Marked for Marko Janković
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market18 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Qarabag know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Kady Borges 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Sondre Tronstad
“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 watch11 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Fatih Karagumruk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Qarabag and fight for my place.” 12 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Qarabag that is a harder question to answer.
Market11 Jan 2027
Qarabag have made Pedro Bicalho available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Dec 2026
Qarabag up to position 2
32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qarabag may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Kady Borges 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
Upbeat
Match2 Dec 2026
Qarabag through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Ravan, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market7 Dec 2026
Pedro Bicalho 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 Qarabag can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Qarabag do not lose
13 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 9.10 — 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
No place for Pedro Bicalho on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Qarabag pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qarabag may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Kady Borges 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Sondre Tronstad
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Qarabag get the job done against Ravan
A 2‑0 win over Ravan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Uerdi Mara
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.58, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Oleksiy Kashchuk
3 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Qarabag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Uerdi Mara runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Qarabag, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Shots: 4, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.