Marked for Ivan Ignatjev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 May 2028
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinonso Offor 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 dugout15 May 2028
“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 dugout15 May 2028
Chinonso Offor 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 Ural, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 May 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market15 May 2028
Ítalo linked with a move away
The name of Ítalo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ural say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 May 2028
Ural refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 79 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.
The dugout8 May 2028
“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.
Market8 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ural is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Silvije Begić and Ural agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Chinonso Offor 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 dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Ignatjev
“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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Ural release $1.0M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout8 May 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Ivan Ignatjev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ural have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinonso Offor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Gerzino Nyamsi
“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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ural, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Mar 2028
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilja Ishkov
“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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Ivan Ignatjev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ural 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Ítalo linked with a move away
The name of Ítalo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ural say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Nikita Morozov 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
Steady
Squad6 Mar 2028
Roman Akbashev breaks a bone — 101 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Orenburg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets6 Mar 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maxime Sivis and Orenburg agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Orenburg
Robert Mejía and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets6 Mar 2028
The window shuts on the Ivan Ignatjev deal
Orenburg ran out of time with Ural. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Orenburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saminu Abdullahi 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 dugout6 Mar 2028
“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
Upbeat
Squad6 Mar 2028
9 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.
Match6 Mar 2028
Ural finish in position 2
79 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Pavel Yevseyev
21 goals and a season average of 7.41 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market6 Mar 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ivan Ignatjev reports back to Ural with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market6 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Vitaly Borsuk
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaly Borsuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ural the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ural have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Match4 Mar 2028
After 6 games, Ural finally taste it again
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Nizhniy Novgorod; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match4 Mar 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Feb 2028
109 days out for Roman Akbashev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Orenburg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“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.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Orenburg until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Orenburg have gone to Ural 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Orenburg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Mejía was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Pavel Mogilevets has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Orenburg have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Orenburg
Dmitry Rybchinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“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 dugout28 Feb 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Vasiljev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Feb 2028
25 goals and a season average of 7.52. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market28 Feb 2028
Ivan Ignatjev 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 Ural can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Feb 2028
Ural cannot stop winning
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market28 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ural they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Stavros Pnevmonidis, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 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.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 2 in, 2 out at Ural
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market28 Feb 2028
Ural spend $660.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $660.0K has been paid because Ruslan Apekov is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market28 Feb 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ural have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Feb 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Stavros Pnevmonidis, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Add another name to the list: Dinamo Makhachkala have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Bertrand Fourrier. The answer from Ural has not changed — yet.
Match5 Feb 2028
Ural make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ural have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
15 goals and a season average of 7.28. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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 ratings7 Feb 2028
Ninety minutes of Pavel Yevseyev at his very best
Marked 9.74. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ural.
Match5 Feb 2028
It finished 3‑1, and it was Pavel Yevseyev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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
Upbeat
Match29 Jan 2028
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad31 Jan 2028
22 goals and a season average of 7.42. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market31 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Luki-Energiya waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ural is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Stavros Pnevmonidis, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Ishkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Jan 2028
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Spartak Kostroma tried to reorganise, Ural did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Jan 2028
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ural lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Ural say no — this time
The offer from Flora for Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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 terraces24 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Stavros Pnevmonidis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match22 Jan 2028
Baltika made Ural work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilja Ishkov
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
12 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jan 2028
Ivan Ignatjev damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match17 Jan 2028
Ural are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 61 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Ilja Ishkov 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 Jan 2028
“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.
Match15 Jan 2028
A bad afternoon for Ural against Ufa
0‑1 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
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 Andrey Milyukov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Timofey Margasov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match5 Jan 2028
The small margins put Ural out
Out, 1‑3 to Dinamo Moscow, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinonso Offor 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 dugout10 Jan 2028
No place for Silvije Begić on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ural pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andrey Milyukov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ural dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Jan 2028
No mercy from Ural
Rotor will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ural were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.87, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad3 Jan 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match1 Jan 2028
Another one collected away from home
8 on the bounce on the road for Ural. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A season average of 7.46 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad3 Jan 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Ural have had the benefit of it.
Match1 Jan 2028
9 unbeaten for Ural
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Ural did not have in the autumn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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 ratings3 Jan 2028
Ninety minutes of Ivan Ignatjev at his very best
Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ural.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Dec 2027
Another one collected away from home
7 on the bounce on the road for Ural. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match25 Dec 2027
Still nobody has beaten Ural
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Ilja Ishkov 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 terraces27 Dec 2027
At 21 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Chinonso Offor
“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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Torpedo Moscow made Ural work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes of Ivan Ignatjev at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ural.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Dec 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.
Match20 Dec 2027
Ural are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 54 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
Still nobody has beaten Ural
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Chinonso Offor 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.
Looking ahead20 Dec 2027
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Market20 Dec 2027
Artem Mamin is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ural has been clear about where Artem Mamin stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match18 Dec 2027
It needed Ivan Ignatjev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Shinnik, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Daniil Martovoy
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The dugout
Gerzino Nyamsi knocks on the manager’s door
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Triumph
The dugout13 Dec 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Ural are at home on the road
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match11 Dec 2027
Ural make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ural have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Chinonso Offor 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
“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.
