Marked for David Karaev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Artem Popov 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 KAMAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
David Karaev 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 goals have deserted KAMAZ
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KAMAZ can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout26 Oct 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Anderson Magrão 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad26 Oct 2026
One booking too many, and Saminu Abdullahi sits out. KAMAZ lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
No place in the plan for Kian Visser
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match24 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for KAMAZ?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Fakel? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Evgeny Zamerets: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match30 Sep 2026
Cup progress for KAMAZ
A 0‑0 win over Sevastopol, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market5 Oct 2026
Maxim Laikin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KAMAZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match3 Oct 2026
The drought breaks for KAMAZ
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Shinnik were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; KAMAZ are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at KAMAZ
Artem Popov 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 KAMAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Karaev 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 218% of everything KAMAZ 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for KAMAZ
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around KAMAZ are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for KAMAZ
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at KAMAZ
Artem Popov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banik Ostrava have kept their man, and KAMAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for KAMAZ against Volga
0‑1 to Volga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Markin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around KAMAZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 2 out at KAMAZ
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
KAMAZ had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gimnasia La Plata, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for KAMAZ
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around KAMAZ are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at KAMAZ
Artem Popov 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at KAMAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Karaev 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
KAMAZ cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets14 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 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 KAMAZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
David Khubaev goes up and wins it — 7.41
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.41 for the rest of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at KAMAZ
Artem Popov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at KAMAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Karaev 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
KAMAZ asked and Akron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Legia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sion have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Match22 Aug 2026
It needed David Khubaev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Chernomorets, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Anderson Magrão for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. KAMAZ will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Radnik Surdulica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at KAMAZ
Artem Popov 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.
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
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Anderson Magrão. 1‑0 against Chelyabinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Appearance number 100 for Maxim Laikin
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Kian Visser 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Bogdan Bulgakov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
250 appearances across 13 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and KAMAZ know what they have.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artem Popov and KAMAZ agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at KAMAZ
Artem Popov 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.
Transfer targets3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. KAMAZ have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
200 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
KAMAZ and Artem Popov 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months and counting on David Karaev
Still no offer on the table, and David Karaev’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.