Robert Popa

Goalkeeper - BATE
9 Nov 2026
Monday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 36 Awards Matches History

Marked for Robert Popa

11 Edition

The BATE Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad12 Oct 2026

The step up is real for Nikita Neskoromnyi

At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market12 Oct 2026

Alexandr Shvedchikov is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Artem Dzyuba 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 BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Maxim Karpov 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 dugout12 Oct 2026

The manager makes an example of Arseniy Skopets

“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.

Squad12 Oct 2026

Robert Popa remains an outsider

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 BATE would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

In brief

Back issues
6 Edition

The BATE Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market7 Sep 2026

Kirill Kaplenko has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets7 Sep 2026

Dmitriy Kharitonov due for a BATE medical

Everything agreed with Vitebsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets7 Sep 2026

No thanks: Abdurauf Bo'riev rejects the move

BATE had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Pakhtakor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad7 Sep 2026

A row about effort at BATE

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuriy Kovalev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom7 Sep 2026

BATE beat the market to Nikita Melnikov from Slavia Mozyr

Slavia Mozyr will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nikita Melnikov has pre-agreed a move to BATE, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Transfer targets7 Sep 2026

Unirea Slobozia tell BATE: Robert Popa is not for sale

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.

The dugout7 Sep 2026

No hiding place for El Mehdi Maouhoub

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to El Mehdi Maouhoub, and the manager let it.

Squad7 Sep 2026

Tempers go at BATE

Pavel Dubovskiy 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.

Market7 Sep 2026

BATE and Kirill Kaplenko are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

In brief

  • Squad Too much change too quickly at BATE
  • Squad Artem Dzyuba stands down from international duty
  • Transfer targets A loan move for Filip Kosi is in the works
5 Edition

The Unirea Slobozia Post

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market31 Aug 2026

AEZ Zakakiou come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Unirea Slobozia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Match29 Aug 2026

4 matches without a win for Unirea Slobozia

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Unirea Slobozia are no longer polite ones.

Match29 Aug 2026

Petrolul Ploiești take the points off Unirea Slobozia

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

Unirea Slobozia rebuffed over Marko Dugandžić

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levski have kept their man, and Unirea Slobozia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Player ratings31 Aug 2026

Andrei Dragu beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad31 Aug 2026

Appearance number 100 for Denis Yanakov

100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

Squad31 Aug 2026

Ştefan Bodişteanu is a square peg at Unirea Slobozia

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

The dugout31 Aug 2026

Ionut Keseru faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ionut Keseru after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Transfer targets31 Aug 2026

Unirea Slobozia ask about Alberto Salido

A loan enquiry to Ludogorets: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief