Marked for Dmitry Solovjov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pressure builds in the Kuban Holding boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market1 Feb 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.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kuban Holding have done the hard part with Volgar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Murom is saying, and nobody at Kuban Holding is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Magomed-Deni Tsutsulaev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Rustam Vazitdinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Sergey Kopylov has come up in conversations Kuban Holding were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kuban Holding will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kuban Holding is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Borisov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kuban Holding will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 0‑3 beating by Rostov 2 was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rustam Vazitdinov 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Tagiev
“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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Kuban Holding dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market11 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kuban Holding, another week without a signature from Rustam Vazitdinov.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kuban Holding lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kuban Holding will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Dec 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 Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kuban Holding may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rustam Vazitdinov 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Solovjov. 2‑1 against Rubin Yalta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout21 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
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kuban Holding will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kuban Holding
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Dec 2026
Rustam Vazitdinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
145% of the income goes out in wages at Kuban Holding
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 terraces7 Dec 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Solovjov. 2‑0 against Angusht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
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Squad
Yegor Lipaev is the month’s best young player
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Squad
Yegor Lipaev named in the team of the month
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kuban Holding will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match7 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Kuban Holding
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sergey Serchenkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Tagiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
2 behind and going nowhere, until Dmitry Solovjov decided otherwise. Sevastopol had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kuban Holding may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market2 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kuban Holding is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Dmitry Solovjov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kuban Holding.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Kuban Holding
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Druzhba kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Kuban Holding will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kuban Holding may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Oct 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 Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Yegor Lipaev, 20, steals the show — 8.09
Marked 8.09 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Rustam Vazitdinov 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 Oct 2026
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Borisov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
2‑5 to Rostov 2, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rustam Vazitdinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lev Savinov 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Innokentiy Belousov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout12 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Spartak Moscow go through and Kuban Holding go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match3 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Dinamo Makhachkala 2, and it could have been more.
Market5 Oct 2026
Nikita Tagiev 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 Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Sergey Serchenkov takes the afternoon — 9.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergey Serchenkov provided it, and the 9.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market5 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Sergey Kopylov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Kopylov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kuban Holding the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 163% of everything Kuban Holding 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
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Kuban Holding
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match29 Aug 2026
2‑5 to Nart, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market31 Aug 2026
Nikita Tagiev 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 Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Rustam Vazitdinov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Dmitry Solovjov among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Dmitry Solovjov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kuban Holding and Nart.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Kuban Holding have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Kuban Holding asked and Irkutsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Solovjov 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 dugout31 Aug 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.