Marked for Maksym Luniov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chornomorets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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 Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Kapliienko 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Three points for Chornomorets, 1‑0 the final word against Feniks in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kévin Diogo, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladyslav Kulach
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Maksym Luniov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Oleksandr Kapliienko 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Léo Schwechlen
“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 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vladyslav Kulach damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Oct 2026
Chornomorets refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Oleksandr Kapliienko 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vladyslav Herych 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Chornomorets 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
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladyslav Kulach
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladyslav Kulach
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Kapliienko 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 194% of everything Chornomorets 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.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kiril Popov 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Podillia made Chornomorets work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Léo Schwechlen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
7.56, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Chornomorets had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 48. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Vladyslav Kulach damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match28 Sep 2026
20 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Maksym Luniov 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Chernihiv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Schwechlen 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladyslav Kulach
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 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 Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuriy Romaniuk 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Baboye Traoré
“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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladyslav Kulach
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match12 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Oleksandr Kapliienko 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Aliou Thiaré 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Oleksiy Khoblenko 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 Chornomorets.
Squad14 Sep 2026
7 new faces, and Chornomorets 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
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 53. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladyslav Kulach
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Kapliienko 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.
Squad7 Sep 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 Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 23 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Chornomorets keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Maksym Luniov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chornomorets.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladyslav Kulach
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chornomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Aug 2026
Kudrivka ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market31 Aug 2026
Muhammed Jobe 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 Chornomorets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 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 Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Yuriy Romaniuk 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladyslav Herych 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Maksym Luniov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chornomorets.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Maksym Luniov at his very best
Marked 8.34. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chornomorets.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Maksym Luniov 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vitalii Farasieienko and Chornomorets agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Yuriy Romaniuk 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
UCSA made Chornomorets work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Maksym Luniov at his very best
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chornomorets.
Squad10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Muhammed Jobe has his answer from Chornomorets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
216 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maksym Koval and Chornomorets agree 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 Chornomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Chornomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Kapliienko 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 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Feniks, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
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
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.