Chernomorets U21

26 Sep 2027
Sunday
Process
60 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev 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.

Market

Alexey Baev puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Real improvement from Matvey Fedorov at Chernomorets

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matvey Fedorov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Transfer targets

Marat Atipov turns down Chernomorets

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lokomotiv Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

4 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.

The dugout

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Match

The goals have deserted Chernomorets

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chernomorets can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Konovalov 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.

In brief

Back issues
59 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Zaurbek Pliev out for 43 days

43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Chernomorets taken apart

0‑3 to Volga, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market

Magomed Abakarov 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 18 in, 1 out at Chernomorets

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Chernomorets rebuffed over Mamadou Maïga

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nizhniy Novgorod have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Chernomorets cannot find the net

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.

In brief

58 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 50 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Wandinho out for 17 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

A hiding for Chernomorets

Beaten 0‑3 by SKA Khabarovsk, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Igor Konovalov asks to leave Chernomorets

“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.

Market

Milton Blanco has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Mamadou Maïga rejects the move

Chernomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Nizhniy Novgorod, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

The dugout

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Player ratings

Anton Antonov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

57 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Zaurbek Pliev

57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Wandinho breaks a bone — 24 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

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Market

Bandar Al Kamali is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chernomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Transfer targets

Maxim Khokhlov turns down Chernomorets

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zenit keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Konovalov 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.

Match

KAMAZ take the points off Chernomorets

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

56 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Zaurbek Pliev

64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

31 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

Chernomorets end the wait against Ufa

It had gone 14 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Market

Chernomorets turn down Sillamae Kalev for Igor Konovalov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The dugout

Kirill Suslov: 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.” Chernomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

The dugout

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Transfer targets

No thanks: Marat Atipov rejects the move

Chernomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiv Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Marat Atipov

Chernomorets asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

55 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

14 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.

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 71 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.

Squad

38 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Magomed Abakarov puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Chernomorets

8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Vladislav Rudenko rejects the move

Chernomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Volga, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Mamadou Maïga

Chernomorets asked and Nizhniy Novgorod said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

54 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Zaurbek Pliev

78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Wandinho breaks a bone — 45 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Chernomorets

A 0‑5 beating by Nizhniy Novgorod was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Igor Konovalov 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili keeps Chernomorets in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Chernomorets

7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Mamadou Maïga rejects the move

Chernomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Nizhniy Novgorod, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Market

Only the photograph left for Milton Blanco

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milton Blanco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.

In brief

53 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Zaurbek Pliev out for 85 days

85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

52 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili stands alone

10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Chernomorets

A 0‑4 beating by Ural was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Alexey Baev 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

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Boardroom

Chernomorets told to sell

The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.

Match

Chernomorets leaking at the back

6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

In brief

52 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 92 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili keeps Chernomorets in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

11 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.

Squad

Wandinho breaks a bone — 59 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Chernomorets

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

The terraces

The mood at Chernomorets has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

The dugout

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Boardroom

Igor Atamanskiy signs for Spartak Kostroma while still at Chernomorets

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Igor Atamanskiy has agreed terms with Spartak Kostroma for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Transfer targets

An offer of $130.0K for Marat Atipov

Chernomorets have gone to Lokomotiv Moscow with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

In brief

51 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 99 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.

Squad

66 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Vladislav Rudenko rejects the move

Chernomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Volga, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Chernomorets

1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Transfer targets

Rotor tell Chernomorets: Alexandr Khubulov is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Chernomorets

4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

In brief

50 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 106 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.

Squad

73 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Bandar Al Kamali asks to leave Chernomorets

“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.

Market

Milton Blanco has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Vladislav Faskhutdinov turns down Chernomorets

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Salyut keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Chernomorets lose Luka Kudryashov

17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mikhail Zabotkin

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Zabotkin, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

96% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets

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.

In brief

49 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 113 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.

Squad

80 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Alexey Baev asks to leave Chernomorets

“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.

