Marked for Stefan Čolović
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 Jul 2029
“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.
Market2 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasaf is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nasaf hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Belts tighten at Nasaf
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Alibek Davronov 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 terraces2 Jul 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Bahodir Halilov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market2 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about Kosta Rakonić again, and this time the name on the line is IMT. Nasaf are listening politely and promising nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasaf is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” G'olib G'aybullayev and Nasaf agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Nasaf counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nasaf now.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Nasaf
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alibek Davronov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alibek Davronov, and the manager let it.
Match5 May 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 May 2029
A last season at home is what Stefan Čolović is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Inquest at Nasaf
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Apr 2029
Nasaf make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Nasaf have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Nasaf
Adenis Shala 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Nasaf is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Apr 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Naoaki Senaga’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Nasaf.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Ninety minutes of Naoaki Senaga at his very best
Marked 8.42. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Nasaf.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“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 Nasaf know it.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davronbek Usmonov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Mar 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Qizilqum, and it could have been more.
Market12 Mar 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasaf they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Mar 2029
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Adenis Shala 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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
The numbers do not look good at Nasaf
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Bobur Abdiholiqov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.44. 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Mar 2029
Qizilqum blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Qizilqum tried to reorganise, Nasaf did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Feb 2029
“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 Nasaf, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasaf this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“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 Nasaf know it.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bobur Abdiholiqov is on it.
Market26 Feb 2029
“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.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sardorbek Bahromov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Feb 2029
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Nasaf money.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Nasaf. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market26 Feb 2029
The name of Bahodir Halilov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nasaf say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Dec 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasaf they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market25 Dec 2028
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“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 Nasaf know it.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Nobody at Nasaf will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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 dugout25 Dec 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nasaf, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market25 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Davronbek Usmonov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Nov 2028
Nasaf out of the cup
Pakhtakor ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Alibek Davronov 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.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
Wages swallow 108% of the Nasaf 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
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 Nodir Akhmedov to a room that had heard them before.
Squad13 Nov 2028
4 Nasaf players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Nasaf pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Nasaf told Murodbek Rahmatov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Stefan Čolović
“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.
Market13 Nov 2028
The name of Bobur Abdiholiqov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nasaf say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nasaf may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Nasaf
Alibek Davronov 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Zeki Aliev gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Zeki Aliev has just signed for Nasaf, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“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 Nasaf know it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Nobody at Nasaf will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Boardroom23 Oct 2028
Nasaf counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nasaf now.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nasaf, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Oct 2028
Nasaf have let the market know Umarbek Eshmurodov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market23 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Davronbek Usmonov signs something — a contract at Nasaf or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasaf is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market11 Sep 2028
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nasaf hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Stefan Čolović 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 Nasaf know now that the thought has arrived.
Market11 Sep 2028
“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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nasaf, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Sep 2028
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Abduvohid Ne'matov: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match30 Aug 2028
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Bobur Abdiholiqov obliged against Navbahor. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Nasaf.
Market4 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shoxmalik Komilov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasaf the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nasaf may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Nasaf until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Asilbek No'monov 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Nasaf
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
The young player of the month award goes to a 22-year-old at Nasaf who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shortan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nasaf is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Aug 2028
Nasaf say no — this time
The offer from Western Sydney Wanderers for Yusuf Otubanjo 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.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“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.
Match19 Aug 2028
Nobody wants to play Nasaf right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Yusuf Otubanjo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Nasaf.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“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; Nasaf are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Marked 8.03 — 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.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shoxmalik Komilov, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 99% of everything Nasaf earn
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Zafarmurod Abdurahmatov gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nasaf people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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 ratings10 Jul 2028
Davronbek Usmonov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Up for the corner, and Sharof Muhiddinov delivers — 7.74
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sharof Muhiddinov scored, was marked 7.74, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Luka Chikhladze: 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.” Nasaf have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match8 Jul 2028
Whatever happens, Nasaf do not lose
6 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Nasaf
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alibek Davronov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasaf this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Jun 2028
Nasaf march on in the cup
Lokomotiv are out and Nasaf go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match14 Jun 2028
Nasaf march on in the cup
Lokomotiv are out and Nasaf go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nasaf people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“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.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Bahodir Halilov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad19 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasaf this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
Neftchi will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Rustambek Fomin has pre-agreed a move to Nasaf, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sabadell have kept their man, and Nasaf go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
A fracture rules Adenis Shala out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nasaf will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings8 May 2028
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.82 for the rest of it.
