From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 24 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Sep 2026
Add another name to the list: Spartak Kostroma have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aleksa Đurasović. The answer from Akron has not changed — yet.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Dzyuba, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The spotlight tightens on Artem Dzyuba
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Roberto Fernández keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
316% of the income goes out in wages at Akron
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Artem Dzyuba. 1‑0 against Lokomotiv Moscow, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Akron had the best player on the pitch.
Market7 Sep 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kevin Arévalo has his answer from Akron; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Akron
5 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $200.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Arsenal Tula drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Artem Dzyuba 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Vitaly Gudiev
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Akron come up short against Rubin
Rubin left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market31 Aug 2026
At 38, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market31 Aug 2026
Akron have let the market know Khetag Khosonov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Akron's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Akron has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Artem Dzyuba 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Baltika left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Morozov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 4.10, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I want to play”: Nazar Makeev speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Artem Dzyuba 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
Yomar Rocha has left for Rostov in a $610.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings17 Aug 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Krasnodar left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.95, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Akron, and it is a cruel one.
Market17 Aug 2026
Akron have made Vitaly Gudiev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Akron have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roberto Fernández and Akron agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Artem Dzyuba 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Aug 2026
Orenburg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
A hiding for Akron
Beaten 0‑3 by CSKA Moscow, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market3 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 Akron can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 22 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artem Dzyuba commits to Akron for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Akron
Artem Dzyuba 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Artem Dzyuba
“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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Akron dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.