Marked for Joel Kojo
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 May 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 Navbahor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 May 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 Navbahor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 May 2027
The drought breaks for Navbahor
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Kokand 1912 were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match22 May 2027
Three points for Navbahor, 1‑0 the final word against Kokand 1912 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Marked 8.21 — 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.67, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Otabek Ahadov
“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 ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.” Jasur Abdullaev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 May 2027
5 matches without a win for Navbahor
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Navbahor are no longer polite ones.
Match15 May 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market17 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zafarbek Rahimjonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Navbahor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match15 May 2027
The goals have deserted Navbahor
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Navbahor can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout17 May 2027
Joel Kojo 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.
Match15 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“I did not go to Pakhtakor to sit and watch. I want to come back to Navbahor and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
The dugout17 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad17 May 2027
Shoxmalik Komilov 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
Upbeat
Market19 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Navbahor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match17 Apr 2027
Whatever happens, Navbahor do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Navbahor
Giorgi Jgerenaia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I watch every Navbahor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pakhtakor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match17 Apr 2027
It needed Alex Fernandes to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Sogdiana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muslimbek Habibullayev, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Navbahor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shoxmalik Komilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Mar 2027
The cup run ends for Navbahor
1‑1 against Kokand 1912, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match3 Apr 2027
Metallurg will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Navbahor were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad5 Apr 2027
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Diyor Xolmatov 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Navbahor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Diyor Xolmatov at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Navbahor.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Wages eat 86% of everything Navbahor 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Mar 2027
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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Jasurbek Jaloliddinov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Navbahor
Otabek Ahadov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every Navbahor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nasaf runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.” Jasur Abdullaev kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Shoxmalik Komilov 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Vanja Ilić: 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.” Navbahor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Navbahor moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Jasur Abdullaev, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joel Kojo and Navbahor agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Navbahor
Husain Norchayev 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
2 academy graduates step up at Navbahor
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Navbahor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match6 Mar 2027
Obod made Navbahor work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout8 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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 Navbahor know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Navbahor
Husain Norchayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Benjamin Teidi wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Navbahor know now that the thought has arrived.
Market1 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Husain Norchayev signs something — a contract at Navbahor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Navbahor has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market1 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vanja Ilić may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: Obod at home
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The dugout
The manager comes out for Joel Kojo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zafarbek Rahimjonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Navbahor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Feb 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 Navbahor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Husain Norchayev is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Navbahor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shoxmalik Komilov 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
The name of Ruslanbek Jiyanov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Navbahor say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jasurbek Jaloliddinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Feb 2027
Atyrau did not take him to make up a number: they want him playing. For Petar Antonić that is worth more than another season of watching from Navbahor's bench, and everyone involved has said so out loud.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Joel Kojo is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Mashal had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Husain Norchayev 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
No hiding place for Joel Kojo
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joel Kojo, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A promise honoured at Navbahor
Something was said to Joel Kojo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Navbahor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nasaf runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market15 Feb 2027
Joel Kojo linked with a move away
The name of Joel Kojo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Navbahor say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Navbahor has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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
Window shut, Vanja Ilić still here
Navbahor spent the window trying to move Vanja Ilić on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Navbahor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Muhammadali G'iyosov has come up in conversations Navbahor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Navbahor
Otabek Ahadov 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Husain Norchayev's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 87% of the Navbahor income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Navbahor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shoxmalik Komilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Joel Kojo 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 Navbahor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mashal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Navbahor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Husain Norchayev 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Valijon Rahimov has left for Bukhara in a $77.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mashal have kept their man, and Navbahor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Joel Kojo 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 Navbahor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market18 Jan 2027
Joel Kojo linked with a move away
The name of Joel Kojo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Navbahor say nothing, which says plenty.
Market18 Jan 2027
Navbahor have made Asadbek Rahimjonov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The move was somebody else's story. What it left behind was a dressing-room stall nobody has taken and a player who keeps looking at it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Navbahor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
No hiding place for Joel Kojo
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joel Kojo, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Otabek Ahadov 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 Dec 2026
Otabek Ahadov slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Otabek Ahadov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Anri Chichinadze 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Joel Kojo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
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 Navbahor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Navbahor know it.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 168% of the Navbahor income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Navbahor are still strangers to each other
5 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 dugout30 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
Squad9 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Navbahor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Navbahor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navbahor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Navbahor
Husain Norchayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Shakhter to sit and watch. I want to come back to Navbahor and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Benjamin Teidi 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 Navbahor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Joel Kojo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
O'tkir Yusupov joins up with his country. Navbahor lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Navbahor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 168% of everything Navbahor 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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Navbahor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zhetysu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Husain Norchayev's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Navbahor
Muslimbek Habibullayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Benjamin Teidi 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 Navbahor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Quvondiq Ro'ziyev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Navbahor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market26 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navbahor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Navbahor
Saidazamat Mirsaidov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jasurbek Jaloliddinov, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 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 Navbahor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Navbahor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad26 Oct 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Navbahor the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager plants his flag on Joel Kojo
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Joel Kojo’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Navbahor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Navbahor
Zabihillo O'rinboyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
Pakhtakor left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Teidi
“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 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Jasur Abdullaev to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Joel Kojo 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Navbahor lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Nobody at Navbahor 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Navbahor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Muhammadali Usmonov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Navbahor the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Muhammadkarim Toirov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Navbahor
18 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Shakhter to sit and watch. I want to come back to Navbahor and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islombek Mamatkazin, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Joel Kojo 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 Navbahor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
The leaders are next for Navbahor
Pakhtakor top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ruslanbek Jiyanov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Navbahor needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Benjamin Teidi: 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.” Navbahor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Joel Kojo to Dinamo Minsk has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Navbahor with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Match12 Sep 2026
Navbahor cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Navbahor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Fernandes. 1‑0 against Kokand 1912, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
18 new faces, and Navbahor are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 16 in, 11 out at Navbahor
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bukhara moved on, Isroiljon Tursunboyev reports back to Navbahor, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market7 Sep 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 Navbahor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joyce Katulondi has agreed terms with Lokomotiv for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Navbahor
Saidazamat Mirsaidov 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Navbahor will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market7 Sep 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Navbahor have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Navbahor than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 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. Navbahor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market31 Aug 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 Navbahor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
Lokomotiv made Navbahor work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Navbahor
Muhammadkarim Toirov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.52 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Navbahor had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout31 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.” Jasur Abdullaev, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Navbahor know which stage they are at.
Market31 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Navbahor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against AGMK, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Both of them Joel Kojo's — 8.48
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 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 Navbahor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Navbahor say no — this time
The offer from Shakhter for Otabek Ahadov 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Navbahor — 7.49
1 for Benjamin Teidi, marked 7.49, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market24 Aug 2026
Navbahor spend $200.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $200.0K has been paid because Muhammadkarim Toirov is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market24 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Navbahor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Navbahor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 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.” Jasur Abdullaev, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
4‑0, and Husain Norchayev took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Navbahor tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Husain Norchayev, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Neftchi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Husain Norchayev commits to Navbahor for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Joel Kojo 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Navbahor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Husain Norchayev 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
10 combined actions and 7.20. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Ruslanbek Jiyanov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.