Market13 Dec 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Evgeni Toporov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market13 Dec 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Danila Kuznetsov 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stepan Yakovlev 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad6 Dec 2027
19 goals and a season average of 7.43. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ural and SKA Khabarovsk in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad6 Dec 2027
23 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match4 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ivan Ignatjev. 4‑2 against SKA Khabarovsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A performance of 9.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Timur Ayupov
“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.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Vladislav Malkevich beats them one at a time
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Ítalo knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 2027
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match17 Nov 2027
Ural through in the cup
A 4‑0 win over Shinnik, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ural will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 Nov 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 Ural, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Nov 2027
Ural are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 44 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ural may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Ivan Ignatjev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.96. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Nov 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ural will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
There were 7 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.
Market8 Nov 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 Ural, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Chinonso Offor
17 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match6 Nov 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
52 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match6 Nov 2027
Nizhniy Novgorod left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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.
In brief
-
Match
Ural at the halfway mark
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 88% of everything Ural earn
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match6 Oct 2027
Ural through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Zenit Penza, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match9 Oct 2027
Ural cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
No sign of nerves from Leonid Belov at 21 — 7.82
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Leonid Belov did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match9 Oct 2027
Nobody wins at Ural
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ural and Neftekhimik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match9 Oct 2027
Neftekhimik made Ural work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinonso Offor 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 Oct 2027
Ural supporters have found a favourite in Ilja Ishkov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilja Ishkov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ural have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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 targets2 Aug 2027
Ural asked and Olympiacos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market2 Aug 2027
The name of Alexey Mamin has come up in conversations Ural were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitriy Prischepa commits to Ural for another 3 years.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Ignatjev
“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
Steady
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ural may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Jun 2027
Artem Mamin 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 Ural can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Fanil Sungatulin has come up in conversations Ural were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinonso Offor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chinonso Offor, and the manager let it.
Market14 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilja Ishkov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Vladislav Malkevich joins up with his country. Ural lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad14 Jun 2027
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Ural lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ural is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Ishkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ignatjev, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Gerzino Nyamsi 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 Ural, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fanil Sungatulin signs something — a contract at Ural or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom3 May 2027
An order from above at Ural: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market3 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ural they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinonso Offor 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 dugout3 May 2027
Yury Maleev gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
“I want to play”: Yury Maleev speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market3 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ivan Ignatjev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes Timur Ayupov a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ural. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market3 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fanil Sungatulin signs something — a contract at Ural or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ignatjev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Ural can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Market5 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ural they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ilja Ishkov 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Feb 2027
No mercy from Ural
Volga will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ural were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Fakel had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Martin Sekulić takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Sekulić provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.52 with 20 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market8 Feb 2027
Ural say no — this time
The offer from Flora for Ivan Ignatjev 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Akhmat Grozny; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Ural asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Akhmat Grozny keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Martin Sekulić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match16 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Ural
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ural are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Jan 2027
Ufa take the points off Ural
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ignatjev, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 Andrey Milyukov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Vitaly Borsuk 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
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Ural against Fakel
1‑3 to Fakel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
163% of the income goes out in wages at Ural
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout28 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ivan Ignatjev 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ivan Ignatjev is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.22 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout28 Dec 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 1‑3 Andrey Milyukov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaly Borsuk 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
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Ural do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Ishkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Ural and Fakel meet at the summit
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ural rescue it on 95 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Arsenal Tula had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Ignatjev
“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.
Match19 Dec 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
A Ural teenager takes the young player award
-
The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Roman Akbashev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Alexandr Selikhov damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Dec 2026
4‑1, and Bertrand Fourrier took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ural tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Dec 2026
18 goals and a season average of 7.48. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ural. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.52 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 unbeaten for Ural
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Ural did not have in the autumn.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Selikhov
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ural lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match7 Dec 2026
Ural up to position 2
41 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nikita Morozov is the month’s best young player
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Ural will try not to make too much of it.
Market7 Dec 2026
Evgeny Markov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ural has been clear about where Evgeny Markov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout7 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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Selikhov
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ural lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Martin Sekulić out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ural will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ilja Ishkov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market30 Nov 2026
Ural may not be able to give Léo Cordeiro what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Léo Cordeiro wants continental football; whether Ural can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ural cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bertrand Fourrier. 2‑1 against Spartak Kostroma, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 163% of the Ural income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
In brief
-
Match
Ural are at home on the road
-
The dugout
Roman Akbashev gets it from the manager
-
Player ratings
Ivan Ignatjev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ivan Ignatjev takes the afternoon — 9.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Ignatjev provided it, and the 9.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Chelyabinsk made Ural work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.83 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match23 Nov 2026
Ural at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 2, 37 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Egor Filipenko 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
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.64, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad16 Nov 2026
18 goals and a season average of 7.48. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 goals as Ural and Yenisey go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ural and Yenisey, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 4‑2, and it was Bertrand Fourrier’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
Ural supporters have found a favourite in Nikita Morozov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Morozov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings16 Nov 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Ivan Ignatjev
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Squad
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Martin Sekulić
18 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Ishkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
Ural supporters have found a favourite in Nikita Morozov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Morozov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ivan Ignatjev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural.
The dugout19 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 dugout19 Oct 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.” Andrey Milyukov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Ural close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 8 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Martin Sekulić
15 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Sekulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ural are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: Nil Gromov joins the Ural first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nil Gromov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Martin Sekulić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Ignatjev
“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
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Ural against Fakel
0‑1 to Fakel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match29 Aug 2026
After 4 games, Ural finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Fakel; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andrey Milyukov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Artem Mamin
“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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Scherbakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.