Transfer targets

$39.0K settles it between the clubs for Matvey Fedorov

Nizhniy Novgorod have accepted the money. What Chernomorets do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

The dugout

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Market

Chernomorets say no — this time

The offer from KDV Tomsk for Maxim Matyusha was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Bandar Al Kamali is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chernomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Boardroom

Bandar Al Kamali signs for SKA Khabarovsk while still at Chernomorets

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bandar Al Kamali has agreed terms with SKA Khabarovsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

In brief

48 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Zaurbek Pliev

120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

87 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Chernomorets

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chernomorets is running low.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Chernomorets board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Milton Blanco 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

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Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Timur Alikberov at Chernomorets

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Timur Alikberov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Ulvi Babaev

Chernomorets asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

47 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev damages knee ligaments — 127 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.

Squad

Wandinho breaks a bone — 94 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Chernomorets are in real trouble now

Position 18, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Igor Konovalov asks to leave Chernomorets

“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.

Market

Maxim Matyusha says no to Uralets-TS

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Maxim Matyusha had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Igor Konovalov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Chernomorets rebuffed over Anton Shamonin

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rostov have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

Kirill Suslov 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.

In brief

46 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Zaurbek Pliev out for 134 days

134 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chernomorets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Wandinho breaks a bone — 102 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

David Ben-Lulu 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Milton Blanco

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milton Blanco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chernomorets the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Igor Konovalov 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.

Market

Radomir Chugunov steps up from the Chernomorets academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Radomir Chugunov 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 101% of everything Chernomorets 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.

Market

Bandar Al Kamali told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bandar Al Kamali has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Chernomorets.

In brief

45 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Zaurbek Pliev

141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chernomorets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Wandinho breaks a bone — 109 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

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Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Ivan Chesnakov at Chernomorets

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ivan Chesnakov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Market

No place for Zaurbek Pliev in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Zaurbek Pliev has his answer from Chernomorets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

44 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Wandinho out for 117 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Chernomorets

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

The terraces

The mood at Chernomorets has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Market

Daniel Budimir asks to leave Chernomorets

“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.

The dugout

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Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Igor Konovalov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Zhigulev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

David Ben-Lulu wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Chernomorets know it.

The dugout

Georgy Natabashvili knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Georgy Natabashvili trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

43 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Wandinho breaks a bone — 125 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Chernomorets are in real trouble now

Position 18, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Igor Konovalov 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Stepan Melnikov 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Zhigulev 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 dugout

Kirill Suslov 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.

The dugout

Zaurbek Pliev 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 Chernomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Igor Konovalov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Igor Konovalov signs something — a contract at Chernomorets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Kirill Gusyev gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kirill Gusyev is on it.

In brief

42 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

132 days out for Wandinho after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chernomorets will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Alexey Baev puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Zaur Tarba says Chernomorets 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.

Market

Milton Blanco has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Igor Konovalov 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 dugout

Mikhail Zabotkin 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.

Boardroom

109% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets

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.

The dugout

Alexey Baev knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Baev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

41 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Wandinho out for 139 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Kirill Suslov: 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.” Chernomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Stepan Melnikov 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Market

One of our own: Tikhon Samoylov joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tikhon Samoylov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Loan watch

Timur Alikberov wants to come home

“I did not go to Textilschik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chernomorets and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 35 matches say the rest.

The dugout

When it matters, Anton Antonov plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Alexey Baev 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.

Market

The Magomed Abakarov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Magomed Abakarov signs something — a contract at Chernomorets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

40 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Wandinho out for 147 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Chernomorets

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chernomorets is running low.

Boardroom

Valery Dzyuba has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chernomorets can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Chernomorets board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

The dugout

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Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Stepan Melnikov 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.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 dugout

Zaur Tarba 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.

The dugout

The manager's exit leaves Ilja Zhigulev exposed

Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ilja Zhigulev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.

In brief

39 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Wandinho out for 155 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chernomorets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Chernomorets are in real trouble now

Position 18, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Antonov 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 dugout

Ivan Chesnakov 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 Chernomorets, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

When it matters, Kirill Gusyev plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Mikhail Zabotkin has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mikhail Zabotkin has written the date down.

