From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Artem Smolyakov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Obolon, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
The goals keep arriving from Kristian Mba’s exile
12 goals in 13 games at Chornomorets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Metalist updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.” Heorhiy Sobol kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Metalist — 7.50
1 for Oleksandr Yatsyk, marked 7.50, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match24 Oct 2026
Metalist are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match24 Oct 2026
Polissia left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Nicolás Arévalo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicolás Arévalo 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
The goals keep arriving from Kristian Mba’s exile
11 goals in 12 games at Chornomorets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Metalist updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.12, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Metalist
Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oleksandr Yatsyk. 3‑2 against Kryvbas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Smolyakov 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Metalist are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Metalist
Nicolás Arévalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Artem Smolyakov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match10 Oct 2026
Karpaty left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pijus Širvys, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Metalist are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Heorhiy Sobol to a room that had heard them before.
Squad12 Oct 2026
4 Metalist players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
The goals keep arriving from Kristian Mba’s exile
8 goals in 10 games at Chornomorets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Metalist updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Arévalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“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 Metalist, and 0 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ermir Rashica 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ermir Rashica was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Metalist
Vladyslav Vakula 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Baton Zabërgja
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
It needed Joaquín Barolín to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Zorya, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Artem Smolyakov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Sep 2026
Peter Itodo scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to LNZ, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Metalist
Oleksandr Martyniuk 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Metalist lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Artem Shabanov is on it.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Denys Antiukh’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Metalist needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
Cruel end for Rukh as Metalist pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Metalist scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Ivan Kaliuzhnyi to Shakhtar has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Metalist with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PSV keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Metalist
Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Artem Smolyakov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Metalist, 2‑1 the final word against Rukh in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Metalist 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Metalist had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Legia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Metalist go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Ivan Kaliuzhnyi has come up in conversations Metalist were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Sep 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Daniil Khrypchuk 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Metalist 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$100.0K was the most the club would pay and Kryvbas were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Smolyakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Metalist asked and Universitatea Craiova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Sep 2026
Dynamo Kyiv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Sep 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Heorhiy Sobol to a room that had heard them before.
Squad7 Sep 2026
International break empties Metalist
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Legia 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Metalist
A 1‑0 win over Victoriia Sumy, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market31 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Kolos wanted more than $940.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Cauan Baptistella has left for LNZ in a $290.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Smolyakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Oleksandr Yatsyk takes the afternoon — 8.13
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oleksandr Yatsyk provided it, and the 8.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.01 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Pijus Širvys gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pijus Širvys has just signed for Metalist, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$910.0K was the most the club would pay and Shakhtar were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Metalist asked and Slovan Bratislava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Metalist, 2‑0 the final word against Poltava in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Metalist have done the hard part with Dynamo Kyiv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Marian Shved at that price
Metalist offered $1.4M; Shakhtar 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Metalist have gone to Shakhtar 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Metalist say no — this time
The offer from Nyva for Cauan Baptistella 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Metalist
Nicolás Arévalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Metalist paid $570.0K and Metalist took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Smolyakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Aug 2026
Metalist say no — this time
The offer from Dynamo Kyiv for Peter Itodo 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Metalist have gone to Shakhtar 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Patronato, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Arévalo and Metalist agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Shakhtar 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Baton Zabërgja. 3‑2 against Oleksandriya, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Smolyakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.15 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad3 Aug 2026
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Denys Antiukh commits to Metalist for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Arévalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Metalist asked and Carrarese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Epicentr, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Carlos Paraco 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Metalist have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.