From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Nov 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Vadim Yakovlev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Yakovlev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Naftan
Yevhenii Pastukh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
$1.6M on the table at Naftan
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The dugout2 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.
The dugout2 Nov 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 Naftan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Artem Drabatovich has moved up it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naftan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match26 Oct 2026
Naftan up to position 3
15 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naftan can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naftan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Naftan
Yevhenii Pastukh 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.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alexandr Rakhmatov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Naftan are still strangers to each other
14 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 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Matvey Susha gets picked when it counts
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 Matvey Susha is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
Yevhenii Pastukh 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Kostomarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Naftan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
Slutsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Vadim Kurlovich has pre-agreed a move to Naftan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexey Kharitonovich has his answer from Naftan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Evgeniy Zemko and Naftan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Daniil Baran in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Golden Mafwenta is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Vadim Yakovlev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Yakovlev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vadim Yakovlev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Bogdan Kutsyi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad5 Oct 2026
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Naftan will try not to make too much of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award goes to Aleksandrs Stolcers, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout5 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Aleksandrs Stolcers takes the afternoon — 9.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aleksandrs Stolcers provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match28 Sep 2026
Naftan refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ruslan Myalkovskiy, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market28 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naftan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ruslan Myalkovskiy 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Aleksandrs Stolcers’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Naftan.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ruslan Myalkovskiy, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.18
A mark of 8.18 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Naftan
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ignat Pranovich. 3‑2 against Gomel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Slutsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ilya Branovets has pre-agreed a move to Naftan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match19 Sep 2026
No time for Gomel to settle
The goal that put Gomel ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Naftan equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑2, already talking about the next one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Naftan have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Evgeniy Zemko
“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
Steady
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 4 out at Naftan
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Orsha will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ivan Berezun has pre-agreed a move to Naftan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what Torpedo-BelAZ would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Maksim Nekhaichik 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Naftan against Minsk
0‑1 to Minsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anatoliy Sannikov, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 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 Sergei Signevich to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Sep 2026
No mercy from Naftan
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Naftan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Aleksandrs Stolcers takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aleksandrs Stolcers provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$280.0K settles it between the clubs for Timofey Yurasov
Torpedo-BelAZ have accepted the money. What Naftan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Shamil Gadjiev at 21 — 7.62
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Shamil Gadjiev did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match5 Sep 2026
Naftan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Naftan have 3 straight wins of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Naftan get their man
The chase for Anton Semenov ended with $220.0K changing hands and Gomel out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Naftan
Yevhenii Pastukh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No deal for Nazar Chizh at that price
Naftan offered $67.0K; Torpedo-BelAZ 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Gomel; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Alexandrovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$67.0K on the table at Torpedo-BelAZ. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ignatiy Sidor has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Naftan asked and Zira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Naftan get the job done against Neman
A 2‑1 win over Neman, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Naftan
Artem Drabatovich and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
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The terraces
The crowd has taken to Ruslan Myalkovskiy
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Squad
13 new faces, and Naftan are still learning each other
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Naftan out
Out, 1‑3 to Isloch, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naftan have done the hard part with Lokomotiv Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Aleksandrs Stolcers was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.49. 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.
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
Vitebsk made Naftan work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Andrey Rum has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Naftan have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
The dugout24 Aug 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
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
$920.0K. No player has ever cost Naftan more, and expectation arrives with him.
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Naftan
A 1‑0 win over Bumprom Gomel, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Matvey Susha, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Naftan
Yamoussa Camara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
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: Aleksandrs Stolcers from Jelgava for $920.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Naftan have gone to Jelgava 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alexandr Alexandrovich has agreed terms with Slutsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Naftan
Yamoussa Camara 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.
Transfer targets10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Kirill Makas joins the Naftan first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kirill Makas 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
One of our own: Pavel Bykau joins the Naftan first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pavel Bykau 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
One of our own: Ihar Laptev joins the Naftan first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ihar Laptev 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. Viktar Chalavach 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
What a way to start for Matvey Susha — 8.50
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 8.50 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Naftan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Alexandrovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naftan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrey Lebedev and Naftan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Naftan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Naftan 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Dinamo Minsk left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 19 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.
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.