Marked for Viktor Ziabko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Okzhetpes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitriy Borodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Viktor Ziabko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viktor Ziabko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Okzhetpes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Qobylandy Kamariden commits to Okzhetpes for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Okzhetpes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market30 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dmitriy Borodin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 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 Okzhetpes know it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandre Lopes 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“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
Market16 Nov 2026
Viktor Ziabko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Okzhetpes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitriy Borodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Léo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Okzhetpes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitriy Borodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lev Kurgin 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.
Market2 Nov 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Okzhetpes could get for him.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Viktor Ziabko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viktor Ziabko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Okzhetpes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Borodin 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.
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 Okzhetpes 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
The clock does Nūrğaini Böribaev’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Okzhetpes could ask drops and the wages Nūrğaini Böribaev can ask rise.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Ensebaev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Okzhetpes can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Viktor Ziabko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viktor Ziabko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Okzhetpes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Vasiliy Sovpel 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Borys Lototskyi 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Market21 Sep 2026
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Okzhetpes money.
Market21 Sep 2026
The market said no: Viktor Ziabko stays put
Okzhetpes opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Viktor Ziabko stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Viktor Ziabko 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 Okzhetpes can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
Viktor Ziabko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Viktor Ziabko has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dmitriy Borodin 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Okzhetpes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Akzhaiyk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad24 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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Aibol Orazov
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The clock does Nūrğaini Böribaev’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Okzhetpes could ask drops and the wages Nūrğaini Böribaev can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vasiliy Sovpel and Okzhetpes agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dmitriy Borodin 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aktobe have kept their man, and Okzhetpes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Viktor Ziabko
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Okzhetpes will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Spartak Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Shakhtar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Viktor Ziabko
7.32, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Okzhetpes had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.