Market

The Igor Konovalov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Igor Konovalov signs something — a contract at Chernomorets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

Chernomorets put Milton Blanco up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Milton Blanco may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

38 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Daniel Budimir puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chernomorets, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Milton Blanco has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Boardroom

Milton Blanco has agreed to leave Chernomorets for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Magomed Abakarov 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Zhigulev 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 dugout

No hiding place for Georgy Natabashvili

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Georgy Natabashvili, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

91% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets

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.

Squad

5 new faces, and Chernomorets 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.

The dugout

Ivan Chesnakov knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Chesnakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

37 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Igor Konovalov 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Magomed Abakarov 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Zhigulev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

One of our own: Nazar Chkalov joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nazar Chkalov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

No hiding place for Zaurbek Pliev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaurbek Pliev, and the manager let it.

Squad

Daniel Budimir wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chernomorets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Loan watch

Timur Alikberov has seen enough of Textilschik

“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 Chernomorets, and 5 appearances in 31 say he has earned the hearing.

Squad

A last season at home is what Daniel Budimir is after

It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Anton Antonov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Chernomorets 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.

In brief

36 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Alexey Baev 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Wandinho stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Wandinho and Chernomorets agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

David Ben-Lulu wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chernomorets can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

Zaurbek Pliev 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.

In brief

35 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Chernomorets are in real trouble now

Position 18, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Magomed Abakarov 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

Milton Blanco wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Chernomorets know it.

The dugout

Alexey Baev knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Baev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Kirill Gusyev gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kirill Gusyev is on it.

Market

The shop window has Alexey Baev in it

Chernomorets have let the market know Alexey Baev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

The dugout

A door opens for Mikhail Zabotkin

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Market

The Kirill Morozov talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chernomorets know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

34 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Alexey Baev keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chernomorets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Stepan Melnikov 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Boardroom

96% of the income goes out in wages at Chernomorets

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.

The dugout

Yegor Ushakov gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yegor Ushakov is on it.

Loan watch

5 goals on loan for Dmitry Yakovlev

16 appearances at Sibir and the goals keep coming. Chernomorets are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

The dugout

Mikhail Zabotkin has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mikhail Zabotkin has written the date down.

Market

The Igor Konovalov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Igor Konovalov signs something — a contract at Chernomorets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Maxim Yurin 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.

In brief

33 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Igor Konovalov 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Zaur Tarba keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chernomorets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Transfer targets

Marat Atipov will not be coming to Chernomorets

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Chernomorets is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Loan watch

Timur Alikberov counts the days

“I watch every Chernomorets game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Textilschik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Wandinho

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chernomorets told Wandinho something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

Squad

Chernomorets are still strangers to each other

5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kirill Suslov

“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.

In brief

32 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

9 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.

Market

Alexey Baev 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilja Zhigulev and Chernomorets agree another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Match

Stepan Melnikov’s goal not enough for Chernomorets

Stepan Melnikov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Sokol, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Anton Antonov 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.

Market

Fedor Zimnin steps up from the Chernomorets academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fedor Zimnin 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.

Market

One of our own: Nil Drozdov joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nil Drozdov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

31 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chernomorets sink to position 18

14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Chernomorets

A 1‑5 beating by Neftekhimik was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Match

8 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Chernomorets until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

6 goals as Chernomorets and Neftekhimik go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chernomorets and Neftekhimik, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

Wandinho 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 dugout

Wandinho 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.

Looking ahead

Everything rides on Sokol

Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Chernomorets know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.

In brief

30 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Wandinho scores twice — 8.97

Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Wandinho’s goal not enough for Chernomorets

Wandinho scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Spartak Kostroma, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Match

Wandinho among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Wandinho on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chernomorets and Spartak Kostroma.

Squad

Anton Antonov 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Denis Rubanov

Chernomorets asked and Dinamo Stavropol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Yegor Ushakov at his very best

Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Chernomorets.

The dugout

No hiding place for Zaurbek Pliev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaurbek Pliev, and the manager let it.

In brief

29 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

6 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Transfer targets

Marat Atipov will not be coming to Chernomorets

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lokomotiv Moscow is saying, and nobody at Chernomorets is enjoying the guessing.

Transfer targets

Artur Garibyan due for a Chernomorets medical

Everything agreed with Rodina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad

Magomed Abakarov 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Match

Chernomorets cannot find the net

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.

