Marked for Dmitry Solovjov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Solovjov. 1‑0 against Rostov 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Raouf Soltani will call it something else in private.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Sergey Mokrousov 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 ratings4 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.96, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match2 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Dmitry Solovjov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kuban Holding.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ilya Rabeshko 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
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Kuban Holding's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kuban Holding has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 4 of the 17 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad28 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 Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
310% 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Sochi 2 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Kuban Holding pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Dec 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
Match19 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Kuban Holding
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Kuban Holding are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Osman Gasanbekov 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
352% 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Nart leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 17 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Osman Gasanbekov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Astrakhan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lev Ivanushkin, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matvey Smirnov 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 Kuban Holding, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Nov 2026
Three points for Kuban Holding, 2‑0 the final word against Legion in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Smirnov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 12 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dmitry Solovjov wants a proper job in this side
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Dmitry Solovjov has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Kuban Holding know, and have known for weeks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sergey Mokrousov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Dinamo Stavropol left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Nov 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
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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
352% 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Sevastopol made Kuban Holding work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings2 Nov 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Nov 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 10, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Osman Gasanbekov 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.
Squad26 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.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kuban Holding, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Match24 Oct 2026
It needed Dmitry Solovjov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Spartak Nalchik, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Kuban Holding had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
There were 8 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.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
81 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kuban Holding know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sergey Mokrousov 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Jackson Nsofor, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I watch every Kuban Holding game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nosta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.37 on the card, and the Kuban Holding support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 17 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Rubin Yalta left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Lev Ivanushkin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
5.49 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Pavel Banschikov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kuban Holding.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Solovjov
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Ilya Rabeshko.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Nikita Tagiev
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.64 on the card, and the Kuban Holding support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 12. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Aug 2026
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad31 Aug 2026
45 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Kuban Holding will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad31 Aug 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
Artem Nagaitsev is 19, and Kuban Holding have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitry Solovjov commits to Kuban Holding for another 2 years.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Sevastopol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Tagiev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Matvey Smirnov's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.