From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Minsk can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Minsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kirill Tsepenkov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kirill Tsepenkov has, at Dinamo Minsk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
$210.0K settles it between the clubs for Zakhar Chervyakov
Vitebsk have accepted the money. What Dinamo Minsk do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market8 Feb 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market8 Feb 2027
Lida come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fawaz Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Solovey, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Minsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Feb 2027
Molodechno come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Minsk did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Minsk can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Andrey Solovey: 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.” Dinamo Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kristian Eriksen 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Dinamo Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fawaz Abdullahi 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 targets1 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sergey Babkin has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Minsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Makar Litskevich arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Makar Litskevich has, at Dinamo Minsk, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Ivanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexey Gavrilovich has his answer from Dinamo Minsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Fawaz Abdullahi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dinamo Minsk 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Dinamo Minsk have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Dinamo Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fawaz Abdullahi 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guljigit Alykulov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gleb Gurban, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Dinamo Minsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ivan Bachauskas damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Kristian Eriksen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Solovey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dinamo Minsk are still strangers to each other
6 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Selyava, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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 Vladimir Obukhov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ivan Bachauskas damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Roman Begunov: 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.” Dinamo Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer from Skonto for Vladislav Poloz 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Kristian Eriksen 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Dinamo Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Ivanov 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrey Solovey
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Sergey Babkin has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Minsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Dinamo Minsk have let the market know Alexey Gavrilovich can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Minsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Roman Begunov 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dinamo Minsk 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Minsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Shvetsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Minsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ivan Bachauskas
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Dec 2026
1‑0 against Slovan Liberec, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Vladimir Obukhov was at the centre of the description.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Vladimir Obukhov, 34, rolls back the years — 8.06
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Kristian Eriksen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A move Vasiliy Vasilenko 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. Vasiliy Vasilenko is living that version at Dinamo Minsk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Slovan Liberec. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Ivanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The team sheet said everything about Moustapha Djimet
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 Moustapha Djimet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fawaz Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Sergey Babkin has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Minsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Kristian Eriksen is on it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Karen Vardanyan has written the date down.
Market7 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dinamo Minsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
A European night to forget for Dinamo Minsk
0‑3. Zenit play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Dinamo Minsk
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Minsk are no longer polite ones.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Andrey Kudravets: 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.” Dinamo Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Kristian Eriksen 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Maxim Shvetsov 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Guljigit Alykulov will call it something else in private.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Nov 2026
BATE ended it 2‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Maxim Shvetsov: 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.” Dinamo Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.99, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match18 Nov 2026
5 matches without a win for Dinamo Minsk
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Minsk are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.94 beside his name.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Sergey Babkin's mistake
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
Sergey Babkin will replay that one
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Vladimir Obukhov: 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.” Dinamo Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fawaz Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Konstantin Savichev 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Roman Begunov 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 Roman Begunov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑1 against Porto. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Dinamo Minsk
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Minsk are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mikhail Kozakevich 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fawaz Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The team sheet said everything about Karen Vardanyan
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 Karen Vardanyan.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladislav Poloz and Dinamo Minsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kirill Signevich after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrey Solovey
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladislav Poloz and Dinamo Minsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Something was said to Kristian Eriksen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
A chastening European night for Dinamo Minsk
1‑5 against Porto. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Dinamo Minsk and Porto, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fawaz Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Dinamo Minsk pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Minsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Dinamo Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Shvetsov 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dinamo Minsk are still strangers to each other
19 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Vladimir Obukhov is on it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kristian Eriksen 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Something was said to Sergey Babkin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Kristian Eriksen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dinamo Minsk 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dinamo Minsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Dinamo Minsk would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
1‑2 away to the standard of Slovan Liberec. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Minsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vladislav Poloz has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kristian Eriksen 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Slutsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nikita Bylinkin has pre-agreed a move to Dinamo Minsk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Vladimir Obukhov, 34, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Konstantin Savichev 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Shvetsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Alexey Ivanov
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
A European night to forget for Dinamo Minsk
1‑5. Zenit play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Nasaf is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Minsk is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.86, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Vladimir Obukhov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to BATE, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Slutsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ilya Branovets has pre-agreed a move to Dinamo Minsk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konstantin Savichev, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The team sheet said everything about Vladimir Obukhov
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 Vladimir Obukhov.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Andijon keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match12 Sep 2026
Nobody wants to play Dinamo Minsk right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 7 in, 1 out at Dinamo Minsk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Dinamo Minsk, 3‑2 the final word against Vitebsk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Fedor Lebedev has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dinamo Minsk have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fawaz Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Dinamo Minsk asked and Dukla Prague 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.71 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market7 Sep 2026
Ivan Bakhar 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 Dinamo Minsk can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Nasaf; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The offer went to Andijon this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Dinamo Minsk have 5 straight wins of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Isloch, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ivan Bakhar scored in the 89th minute, Torpedo-BelAZ had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Dinamo Minsk took the lot.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match29 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Dinamo Minsk have 4 straight wins of it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ivan Bakhar. 3‑2 against Torpedo-BelAZ, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Vadim Kurlovich has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Dinamo Minsk have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Celje have kept their man, and Dinamo Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Fawaz Abdullahi 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Belshina are out and Dinamo Minsk go through, 4‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Vladimir Obukhov, 34, rolls back the years — 8.05
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $100.0K — a club that wants Kirill Kovalevich enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CSKA Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Volna Pinsk wanted more than $96.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Kristian Eriksen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $35.0K — a club that wants Kirill Apanasevich enough to be asked twice.
Market17 Aug 2026
Molde did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $360.0K for Kristian Eriksen, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Volna Pinsk this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Dinamo Minsk offered $33.0K; BATE said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Konstantin Savichev is living that version at Dinamo Minsk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Dinamo Minsk have gone to Molde 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Slavia Mozyr did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $110.0K for Andrey Solovey, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to BATE this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Fawaz Abdullahi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Dinamo Minsk.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Dinamo Minsk asked and Volna Pinsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Konstantin Savichev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 44. 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Dinamo Minsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexey Ivanov and Dinamo Minsk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mikhail Kozakevich 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Evgeniy Malashevich 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Dinamo Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fawaz Abdullahi 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 6.80 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match1 Aug 2026
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Dinamo Minsk had all but put away. Naftan will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dinamo Minsk, another week without a signature from Evgeniy Malashevich.