Marked for Dmitry Sadov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Veles have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dmitry Sadov 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 Veles this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Veles get the job done against Alania
A 1‑0 win over Alania, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.94 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Veles had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Nil Moiseev kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
Leningradets next, and one man in the Veles dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Veles. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Mikhail Rybalko
Nobody at Veles is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Veles
Dmitry Sadov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luka Prokofiev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gleb Ponomarev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dmitriy Kudryavtsev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Arseniy Kalinin 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakhar Tarasenko, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
Veles come up short against Mashuk
Mashuk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nil Moiseev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. 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
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitry Sadov commits to Veles for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Veles
Dmitry Sadov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kirill Korolkov. 2‑1 against Dinamo Kirov, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market3 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the Veles support went home talking about one name.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Kirill Korolkov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Veles are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nil Moiseev, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.