 Nov 2026
Bylis have made Ibrahim Akibu available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Faisal Charwetey out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bylis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Olávio Olávio takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Olávio Olávio provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Bylis
Gjorgi Stoilov 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 terraces2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Olávio Olávio. 2‑0 against AF Elbasani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Bylis game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Laçi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Sokol Sala could afford to be generous.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Dime Dimov sits out. Bylis lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Faisal Charwetey out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bylis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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 Bylis know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Bylis
Dime Dimov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Bylis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gjorgi Stoilov 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Bylis against Tirana
0‑1 to Tirana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Oct 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 Sokol Sala left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ionuţ Gurău, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Ibrahim Akibu gets picked when it counts
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 Ibrahim Akibu is on it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Aurel Marku
Nobody at Bylis is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Bylis
Dime Dimov 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Pedro Vieira 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Bylis would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dime Dimov 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 Bylis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bylis are still strangers to each other
11 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.
Loan watch10 Aug 2026
“I did not go to Laçi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bylis and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 0 matches say the rest.
Market10 Aug 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Bylis would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Olávio Olávio arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.