Marked for Ilja Rubtsov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Daniel Sappa 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 Spartak Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Chikanchi, and the manager let it.
Match16 Jan 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Arsenal Tula defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
A one-man rearguard from Daniel Sappa
There were 6 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Daniel Sappa 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match9 Jan 2027
Sokol made Spartak Kostroma work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilja Rubtsov
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Amur Kalmykov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amur Kalmykov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nikita Supranovich 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 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amur Kalmykov, and the manager let it.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Faruk Gogić 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 Spartak Kostroma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amur Kalmykov signs something — a contract at Spartak Kostroma or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 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 Spartak Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nikita Demchenko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Yenisey, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 8.89 — 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.
Squad14 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 ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Spartak Kostroma have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. 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
Amur Kalmykov 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Spartak Kostroma know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match5 Dec 2026
Rodina left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Juan Pablo Villafañe is 34, with 9 appearances behind him, and Spartak Kostroma will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match17 Oct 2026
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 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 Spartak Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 3‑2 win over Ufa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.23 — 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Kostroma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Chelyabinsk go through and Spartak Kostroma go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Daniel Sappa
There were 6 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 27, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match3 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Spartak Kostroma did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Daniel Sappa 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
1478% of the income goes out in wages at Spartak Kostroma
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Sappa
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ilja Rubtsov. 1‑0 against Rotor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Spartak Kostroma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Dinamo Makhachkala for Ilja Rubtsov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Đorđe Pantelić 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 1076% of everything Spartak Kostroma 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.49, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Neftekhimik leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Spartak Kostroma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 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 Spartak Kostroma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Amur Kalmykov 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Aug 2026
KAMAZ made Spartak Kostroma work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Khubaev, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Spartak Kostroma have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ilja Rubtsov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilja Rubtsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Daniel Sappa 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 Spartak Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ilja Rubtsov
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Daniel Sappa 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Match15 Aug 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Yenisey defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ilja Rubtsov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikita Demchenko and Spartak Kostroma agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Daniel Sappa 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 Spartak Kostroma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Demchenko, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Aug 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Daniel Sappa knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months and counting on Ilja Rubtsov
Still no offer on the table, and Ilja Rubtsov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Market10 Aug 2026
Gennady Kiselev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Spartak Kostroma has been clear about where Gennady Kiselev stands, which is more than many ever get.