Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Narva Trans waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levadia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Levadia know 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ruslan Teverov 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hendrik Pikk 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.
Add another name to the list: Narva Trans have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Artem Denisenko. The answer from Levadia has not changed — yet.
“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 Levadia, and 5 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Levadia 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Levadia know which stage they are at.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Levadia have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Sebastián Gonzalez arrives from Lanús with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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 at Levadia 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.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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.
Mikhail Sivakov 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 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 Ruslan Teverov is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Levadia asked and Danubio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sander Klavan 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artur Kallaste is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Sparta Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Levadia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Vladislav Kreida scored in the 86th minute, FCI Tallinn had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Levadia took the lot.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $450.0K has been paid because Kristjan Kask is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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.
Levadia asked and Lanús said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Konstantin Baranov 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levadia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Marek Teniste to a room that had heard them before.
Beaten 5 times, 2 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Levadia and Nomme Kalju have settled on $430.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Ruslan Teverov 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 Mikhail Sivakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Levadia have paid $1.2M for Miloš Jovičić, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Miloš Jovičić was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.2M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Danubio have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hendrik Hein 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 Levadia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Parnu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
$1.2M on the table at Zabbar St. Patrick. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped 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 Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ignacio Roldán is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Levadia have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Mollo Bessala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
7 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ruslan Teverov provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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.
30 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A brace, and Mollo Bessala takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mollo Bessala provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Vladislav Kreida 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.
“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 Levadia, and 3 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
5 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.37 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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 23 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.
4 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Half the programme played, position 2, 24 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
3 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.
Mikhail Sivakov 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: Oliver Jürgens. 1‑0 against Flora, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marek Teniste on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutTaijo Teniste has become a man the manager trusts
Sillamae Kalev will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Levadia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oliver Jürgens provided it, and the 9.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia 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 Levadia and Sillamae Kalev in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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.
Flora next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Position 2, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
6 goals in one match, Oliver Jürgens on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Levadia and Parnu.
Marked 9.67. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Levadia.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Ruslan Teverov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.43. 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.
He is 23 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nikita Kait is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Levadia prefer.
4 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.
Vladislav Kreida 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 Mikhail Sivakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Marek Teniste could afford to be generous.
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 Vladislav Kreida is on it.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
3 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.
Mikhail Sivakov 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alexandr Karnitskiy scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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 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.
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.
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.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mikhail Sivakov 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 Alexandr Karnitskiy 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Stanislav Tsõmbaljuk’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Levadia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Mikhail Sivakov 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.
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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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.
Levadia asked and Salyut said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every Levadia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Parnu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Nalchik have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Konstantin Puri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marek Hein is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Parnu had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Levadia close the window on a squad of their own making
2 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.
The deal with Lanús 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.
Mikhail Sivakov 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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Levadia know it, and so does everybody who watches 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 Vladislav Kreida is on it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Levadia have done the hard part with Lanús, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Vladislav Kreida 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 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 phone has started ringing about Nikita Marin again, and this time the name on the line is Parnu. Levadia are listening politely and promising nothing.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Deportivo Tachira is saying, and nobody at Levadia is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Levadia asked and Stade Malien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Spartak Kostroma: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 Ruslan Teverov is on it.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Levadia have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Mikhail Sivakov 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 Alexandr Karnitskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levadia have made the call to Deportivo Tachira. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Levadia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Karl Igonen
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karl Sappinen 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. Ken Pikk 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.
Karl Kallaste 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.
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.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ruslan Teverov 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 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 Levadia 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sander Igonen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Levadia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Mikhail Sivakov 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.
In brief
SquadTaijo Teniste falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutTaijo Teniste has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutArtur Teniste knocks on the manager's door
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Levadia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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 Mikhail Sivakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutRuslan Teverov has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutIdalécio Dias knocks on the manager’s door
Mikhail Sivakov 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
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kreida 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Artur Teniste 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sander Igonen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Vladislav Kreida 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 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 Taijo Teniste is on 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.
Eduard Zhevnerov 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.
Nobody at Levadia 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Kreida 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.
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 Ruslan Teverov is on it.
Mikhail Sivakov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Levadia 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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 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 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia 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 Taijo Teniste was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Ruslan Teverov is on it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Djoliba is saying, and nobody at Levadia is enjoying the guessing.
Vladislav Kreida 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.
That is the business done at Levadia until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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 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 Taijo Teniste is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levadia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taijo Teniste was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levadia asked and Stade Malien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 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.
A 1‑0 win over Tulevik, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match19 Aug 2026
Ruslan Teverov wins it after the whistle should have gone
97 minutes played. Ruslan Teverov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Tulevik went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
$190.0K on the table at Nomme Kalju. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Mihkel Ainsalu 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.
Levadia offered $6.0K; Paide 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.
Levadia asked and Flora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Sivakov 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 14-year-old it feels ownership of. Mihkel Liivak 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 had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Djoliba keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mikhail Sivakov 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.
Levadia have gone to Paide 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Narva Trans have kept their man, and Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Levadia know which stage they are at.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karl Igonen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Karol Hein 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Konstantin Pikk 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oliver Jürgens has just signed for Levadia, and for once the answer mattered.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Levadia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The shirt still fits. Mihkel Ainsalu is back at Levadia, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levadia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Levadia have made the call to Nomme Kalju. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Sillamae Kalev: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.