Transfer targets

Chernomorets rebuffed over Alexey Skvortsov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metallurg have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Chelyabinsk take the points off Chernomorets

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

28 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Not going: Maxim Matyusha stays at Chernomorets

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dinamo Bryansk had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Maxim Rudakov rejects the move

Chernomorets had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Orenburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Transfer targets

Ulvi Babaev is a medical away from Chernomorets

The deal with Dinamo Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Match

Chernomorets leaking at the back

5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Player ratings

Stepan Melnikov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Vladislav Faskhutdinov

Chernomorets asked and Salyut said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wandinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

27 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Chernomorets

Position 18 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Match

Chernomorets taken apart

0‑4 to Rodina, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market

Tobol come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Chernomorets did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Maxim Matyusha stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Transfer targets

Chernomorets agree $410.0K for Maxim Rudakov

The clubs have shaken hands with Orenburg; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Chernomorets beat the market to Stepan Burdakov from SKA Khabarovsk

SKA Khabarovsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Stepan Burdakov has pre-agreed a move to Chernomorets, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

26 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Chernomorets throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Ural the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Chernomorets will enjoy reviewing.

Squad

7 saves: Maxim Matyusha was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Milton Blanco 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 Chernomorets can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Maxim Khalilov: 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.” Chernomorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Anton Antonov 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 dugout

No hiding place for Georgy Natabashvili

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Georgy Natabashvili, and the manager let it.

Squad

Home is on Milton Blanco's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chernomorets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Player ratings

Stepan Melnikov in the eights

A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

25 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Magomed Abakarov 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Chernomorets beat the market to Ilja Glebov from Rubin Yalta

Rubin Yalta will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ilja Glebov has pre-agreed a move to Chernomorets, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandinho 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.

Match

Chernomorets come up short against Torpedo Moscow

Torpedo Moscow left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Mikhail Zabotkin

“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.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Georgy Natabashvili

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Georgy Natabashvili.

Loan watch

Timur Alikberov wants to come home

“I did not go to Textilschik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chernomorets and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Georgy Natabashvili

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

In brief

24 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Maxim Matyusha keeps Chernomorets in it on his own

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Player ratings

Anton Antonov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Boardroom

Chernomorets beat the market to Albert Naniev from Rubin Yalta

Rubin Yalta will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Albert Naniev has pre-agreed a move to Chernomorets, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Antonov 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Chernomorets against Shinnik

0‑2 to Shinnik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

One of our own: Maksim Smolov joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Maksim Smolov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

Georgy Natabashvili dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

23 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Chernomorets end the wait against Volga

It had gone 22 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Match

Chernomorets sink to position 17

13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

7 saves: Maxim Matyusha was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

The dugout

Kirill Suslov says Chernomorets 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.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Antonov 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.

Match

Chernomorets see off Volga

Three points for Chernomorets, 2‑1 the final word against Volga in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

A step back for Maxim Yurin at Chernomorets

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

In brief

22 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

22 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.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wandinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 138% of the Chernomorets income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

Match

SKA Khabarovsk take the points off Chernomorets

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Looking ahead

Chernomorets face Volga in the game that matters most

Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Zaur Tarba

“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.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

21 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

21 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 36. 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.

Boardroom

Chernomorets beat the market to Ibrahim Ajasa from Rostov

Rostov will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ibrahim Ajasa has pre-agreed a move to Chernomorets, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Squad

Anton Antonov 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 dugout

Danil Krot 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.

Loan watch

Timur Alikberov wants to come home

“I did not go to Textilschik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Chernomorets and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.

Player ratings

Anton Krachkovskiy stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.53 on the card, and the Chernomorets support went home talking about one name.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Bogdan Sheiko 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.

The dugout

Anton Antonov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Chernomorets 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

20 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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Georgy Natabashvili

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.

Match

Chernomorets are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov was unplayable

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Match

Chernomorets come up short against Ufa

Ufa left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wandinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Sergey Chekhov steps up from the Chernomorets academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergey Chekhov 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.

Market

Platon Maltsev steps up from the Chernomorets academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Platon Maltsev 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.

