From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Metallurg
Position 16 and 0 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Azimjon Ahmedov 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad15 Feb 2027
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
9 new faces, and Metallurg 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Metallurg would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Metallurg can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sanjar Shoahmedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jaloliddin Suyunov 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager's exit leaves Abbos G'ulomov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Abbos G'ulomov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Metallurg
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Metallurg close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 0 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Abbos G'ulomov 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanjar Shoahmedov 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 Feb 2027
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Metallurg know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Farruh Agayev commits to Metallurg for another 3 years.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Nasaf: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Ibrohim G'anixonov loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Ibrohim G'anixonov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jan 2027
$1.2M — a new record at Metallurg
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Metallurg board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad25 Jan 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Metallurg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Neftchi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Azimjon Ahmedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Abbos G'ulomov from Navbahor for $1.2M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Metallurg asked and Obod said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market25 Jan 2027
A stepping stone, not a home, for Abbos G'ulomov
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Metallurg were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
Sardor Sadullayev damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
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.
Match18 Jan 2027
Metallurg sink to position 16
0 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Metallurg and Navbahor have settled on $1.2M. 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mashal is saying, and nobody at Metallurg is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Azimjon Ahmedov 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanjar Shoahmedov 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 targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Metallurg are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Metallurg have gone and got theirs early.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
Sardor Sadullayev damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Davron Anvarov 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sanjar Shoahmedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Timur Ismailov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Mashal 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Metallurg have made the call to Mashal. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market11 Jan 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Metallurg signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market11 Jan 2027
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Xidirdavlat Raimqulov is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Metallurg can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Metallurg
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Metallurg is running low.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Metallurg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Omadillo Abdubannobov has, at Metallurg, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Asan Vaniyev commits to Metallurg for another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Mashal: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager's exit leaves Azimjon Ahmedov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Azimjon Ahmedov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Metallurg board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Metallurg
Position 16 and 0 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Metallurg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Asan Vaniyev 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Asan Vaniyev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Asan Vaniyev: “I am not a substitute”
“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 Metallurg will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jasur Suyunov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Mirzohid G'ofurov plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Metallurg
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad7 Dec 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Metallurg board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad30 Nov 2026
18 days out for Azimjon Ahmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metallurg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
25 days out for Azimjon Ahmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metallurg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match23 Nov 2026
Metallurg sink to position 16
0 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Metallurg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Azimjon Ahmedov 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Azimjon Ahmedov out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sanjar Shoahmedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Metallurg board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad2 Nov 2026
48 days out for Azimjon Ahmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metallurg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Muslimbek Habibullayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Azimjon Ahmedov out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Oct 2026
Metallurg are in real trouble now
Position 16, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Azimjon Ahmedov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
63 days out for Azimjon Ahmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metallurg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Metallurg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Metallurg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
78 days out for Azimjon Ahmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metallurg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Supporters organise against the Metallurg board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 88% of everything Metallurg earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Metallurg
10 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.
Match28 Sep 2026
Metallurg sink to position 16
0 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Azimjon Ahmedov 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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
0‑2 to Kokand 1912, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
93 days out for Azimjon Ahmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metallurg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Metallurg's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Metallurg has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Filip Pajović
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad21 Sep 2026
21 new faces, and Metallurg 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nobody at Metallurg is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
100 days out for Azimjon Ahmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metallurg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Squad14 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 Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Metallurg against AGMK
1‑3 to AGMK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanjar Shoahmedov 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mirzo Akhmedov 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dostonbek Shomurodov 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Metallurg close the window on a squad of their own making
28 in and 0 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mashal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Azimjon Ahmedov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Metallurg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sanjar Shoahmedov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Metallurg
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Metallurg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Azimjon Ahmedov out for 114 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metallurg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Metallurg
A 0‑3 beating by Neftchi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Metallurg
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Mashal; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Nasaf; Metallurg go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Match29 Aug 2026
Metallurg leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Metallurg have done the hard part with Nasaf, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Azimjon Ahmedov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Metallurg's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Metallurg has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Metallurg
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Dilshod Jo'rayev 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sanjar Shoahmedov 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 targets24 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match15 Aug 2026
Metallurg bow out of the cup
Nasaf go through and Metallurg 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
Metallurg are taken apart by Nasaf — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 23 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Neftchi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Pakhtakor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Metallurg
Azimjon Ahmedov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Metallurg asked and Neftchi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jasur Mirzaev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Shohruh Komilov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bobur Nematov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Farhod Hasanov 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Filip Pajović
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Metallurg will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Metallurg dressing room in a hurry
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Metallurg
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 17 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match1 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Metallurg
A 0‑8 beating by Mashal was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sanjar Shoahmedov commits to Metallurg for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Metallurg and Mashal, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Metallurg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sanjar Shoahmedov 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 targets3 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 dugout3 Aug 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.