From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.91 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Garrik Levin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market31 Aug 2026
Ruslan Bagaev 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 Chelyabinsk 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 Chelyabinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Luki-Energiya will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Artem Yegorov has pre-agreed a move to Chelyabinsk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Geovane Maranhão 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Chelyabinsk asked and Rubin Yalta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Denis Samoilov
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.64 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Garrik Levin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Roman Graschenkov has just signed for Chelyabinsk, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Kochiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Chelyabinsk asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Khetag Kochiev has his answer from Chelyabinsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Garrik Levin 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
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Garrik Levin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Kochiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 Aug 2026
A stepping stone, not a home, for Alexandr Tenyaev
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Chelyabinsk were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market17 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.37, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market17 Aug 2026
Chelyabinsk have let the market know Khetag Kochiev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Garrik Levin 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 Chelyabinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Yenisey, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 19 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anton Fedorov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Miroslav Zabolotsky is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Boris Rodionov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Evgeniy Mikheev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Ignatjev 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
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Chelyabinsk
A 1‑5 beating by Rodina was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market3 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Baba N'Diaye at 19 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Baba N'Diaye did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khetag Kochiev and Chelyabinsk agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Garrik Levin 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Baba N'Diaye among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Baba N'Diaye on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chelyabinsk and Rodina.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Khetag Kochiev 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolay Pridava, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.