In brief

19 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

19 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.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Chernomorets

Position 18 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Chernomorets

0‑3 against Chaika, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Player ratings

Anton Antonov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Chernomorets are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandinho 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 dugout

No hiding place for Mikhail Zabotkin

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Zabotkin, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Chernomorets 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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

18 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Chernomorets — 7.62

1 for Igor Konovalov, marked 7.62, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Squad

Stepan Melnikov 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

6 goals as Chernomorets and Rotor go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chernomorets and Rotor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Match

Igor Konovalov’s goal not enough for Chernomorets

Igor Konovalov scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Rotor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Chernomorets

4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

The dugout

Krasian Kolev 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 133% of the Chernomorets income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout When it matters, Yegor Ushakov plays
  • Player ratings Yegor Ushakov beats them one at a time
17 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

A hiding for Chernomorets

Beaten 0‑5 by Fakel, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

The cup run ends for Chernomorets

1‑2 against Torpedo Moscow, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili keeps Chernomorets in it on his own

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandinho 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 ratings

Anton Antonov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 19. 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Zaurbek Pliev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaurbek Pliev, and the manager let it.

Match

Halfway: Chernomorets sit in position 18

9 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

In brief

  • Boardroom Nobody left the Chernomorets dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout The manager has not finished forgetting Magomed Abakarov's mistake
16 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Chernomorets

15 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.

Match

A hiding for Chernomorets

Beaten 0‑3 by Arsenal Tula, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Chernomorets

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wandinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Zaur Tarba

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaur Tarba, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Chernomorets

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valery Dzyuba after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Krasian Kolev knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Krasian Kolev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

15 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Chernomorets are in real trouble now

Position 17, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Player ratings

Anton Antonov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Chernomorets cannot find the net

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.

Squad

Anton Antonov 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 dugout

Vlad Zimnin 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.

Squad

Chernomorets are still strangers to each other

5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Player ratings

Anton Krachkovskiy was the difference for Chernomorets

Marked 7.30. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

In brief

14 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

13 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Chernomorets

A 0‑4 beating by Neftekhimik was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wandinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Mikhail Zabotkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 133% of the Chernomorets income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mikhail Zabotkin

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Zabotkin, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Chernomorets 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.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Valery Dzyuba to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

A long afternoon for Georgy Natabashvili

Beaten 4 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.

In brief

13 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

A hiding for Chernomorets

Beaten 0‑4 by Spartak Kostroma, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili keeps Chernomorets in it on his own

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wandinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Wandinho

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wandinho, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Chernomorets

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

Georgy Natabashvili 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.

In brief

12 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

11 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Chernomorets hit back inside 4 minutes

Chelyabinsk held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Chernomorets answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kirill Suslov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Suslov, and the manager let it.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Chernomorets

Something was said to Yegor Ushakov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

Match

Chernomorets and Chelyabinsk take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valery Dzyuba after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

11 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

10 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Match

Chernomorets sink to position 17

7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Player ratings

Anton Antonov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Magomed Abakarov 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandinho 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.

Market

One of our own: Dmitriy Tsvetkov joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dmitriy Tsvetkov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

13 new faces, and Chernomorets 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.

Market

A stepping stone, not a home, for Milton Blanco

He is doing his job and he is not settling. Chernomorets were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Ilja Zhigulev

A mark of 7.19, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

In brief

10 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Anton Antonov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 67. 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.

Squad

Maxim Matyusha decides it from twelve yards

2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

Match

Chernomorets taken apart

0‑7 to Rodina, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Match

Vlad Chaykovsky sends Chernomorets through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Vlad Chaykovsky obliged against Dinamo Vologda. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Chernomorets.

Match

9 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili keeps Chernomorets in it on his own

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.

