Marked for Luis Colmenarez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Lida will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kirill Chernyak has pre-agreed a move to Smorgon, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Luis Colmenarez 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
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ostrovets will make the call about Artem Stankevich this week. Smorgon have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nobody at Smorgon 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Alfred Mazurich obliged against Minsk. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Smorgon.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rodion Kukhley has agreed terms with Arsenal Dzerzhinsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Rolf Feltscher 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Timofey Khomanko has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Smorgon have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alexandr Karnitskiy 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Dinamo Minsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Luis Colmenarez
“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 ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Alfred Mazurich obliged against Orsha. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Smorgon.
Squad17 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 Smorgon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Belshina will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Timur Galimzyanov has pre-agreed a move to Smorgon, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Smorgon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Dukso 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 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alfred Mazurich 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Frank Fuentes
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Smorgon know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
7.83, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Smorgon had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.