Neftekhimik U21

11 Oct 2026
Sunday
Process
10 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Denis Titow was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 41. 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.

Match

Cup progress for Neftekhimik

A 1‑0 win over Uralets-TS, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

A hiding for Neftekhimik

Beaten 0‑4 by Fakel, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

Neftekhimik win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Uralets-TS will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Squad

Andrey Golubev stands alone

7 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Neftekhimik

Leonardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 198% of the Neftekhimik income

Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.

The terraces

One of their own: Kirill Moiseev

He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

The dugout

Andrey Golubev gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

Back issues
9 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Age has not caught Leonardo yet — 8.48

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.48 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

Words exchanged at Neftekhimik

Leonardo 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Neftekhimik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Serrano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Francisco Tcherkaski

Neftekhimik asked and Defensores said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Player ratings

Leon Sabua runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Honours even between Neftekhimik and Arsenal Tula

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

The form table has caught Ivan Markelov

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Dmitry Shadrintsev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Shadrintsev, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Yuri Gorelov on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

In brief

8 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A falling-out at Neftekhimik

Marat Sitdikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Serrano 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 targets

Door shut on Trofim Melnichenko

Neftekhimik asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Match

Sokol take the points off Neftekhimik

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Rashid Magomedov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sultan Djamilov

“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 dugout

Yuri Gorelov: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

Leon Sabua asks for a word with the manager

“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 dugout

Leon Sabua left out for tactical reasons at Neftekhimik

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

7 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 22 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Neftekhimik 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 targets

Stefan Duda turns down Neftekhimik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FK Senica keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Player ratings

Andrey Nikitin was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Joaquín Barolín

Neftekhimik asked and Patronato said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Neftekhimik promote Aleksey Tolstoy from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aleksey Tolstoy 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.

Market

Mark Yakovlev steps up from the Neftekhimik academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mark Yakovlev 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 dugout

No hiding place for Islam Mashukov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islam Mashukov, and the manager let it.

Match

Neftekhimik find a way past KAMAZ

KAMAZ made Neftekhimik work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

No place for Jesús Serrano in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Neftekhimik are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

In brief

6 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A row about effort at Neftekhimik

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Serrano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Ali Abdurahmonov

Neftekhimik asked and AGMK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Match

Rashid Magomedov’s goal not enough for Neftekhimik

Rashid Magomedov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Spartak Kostroma, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ivan Markelov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Markelov, and the manager let it.

Squad

Nico Föllmi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nico Föllmi and Neftekhimik agree another 3 years.

Squad

The formation has left Jerry van Wolfgang behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Neftekhimik will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Squad

Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan out for 30 days

The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

Yuri Gorelov: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Stefan Duda is in the works

Neftekhimik have made the call to FK Senica. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

5 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Mashal tell Neftekhimik: Nuriddin Nuriddinov is not for sale

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Neftekhimik

Sultan Djamilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Neftekhimik against Chelyabinsk

0‑1 to Chelyabinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Yuri Gorelov: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Transfer targets

Neftekhimik ask about Joaquín Barolín

A loan enquiry to Patronato: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Squad

Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan and Neftekhimik agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Danila Sukhomlinov gets it from the manager

“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.

Loan watch

Artem Kotik keeps scoring at Amkar

5 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Squad

Rashid Magomedov named player of the week

One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Rashid Magomedov has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.

In brief

4 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Neftekhimik run riot against Yenisey

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

3 goals for Rashid Magomedov

The match ball belongs to Rashid Magomedov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Leonardo yet — 8.65

At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.65 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Neftekhimik turn down FK Senica for Timofey Kashintsev

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Hussain Ali Al-Khalsan due for a Neftekhimik medical

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.

Transfer targets

Maximiliano Villalba turns down Neftekhimik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Tristán Suárez keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

A falling-out at Neftekhimik

Marat Sitdikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

One of those days for Rashid Magomedov

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.49, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Transfer targets

Neftekhimik rebuffed over Lucas Gaona

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Temperley have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

3 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Neftekhimik taken apart

1‑4 to Rodina, 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.

Squad

Andrey Golubev stands alone

8 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.

Transfer targets

Maximiliano Villalba is a medical away from Neftekhimik

The deal with Tristán Suárez 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.

Transfer targets

Danil Ladokha turns down Neftekhimik

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.

Squad

Leonardo 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 Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Daniel Ribera

Neftekhimik asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

FK Senica watching Timofey Kashintsev

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Neftekhimik have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

The dugout

Andrey Golubev gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Leon Sabua is a square peg at Neftekhimik

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

In brief

2 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Dušan Jovanović turns down Neftekhimik

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Radnicki Nis keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Words exchanged at Neftekhimik

Leonardo 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.

Market

Timofey Yefremov steps up from the Neftekhimik academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Timofey Yefremov 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.

Market

One of our own: Sergei Nesterov joins the Neftekhimik first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergei Nesterov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Zakhar Arkhipov steps up from the Neftekhimik academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Zakhar Arkhipov 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.

Market

One of our own: Rodion Ignashevich joins the Neftekhimik first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rodion Ignashevich is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Match

Ural take the points off Neftekhimik

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Leonardo is a square peg at Neftekhimik

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

The dugout

Yuri Gorelov faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yuri Gorelov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

1 Edition

The Neftekhimik Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Andrey Golubev stands alone

7 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.

Squad

11 seasons of Marat Sitdikov

341 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Neftekhimik know what they have.

Squad

Marat Sitdikov signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marat Sitdikov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Neftekhimik

Marat Sitdikov 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.

Market

Still no ink between Neftekhimik and Andrey Golubev

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Neftekhimik, another week without a signature from Andrey Golubev.

Transfer targets

Neftekhimik try to borrow Dušan Jovanović

Radnicki Nis 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 targets

Neftekhimik ask about Ali Kolahkaj

A loan enquiry to Foolad: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

Yuri Gorelov on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Yuri Gorelov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Looking ahead

Neftekhimik take on the side everybody is chasing

Ural arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

In brief