Player ratings

Vlad Chaykovsky, 14, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73

A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 14-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

7 goals as Chernomorets and Rodina go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Chernomorets and Rodina, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

In brief

9 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Chernomorets

0‑4 against Ural, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Georgy Natabashvili keeps Chernomorets in it on his own

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anton Antonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Zaur Tarba reaches 100 appearances

100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

Player ratings

Anton Antonov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Zaur Tarba

“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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Chernomorets

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

In brief

8 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

6 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandinho 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Mikhail Zabotkin

“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 ratings

Nobody could get near Yegor Ushakov

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valery Dzyuba after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Kirill Suslov's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

The dugout

Georgy Natabashvili left out for tactical reasons at Chernomorets

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

Match

Chernomorets draw a blank against Torpedo Moscow

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Torpedo Moscow defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

In brief

7 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Chernomorets's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chernomorets has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Chernomorets — 7.78

1 for Igor Konovalov, marked 7.78, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 19 signed and 2 gone

That is the business done at Chernomorets until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wandinho 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 targets

Chernomorets rebuffed over Artem Arutyunov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal Tula have kept their man, and Chernomorets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Mikhail Zabotkin 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

No place for Mikhail Zabotkin in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Chernomorets are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

Match

Chernomorets and Shinnik take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valery Dzyuba after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

6 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A move Mikhail Zabotkin would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mikhail Zabotkin is living that version at Chernomorets, and it tends to show in the first month.

Market

Maxim Matyusha asks to leave Chernomorets

“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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Chernomorets

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Chernomorets are no longer polite ones.

Market

Chernomorets spend $87.0K to raise the standard

This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $87.0K has been paid because Mikhail Zabotkin is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Anton Antonov 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.

Transfer targets

KDV Tomsk tell Chernomorets: Ilja Volnov is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Volga take the points off Chernomorets

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Georgy Natabashvili

“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.

In brief

5 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Yegor Ushakov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Chernomorets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wandinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

SKA Khabarovsk take the points off Chernomorets

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Wandinho

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wandinho, and the manager let it.

Market

Timur Alikberov attracts admirers

The name of Timur Alikberov has come up in conversations Chernomorets were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Kirill Morozov reaches 200 appearances

200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

Squad

The formation has left Wandinho behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chernomorets will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Valery Dzyuba to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

4 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Anton Antonov beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Stepan Melnikov 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Caíque

Chernomorets asked and Juventude said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Squad

Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zaurbek Pliev 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 ratings

Ilja Zhigulev stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.28 on the card, and the Chernomorets support went home talking about one name.

Squad

Kirill Gusyev signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kirill Gusyev commits to Chernomorets for another 3 years.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Valery Dzyuba on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

Kirill Suslov is still paying for one afternoon at Chernomorets

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

3 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

6 saves: Georgy Natabashvili was the team

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 ratings

Yegor Ushakov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev 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 Chernomorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

6 goals as Chernomorets and Ufa go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chernomorets and Ufa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Match

Chernomorets come up short against Ufa

Ufa left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Market

Magomed Abakarov already looking beyond Chernomorets

He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.

Squad

Zaur Tarba 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 dugout

No hiding place for Zaurbek Pliev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaurbek Pliev, and the manager let it.

Squad

No place for Stepan Melnikov in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Chernomorets are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

In brief

2 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Anton Antonov

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Igor Konovalov goes up and wins it — 7.90

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.90 for the rest of it.

Transfer targets

Yegor Ushakov is a medical away from Chernomorets

The deal with Rodina is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Market

As if he never left: Magomed Abakarov returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Magomed Abakarov is a Chernomorets player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Squad

Words exchanged at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev 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.

The terraces

Chernomorets supporters have found a favourite in Krasian Kolev

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Krasian Kolev 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.

Market

One of our own: Daniil Kryukov joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniil Kryukov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Kirill Gusyev joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kirill Gusyev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Fyodor Safonov joins the Chernomorets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fyodor Safonov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

1 Edition

The Chernomorets Post

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Ilja Zhigulev signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilja Zhigulev and Chernomorets agree another 2 years.

Player ratings

A hand in 2 of them from Krasian Kolev — 7.98

Marked 7.98. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.

Squad

A falling-out at Chernomorets

Ilja Zhigulev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Krasian Kolev among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Krasian Kolev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chernomorets and Rotor.

Match

Rotor take the points off Chernomorets

Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Vladislav Sokolov

Chernomorets asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Zaurbek Pliev 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.

Market

Nobody at Chernomorets has picked up the phone to Krasian Kolev

49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

The dugout

Valery Dzyuba: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief