Marked for Taras Stepanenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Taras Stepanenko
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kolos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 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 Kolos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
45 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Kolos training over how hard people work
-
Loan watch
Decision time nears on Daniil Khrypchuk
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 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 Kolos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kolos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Kolos
Taras Stepanenko 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
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kolos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Ardit Tahiri: 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.” Kolos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Arinaldo Rrapaj, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market8 Feb 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
25 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market8 Feb 2027
So close: Ardit Tahiri’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. FC Nantes moved on, Ardit Tahiri reports back to Kolos, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad8 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 Kolos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Kolos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yurii Klymchuk 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Anton Salabai’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kolos.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Kolos
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market1 Feb 2027
Obolon come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kolos did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Kolos
Taras Stepanenko 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Kolos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Gagnidze 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Polissia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luka Stankovski. The answer from Kolos has not changed — yet.
Match30 Jan 2027
Karpaty left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Feb 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
Crisis
Market4 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kolos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Kolos
Anton Salabai 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
1‑3 to Dynamo Kyiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrii Poniedielnik, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Gabriel Robledo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Mykyta Burda out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kolos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Yurii Klymchuk takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yurii Klymchuk provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kolos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Kolos
Taras Stepanenko 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Kolos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Gagnidze 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 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yurii Klymchuk. 2‑0 against Veres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Kolos's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kolos has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mykyta Burda breaks a bone — 47 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kolos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Kolos
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Kolos
Anton Salabai 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Kolos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eneko Satrústegui 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“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; Kolos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Kolos
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Mykyta Burda out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kolos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad16 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 Kolos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Kolos
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Kolos did not have in the autumn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nika Gagnidze 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Kolos
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kolos can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Nika Gagnidze
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Kolos's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kolos has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Iván Tello runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mykyta Burda breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match4 Nov 2026
Kolos out of the cup
Prykarpattia ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Valentyn Morhun: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Viktor Tryhub: 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.” Kolos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Kolos
Anton Salabai 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
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Kolos
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Kolos are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mykyta Burda breaks a bone — 72 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 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 Kolos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Arinaldo Rrapaj was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Eneko Satrústegui 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
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Kolos
Taras Stepanenko 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 Sep 2026
Yurii Klymchuk 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad14 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Kolos against Metalist
0‑1 to Metalist, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Market14 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kolos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Artem Husol obliged against Chernihiv. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Kolos.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market31 Aug 2026
Zorya come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kolos did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Taras Stepanenko, 37, rolls back the years — 7.91
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Elias Telles pops up at the right end — 7.87
7.87, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
26 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Viktor Tryhub again, and this time the name on the line is Livyi Bereh. Kolos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Elias Telles 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 Kolos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolos can pretend not to have heard.
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 Kolos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nika Gagnidze 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.
Squad24 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Taras Stepanenko, 37, rolls back the years — 7.91
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market10 Aug 2026
Kolos say no — this time
The offer from Livyi Bereh for Daniil Khrypchuk 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arinaldo Rrapaj and Kolos agree another 3 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Kolos
Anton Salabai 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Elias Telles was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Arinaldo Rrapaj
“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.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Epicentr, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Taras Stepanenko commits to Kolos for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Dmytro Matsapura has come up in conversations Kolos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.69 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anton Salabai, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Artem Cheliadin 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
Nobody at Kolos has picked up the phone to Nika Gagnidze
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.