Marked for Ilja Grischenko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 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 Kaluga can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Kuzmin, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Kaluga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lev Ivanushkin 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 Feb 2027
Alexey Polev 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rinat Shakerov signs something — a contract at Kaluga or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kaluga people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Rubin Yalta to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kaluga and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Kaluga
Lev Ivanushkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Sergey Krotov 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 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakhar Kravtsov, and the manager let it.
Market8 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilja Grischenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 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 Kaluga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Sergey Iljin 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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I watch every Kaluga game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin Yalta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Kaluga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kuzmin 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Artem Kuzmin
“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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Rinat Shakerov 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 Rinat Shakerov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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 Kaluga have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Kaluga
Rinat Shakerov 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Sergey Krotov
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Kaluga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vyacheslav Dorovskikh 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
Dmitry Yugaldin 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
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kaluga may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 226% of everything Kaluga 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Sergey Krotov 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Dmitry Yugaldin 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kaluga know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 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 Kaluga can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Igor Sokolov pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I watch every Kaluga game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin Yalta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Kuzmin, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Kaluga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vyacheslav Dorovskikh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilja Grischenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Artem Kuzmin has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Kaluga will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market14 Dec 2026
Kaluga have let the market know Dmitry Yugaldin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout14 Dec 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 Kaluga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Yaroslav Sychev damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Market16 Nov 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 Kaluga, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Zakhar Kravtsov: 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.” Kaluga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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.
Loan watch16 Nov 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 Kaluga, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Kaluga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Krotov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Artem Kuzmin 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.
The dugout16 Nov 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 Kaluga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilja Grischenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kaluga lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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
Artem Kuzmin 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Bzikadze, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 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 Kaluga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Nov 2026
Daud Daliev linked with a move away
The name of Daud Daliev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kaluga say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Yaroslav Sychev damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
Alexey Polev 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 Kaluga can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at Kaluga: 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
237% of the income goes out in wages at Kaluga
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Lev Ivanushkin 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Kaluga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Krotov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ilja Grischenko
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ilja Grischenko has come out of that comparison in the side, and Kaluga have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zakhar Kravtsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Yaroslav Sychev damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Market19 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 ratings19 Oct 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Kaluga against Kuban
0‑1 to Kuban, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sergey Iljin 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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Rubin Yalta to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kaluga and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Vitaliy Vasilyev to a room that had heard them before.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sergey Krotov 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
Squad12 Oct 2026
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kaluga lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 Oct 2026
4‑0, and Ilja Grischenko took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Kaluga tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad12 Oct 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.79, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 21, Nikita Kuzin is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Kaluga have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergey Morozov 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. Vlad Smolnikov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match10 Oct 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ilja Grischenko in the middle of it, and Irtysh unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yaroslav Sychev
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kaluga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Torpedo Miass left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
323% of the income goes out in wages at Kaluga
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
Words exchanged at Kaluga
Sergey Iljin 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kaluga, another week without a signature from Rinat Shakerov.
The dugout5 Oct 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 1‑2 Vitaliy Vasilyev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sergey Krotov 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Kuzmin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Yaroslav Sychev damages knee ligaments — 91 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
Match28 Sep 2026
Kaluga up to position 2
16 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ilja Grischenko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Rodina 2, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Igor Sokolov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Kaluga
12 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Artem Kuzmin 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Sergey Krotov
“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
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yaroslav Sychev
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kaluga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Sep 2026
Kaluga say no — this time
The offer from Nosta for Rizvan Tashaev 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Sep 2026
Dinamo Vladivostok left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Rinat Shakerov
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Kaluga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Kuzmin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rinat Shakerov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kaluga needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kaluga lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 12 in, 5 out at Kaluga
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yakov Garin 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Kaluga have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match12 Sep 2026
Avangard made Kaluga work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ilja Grischenko at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kaluga.
Match14 Sep 2026
The half-term report on Kaluga
Position 1, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
In brief
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The dugout
Zakhar Kravtsov gets it from the manager
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Squad
A row about effort at Kaluga
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Yaroslav Sychev damages knee ligaments — 112 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ilja Grischenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nikita Kuzin is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Kaluga will try not to make too much of it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kaluga had all but put away. Murom will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Lev Ivanushkin 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 Sep 2026
Sergey Krotov 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Honours even between Kaluga and Murom
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
Yaroslav Sychev damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
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.
Match31 Aug 2026
Nobody above Kaluga
First, on 12 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Nikita Kuzin, 21, steals the show — 8.24
Marked 8.24 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
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.
Looking ahead31 Aug 2026
Top-of-the-table clash for Kaluga
Murom next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The formation has left Maxim Kononov behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kaluga will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yaroslav Sychev
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kaluga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Aug 2026
Spartak Tambov did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $75.0K for Ivan Bzikadze, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Aug 2026
Torpedo Miass left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Sergey Iljin 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rinat Shakerov, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 2026
A stepping stone, not a home, for Ivan Bzikadze
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Kaluga were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Vitaliy Vasilyev to a room that had heard them before.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Kaluga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Krotov 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
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
No mercy from Kaluga
Rodina 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Kaluga were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Nikita Kuzin takes the afternoon — 8.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikita Kuzin provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Kaluga and Rodina 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
KDV Tomsk wanted more than $14.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market10 Aug 2026
Zenit Penza pay $77.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Igor Sokolov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daud Daliev commits to Kaluga for another 4 years.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Gleb Bakharev scored one and made one — 7.80
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.80, and 2 involvements.
Squad3 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 Kaluga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Sergey Iljin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kaluga.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 23 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Yegor Lipaev again, and this time the name on the line is Angusht. Kaluga are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
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.
In brief
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Market
49 months and counting on Ilja Grischenko
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Squad
Kaluga are still strangers to each other
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Squad
Words at Kaluga training over how hard people work