Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Egor Karpitskiy. 3‑2 against Neman, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Kirill Zabelin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.98. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dnepr Mogilev people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dnepr Mogilev have done the hard part with Isloch, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ivan Golomako has pre-agreed a move to Dnepr Mogilev, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktar Rios after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Torpedo-BelAZ will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“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 Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roman Zhoglo and Dnepr Mogilev agree another 4 years.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kirill Tsepenkov 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Dinamo Brest had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Muzaffar Gurbanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dnepr Mogilev can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Potapenko 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Zhoglo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktar Rios after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Dnepr Mogilev asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Lisakovich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev 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.
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.
Egor Karpitskiy 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 phone has started ringing about Muzaffar Gurbanov again, and this time the name on the line is BATE. Dnepr Mogilev are listening politely and promising nothing.
22 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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Viktar Rios left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktar Rios after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Dnepr Mogilev and Smorgon, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Potapenko 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.
“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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 3‑4 Viktar Rios left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Sedich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.75 on the card, and the Dnepr Mogilev support went home talking about one name.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Piletskiy 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.
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 dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Viktar Rios was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Dnepr Mogilev dressing room was either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Muzaffar Gurbanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Minsk; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Zhoglo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
3 on the bounce on the road for Dnepr Mogilev. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Potapenko 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Andrey Potapenko 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Sedich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Potapenko 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Viktar Rios kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Piletskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Andrey Potapenko is on it.
Belshina go through and Dnepr Mogilev go home, 2‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
A mark of 8.25 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 7.54 for the rest of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Dnepr Mogilev and Belshina in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Egor Karpitskiy 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Egor Karpitskiy 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 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Dnepr Mogilev 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 words a physio says slowly. 22 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Alexey Dunaev 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 words a physio says slowly. 29 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 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kirill Tsepenkov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dnepr Mogilev needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roman Zhoglo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Danila Glushakov reports back to Dnepr Mogilev with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Kasarab 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.
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.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dnepr Mogilev lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. BATE moved on, Nenad Perović reports back to Dnepr Mogilev, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Dnepr Mogilev close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
6 new faces, and Dnepr Mogilev 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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dnepr Mogilev people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The phone has started ringing about Nenad Perović again, and this time the name on the line is BATE. Dnepr Mogilev are listening politely and promising nothing.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo St Petersburg have kept their man, and Dnepr Mogilev go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
105% of the income goes out in wages at Dnepr Mogilev
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 words a physio says slowly. 58 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dnepr Mogilev have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Vadim Arutyunyan has gone, the accounts have $950.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
“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 Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Isloch 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.
Dinamo Minsk paid $950.0K and Dnepr Mogilev took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stepan Sokolovskiy has just signed for Dnepr Mogilev, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metallurg have kept their man, and Dnepr Mogilev go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dnepr Mogilev people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Pavel Sedich had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dnepr Mogilev asked and Isloch said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Potapenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ivan Yerokhin is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
“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 Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Dnepr Mogilev asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roman Piletskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dnepr Mogilev have made the call to Isloch. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Andrey Potapenko is on it.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Dnepr Mogilev would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
Egor Karpitskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Potapenko 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roman Piletskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yan Pikuza has just signed for Dnepr Mogilev, and for once the answer mattered.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mikalai Gordeichuk has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muzaffar Gurbanov 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.
He is 20, and nobody at Dnepr Mogilev signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muzaffar Gurbanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Daniil Zhabrakov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Zabelin is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kirill Kirilenko signs something — a contract at Dnepr Mogilev or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
No fee and no fanfare: Yaroslav Chistyakov’s time at Dnepr Mogilev ends with a handshake, and Lida collect a player for the price of his wages. Somebody will call it shrewd; time will name who.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dnepr Mogilev lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
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.
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.
Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev 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.
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 Roman Piletskiy has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Arbion Megjidi has, at Dnepr Mogilev, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He is 20, and nobody at Dnepr Mogilev signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muzaffar Gurbanov 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
The dugoutThe manager makes Roman Zhoglo a promise
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Sedich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muzaffar Gurbanov 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kirill Tsepenkov signs something — a contract at Dnepr Mogilev or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Nikolay Sobolev is on it.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Egor Karpitskiy has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Questions about Gleb Aldanov on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dnepr Mogilev have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Potapenko 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Chistyakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
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 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Dnepr Mogilev will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Dnepr Mogilev training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Glushakov 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kirill Tsepenkov signs something — a contract at Dnepr Mogilev or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Nikolay Sobolev is on it.
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 Alexey Dunaev has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergey Rusak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Dnepr Mogilev the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raman Laptev 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yan Ihnatovich has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“I watch every Dnepr Mogilev game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Volna Pinsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kirill Kirilenko signs something — a contract at Dnepr Mogilev or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergey Rusak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexey Dunaev 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
181% of the income goes out in wages at Dnepr Mogilev
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.
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 Andrey Potapenko is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexey Yazepov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Egor Karpitskiy 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Hleb Dragun has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Dnepr Mogilev 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.
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 Zabelin is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kirill Kirilenko signs something — a contract at Dnepr Mogilev or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Glushakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Dnepr Mogilev. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Gleb Aldanov are not good
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“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 Dnepr Mogilev, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kirill Zabelin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev 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 language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Alexey Dunaev 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.
14 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Glushakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alexey Yazepov 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.
Alexey Dunaev 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.
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Dnepr Mogilev will try very hard not to make too much of it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kirill Tsepenkov provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Dnepr Mogilev and Slonim in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Dnepr Mogilev offered $14.0K; Dinamo Minsk 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Dinamo Brest go through and Dnepr Mogilev go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavel Sedich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kirill Kirilenko 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.
Dnepr Mogilev offered $60.0K; Isloch 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.
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.
Ostrovets will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dnepr Mogilev were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match12 Aug 2026
Kirill Zabelin wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Kirill Zabelin found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Slutsk went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Two goals and a mark of 9.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Vadim Arutyunyan, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
$44.0K on the table at Isloch. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orsha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vadim Arutyunyan did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 offer went to Vitebsk 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.
Kirill Kirilenko 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 offer went to Slutsk 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.
The offer from Jelgava for Vadim Arutyunyan 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.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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 easiest signature of my career.” Dmitriy Lisakovich and Dnepr Mogilev agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.