Market8 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vukašin Đorđević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasaf the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yusuf Otubanjo and Nasaf agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Tempers go at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Bahodir Halilov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bahodir Halilov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Stefan Čolović
“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 dugout8 May 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Match6 May 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Metallurg leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market17 Apr 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasaf this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Apr 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Nasaf and Obod in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match15 Apr 2028
It finished 4‑2, and it was Yusuf Otubanjo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Nasaf.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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 terraces17 Apr 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sardorbek Bahromov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“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 ratings17 Apr 2028
Ninety minutes of Adenis Shala at his very best
Marked 8.27. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Nasaf.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasaf they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
3 matches without a goal for Nasaf
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Naoaki Senaga 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Feb 2028
Javohir Husanov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Javohir Husanov has, at Nasaf, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market28 Feb 2028
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Nasaf hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Nasaf know which stage they are at.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Bahodir Halilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nasaf will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market28 Feb 2028
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Javohir Husanov is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Nasaf. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vukašin Đorđević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasaf the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Nasaf asked and Zlin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Nasaf
Naoaki Senaga 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“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 Nasaf know it.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Nobody at Nasaf will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market14 Feb 2028
“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.
Match14 Feb 2028
Nasaf have something to play for
Position 4 on 49 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market14 Feb 2028
The window shut and Sardorbek Bahromov is still in the building
Nasaf spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
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 Nasaf have had the benefit of it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo 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.
Market3 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: Pakhtakor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Guljigit Borubaev. The answer from Nasaf has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alibek Davronov 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Kingsley Sokari
“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 dugout3 Jan 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Open for business: Nasaf enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
Adenis Shala 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 Nasaf this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kingsley Sokari 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Čolović, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zafarmurod Abdurahmatov is on it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alibek Davronov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match20 Dec 2027
Nasaf in the hunt for Europe
Position 4, 49 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 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; Nasaf are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Murodbek Rahmatov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nasaf will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market13 Dec 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
Nasaf have let the market know Bahodir Halilov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Sardorbek Bahromov plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Stefan Čolović: 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.” Nasaf have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Oct 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 Nasaf this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Naoaki Senaga, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Alibek Davronov 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kingsley Sokari, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zafarmurod Abdurahmatov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Oct 2027
Nasaf finish in position 4
49 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Oct 2027
A bad afternoon for Nasaf against Lokomotiv
2‑3 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Umarbek Eshmurodov 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 dugout18 Oct 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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 2‑3 Nodir Akhmedov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Murodbek Rahmatov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nasaf will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The formation has left Luka Kekelidze behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Nasaf will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Adenis Shala 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Nasaf training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Umarbek Eshmurodov 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 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Alibek Davronov
“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.
Squad11 Oct 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; Nasaf are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nasaf, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Oct 2027
Nasaf have made Adenis Shala available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Looking ahead: the trip to Lokomotiv
Position 6 for the hosts, a long journey for the away end, and a fixture that will look ordinary on paper right up until it is not.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Sardorbek Bahromov has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest of it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Nasaf
Adenis Shala 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Nasaf
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alibek Davronov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bobur Abdiholiqov, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Stefan Čolović 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 Nasaf know now that the thought has arrived.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I watch every Nasaf game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sogdiana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
G'olib G'aybullayev 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Nasaf pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Nasaf
Yusuf Otubanjo 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 terraces9 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sardorbek Bahromov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match7 Aug 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Yusuf Otubanjo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Nasaf.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes of Sharof Muhiddinov at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Nasaf.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Nasaf can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout9 Aug 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 ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Aug 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.” Nodir Akhmedov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Murodbek Rahmatov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nasaf will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.