From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“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 watch26 Mar 2029
28 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch26 Mar 2029
“I did not go to Feniks to sit and watch. I want to come back to Shakhtar and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shakhtar , and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Shakhtar that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Feb 2029
The fee is $4.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Wolfsberger AC drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market26 Feb 2029
Kalmar FF come back empty-handedThe bid was some way short and Shakhtar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Feb 2029
The name of Nikolas Polster has come up in conversations Shakhtar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Prosper Obah 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.
Market26 Feb 2029
Veres are about to pick up the phoneA conversation is coming this week. Shakhtar will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Loan watch26 Feb 2029
28 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nazariy Matvienko and Shakhtar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch26 Feb 2029
“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 Shakhtar , and 3 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Pedrinho asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Feb 2029
Ambrosii Chachua : 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.” LNZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Feb 2029
58 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad5 Feb 2029
5 goals and a season average of 7.56. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market5 Feb 2029
Dynamo Kyiv are about to pick up the phoneA conversation is coming this week. LNZ will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad5 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Tymur Puzankov
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
$3.0M on the table at LNZ
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Match3 Feb 2029
Honours even between LNZ and Karpaty
2-2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market5 Feb 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Saikou Chorr has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at LNZ .
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Jan 2029
There were 9 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.
Market29 Jan 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“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.
Market29 Jan 2029
Eynel attracts admirersThe name of Eynel has come up in conversations LNZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match27 Jan 2029
Beaten 0-2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market29 Jan 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mor Siman-Tov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at LNZ .
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Jan 2029
Ibrahima Dabo has one foot out of the doorTerms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shakhtar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Kauã Elias is in the form of his lifeA season average of 7.58 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad22 Jan 2029
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for Oleksandr Balakai , and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Yehor Nazaryna
“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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Muhamadou Kanteh asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch22 Jan 2029
20 appearances at Zaglebie and the goals keep coming. Shakhtar are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Match20 Jan 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Kudrivka will be the happier side with the point.
Loan watch22 Jan 2029
23 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch22 Jan 2029
18 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market15 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what LNZ can pretend not to have heard.
Match15 Jan 2029
LNZ up to position 345 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match13 Jan 2029
LNZ cannot stop winning5 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Ihor Snurnitsyn : 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.” LNZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market15 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at LNZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match13 Jan 2029
Chornomorets made LNZ work for it, but the scoreboard read 2-0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A season average of 7.33 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Jan 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
There were 6 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.
Match30 Dec 2028
LNZ cannot stop winning3 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.
Match30 Dec 2028
Three points for LNZ , 2-1 the final word against Obolon in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A season average of 7.49 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Oleksii Palamarchuk will call it something else in private.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“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 terraces1 Jan 2029
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market1 Jan 2029
The name of Shota Nonikashvili keeps appearing in other people's back pages. LNZ say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match23 Dec 2028
Three points for LNZ , 1-0 the final word against Polissia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad25 Dec 2028
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Illia Moskovchenko , and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad25 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A season average of 7.31 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market25 Dec 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. LNZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Dec 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 17 matches without defeat is a foundation Shakhtar did not have in the autumn.
Market25 Dec 2028
Ibrahima Dabo has one foot out of the doorTerms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shakhtar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A season average of 7.53 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad25 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.
Match23 Dec 2028
A 2-2 draw with Dynamo Kyiv leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Loan watch25 Dec 2028
20 appearances at Metalist and the goals keep coming. Shakhtar are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Pedrinho finally opens his accountHe wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Shakhtar have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Market25 Dec 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Oleh Ocheretko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Valeriy Bondar asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Dec 2028
No end in sight to LNZ 's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at LNZ has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Eynel says LNZ went back on their word“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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Hennadii Pasich , and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Roman Didyk 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Nov 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Shakhtar did not have in the autumn.
Squad27 Nov 2028
9 goals and a season average of 7.79. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market27 Nov 2028
Ibrahima Dabo has one foot out of the doorTerms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shakhtar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alisson Alisson is carrying Shakhtar
Squad27 Nov 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Dmytro Riznyk lets one through his handsA defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Pedrinho knocks on the manager's door“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shakhtar , and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match25 Nov 2028
A 1-1 draw with Kolos leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Loan watch27 Nov 2028
18 appearances at Chornomorets and the goals keep coming. Shakhtar are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch27 Nov 2028
16 starts and a season average of 6.50. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad30 Oct 2028
Alisson is in the form of his lifeA season average of 7.68 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match28 Oct 2028
Shakhtar make it 3 in a rowMomentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Shakhtar have 3 straight wins of it.
Market30 Oct 2028
Ibrahima Dabo has one foot out of the doorTerms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shakhtar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alisson Alisson is in the form of his life
Squad30 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Dmytro Riznyk
“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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Three points for Shakhtar , 2-1 the final word against Chornomorets in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Nikita Kaliuzhnyi , and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Isaque asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch30 Oct 2028
12 starts and an average of 6.55. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
The terraces30 Oct 2028
The press cannot get enough of Oleh Ocheretko
Praise is not points and never has been. It is, however, the fastest way for a valuation to move, and everybody in the game reads the same pages.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Oct 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.
Squad23 Oct 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A season average of 7.37 with 2 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match21 Oct 2028
Honours even between LNZ and Karpaty
1-1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad23 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 LNZ , and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Oct 2028
Roman Didyk says LNZ went back on their word“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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad16 Oct 2028
99 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Roman Didyk Roman Didyk says LNZ went back on their word
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Oct 2028
LNZ up to position 221 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Oct 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten LNZ
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.
Match30 Sep 2028
A 2-0 win over Chornomorets , earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
LNZ and Kudrivka take a point apieceIt finished 1-1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market25 Sep 2028
Experience through the door at LNZ
Matías Morales arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Artur Mykytyshyn asks for a word with the manager“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market25 Sep 2028
The name of Oleksandr Drambaiev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. LNZ say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad25 Sep 2028
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Baton Zabërgja keeps the shirt for now, at LNZ 's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Sep 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4-1 against Obolon , and it could have been more.
Match16 Sep 2028
LNZ make it 4 in a rowMomentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now LNZ have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The medical room confirms 130 days on the sidelines for Hennadii Pasich , and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Mor Siman-Tov
“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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad18 Sep 2028
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. LNZ have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Heorhii Sudakov and Shakhtar agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Shakhtar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Marlon Shakhtar turn down Botosani for Marlon
Market10 Jul 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 Shakhtar hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market10 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Shakhtar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market10 Jul 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Shakhtar will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shakhtar can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jun 2028
Feniks come back empty-handedThe bid was some way short and Shakhtar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marlon Gomes commits to Shakhtar for another 4 years.
Market19 Jun 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Shakhtar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market19 Jun 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Shakhtar will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad19 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Feb 2028
Shakhtar up to position 158 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Kauã Elias is the real thing at 21A season average of 7.91 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Shakhtar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Alisson is in the form of his lifeA season average of 7.77 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market14 Feb 2028
Nyva come back empty-handedThe bid was some way short and Shakhtar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shakhtar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market14 Feb 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Shakhtar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match12 Feb 2028
A 2-0 win over Chornomorets , earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Muhamadou Kanteh will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jun 2027
Jablonec come back empty-handedThe bid was some way short and Shakhtar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jun 2027
Oleh Ocheretko wants to know where this is going“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 Shakhtar hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market14 Jun 2027
A conversation is coming this week. Shakhtar will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Nika Gagnidze joins up with his country. Shakhtar lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Shakhtar that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Dmytro Kryskiv joins up with his country. Shakhtar lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.