Marked for Igor Bezdenezhnykh
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Kuban, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 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 Kuban this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Igor Bezdenezhnykh, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Kuban training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Bezdenezhnykh 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
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yury Nesterenko
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kuban lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Dmitry Kotov breaks a bone — 70 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban can pretend not to have heard.
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Kuban's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kuban has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Igor Bezdenezhnykh 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
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yury Nesterenko
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kuban lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dmitry Kotov breaks a bone — 91 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Kuban
Ilja Molteninov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Kuban training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Bezdenezhnykh 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
Vincent Johansson is 20, and Kuban have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Match19 Sep 2026
No goals between Kuban and Murom
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Murom will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yury Nesterenko
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kuban lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match31 Aug 2026
Kuban refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 10 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Kuban
Danila Smirnov 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mikhail Ageev. 1‑0 against Kaluga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Danila Smirnov
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kuban had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market31 Aug 2026
Simón Guajardo is 20, and Kuban have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yury Nesterenko
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kuban lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jean Sales and Kuban agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Kulikov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Dinamo Vladivostok came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Mikhail Ageev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kuban say nothing, which says plenty.
In brief
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Market
Kuban shop where it costs nothing
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Market
The shop window has Ilja Kazakov in it