From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Obod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match14 Feb 2028
Obod sink to position 16
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market14 Feb 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mirzo Urunov reports back to Obod with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nikoloz Gogokhia has just signed for Obod, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Pakhtakor wanted more than $37.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Oleg Zoteyev 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 targets14 Feb 2028
Obod ran out of time with Andijon. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Aziz Ahmedov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Emergency meeting at Obod
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Obod close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
$37.0K on the table at Pakhtakor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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 targets7 Feb 2028
The clock did what Lokomotiv would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Mirzo Urunov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Zoteyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Jan 2028
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
The offer went to Andijon 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
The offer went to Sogdiana 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Asiljon Begimqulov 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 dugout31 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market31 Jan 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Abdulla Mirzaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Jan 2028
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jan 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Obod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
$1.3M settles it between the clubs for Asadbek Sobirjonov
Lokomotiv have accepted the money. What Obod do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Vojin Vesković has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Obod offered $320.0K; Andijon 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 targets24 Jan 2028
The offer went to Pakhtakor 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Akmal Komilov 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Oleg Zoteyev 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
Crisis
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match17 Jan 2028
Obod are in real trouble now
Position 16, 7 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.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
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.
Market17 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Obod have gone to Andijon 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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 targets17 Jan 2028
Obod offered $38.0K; Pakhtakor 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Oleg Zoteyev 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
Crisis
Market10 Jan 2028
Obod say no — this time
The offer from Shortan for Asilbek Tojiddinov 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Obod
Oleg Zoteyev 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 Jan 2028
$38.0K on the table at Pakhtakor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Mirzo Urunov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Mirzo Urunov has come up in conversations Obod were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Shaxboz Jurayev commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asiljon Begimqulov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nemanja Djuricic
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Aziz Ahmedov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Obod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Crisis meeting at Obod
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market3 Jan 2028
Mirzo Urunov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oleg Zoteyev and Obod agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleg Zoteyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
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.
Market3 Jan 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Shaxzod Shaymanov has his answer from Obod; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Dec 2027
Supporters organise against the Obod 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nemanja Djuricic
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market27 Dec 2027
“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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Vojin Vesković has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Abdulla Mirzaev 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 dugout27 Dec 2027
“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 dugout27 Dec 2027
Mirzo Shomurodov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match20 Dec 2027
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 7 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nemanja Djuricic
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Behruz Islomov
“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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulla Mirzaev 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
Mirzo Shomurodov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market20 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rustam Ismailov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
The Vojin Vesković rumours reach the terraces
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Obod would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Dec 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Mirzo Urunov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Wei Jiaao and Obod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Bekzod Sulaymonov 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Farhod Tukhtasinov, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Behruz Islomov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market13 Dec 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Obod, another week without a signature from Odil Mirzaev.
Market13 Dec 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market13 Dec 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mirzo Urunov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The Obod board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Akmal Komilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout6 Dec 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Abdulla Mirzaev 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
A stepping stone, not a home, for Bobur Ahmedov
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Obod were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market6 Dec 2027
He is 17, and nobody at Obod signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bobur Ahmedov commits to Obod for another 3 years.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Wei Jiaao loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Wei Jiaao's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Nov 2027
Anger at Obod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market29 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Vojin Vesković has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Nov 2027
At 21 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulla Mirzaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Akmal Komilov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Akmal Komilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Nov 2027
The name of Akmal Komilov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Obod say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The training reports on Akmal Hasanov are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match22 Nov 2027
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 7 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bekzod Sulaymonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Nov 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Mirzo Shomurodov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Asilbek Tojiddinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Mirzo Urunov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Obod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bekzod Sulaymonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shoxmalik Komilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulla Mirzaev 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bekzod Sulaymonov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Odilbek Abdumajidov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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 dugout8 Nov 2027
Nobody at Obod will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Obod would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Vojin Vesković has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Nov 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“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 dugout1 Nov 2027
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Odilbek Abdumajidov was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Market1 Nov 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Obod has been clear about where Sergi Bazerashvili stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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. Bekzod Sulaymonov has moved up it.
Squad1 Nov 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 Obod would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Obod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Obod is running low.
Match25 Oct 2027
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 7 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulla Mirzaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulla Mirzaev, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Behruz Islomov 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 terraces25 Oct 2027
The stands have heard the Vojin Vesković talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Obod would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Oct 2027
10 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match18 Oct 2027
Obod finish in position 16
7 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market18 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Mirzo Urunov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Match16 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Oct 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Abdulla Mirzaev 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
Crisis
Market11 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Farhod Ismailov commits to Obod for another 4 years.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bekzod Sulaymonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Akmal Komilov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Akmal Komilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bukhara in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Nerves in the Obod squad
Shoxmalik Komilov has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
Market11 Oct 2027
The name of Rustam Ismailov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Obod say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Oct 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match2 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
9 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad4 Oct 2027
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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Shaxzod Shaymanov and Obod agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odilbek Abdumajidov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Oct 2027
Obod come up short against Andijon
Andijon left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market4 Oct 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Behruz Islomov has his answer from Obod; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vojin Vesković, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match27 Sep 2027
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 7 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
A hiding for Obod
Beaten 1‑5 by Qizilqum, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match25 Sep 2027
8 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
Market27 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Rustam Ismailov among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Rustam Ismailov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Obod and Qizilqum.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Farhod Ismailov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Market20 Sep 2027
Mirzo Urunov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Obod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match18 Sep 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
Obod offered $340.0K; Pakhtakor 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.
Squad20 Sep 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Mirzo Urunov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Obod is pretending otherwise.
Match18 Sep 2027
0‑1 to Kokand 1912, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑3 against Lokomotiv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market13 Sep 2027
“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.
Match11 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Match11 Sep 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
6 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Metallurg wanted more than $2.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Obod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout13 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Sep 2027
Supporters organise against the Obod 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Obod close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 15 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mirzo Urunov reports back to Obod with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Everything agreed with Shortan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The offer went to Pakhtakor 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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 targets6 Sep 2027
The offer went to Metallurg 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Aug 2027
Obod are in real trouble now
Position 16, 7 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Obod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Obod is running low.
Match28 Aug 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑3 against AGMK, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Obod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Aug 2027
“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.
Match28 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
5 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
Obod leaking at the back
5 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 targets30 Aug 2027
Obod have gone to Bukhara 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑3 against Bunyodkor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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.
Market23 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Obod is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Obod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Bukhara, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match21 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
4 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 targets23 Aug 2027
The offer went to Pakhtakor 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Obod asked and Navbahor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Pakhtakor wanted more than $340.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
Obod taken apart
0‑3 to Neftchi, 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Bukhara have accepted the money. What Obod do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Obod have gone to Navbahor 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 targets16 Aug 2027
Obod have gone to Bukhara 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 targets16 Aug 2027
Metallurg wanted more than $5.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The dugout16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
No place for Nodir Ahmedov on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Obod pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Doors closed at Obod
-
Market
Talks stall between Obod and Akmal Komilov
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Aug 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Obod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Qizilqum, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The offer went to Pakhtakor 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.
Squad9 Aug 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Obod have gone to Metallurg 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 targets9 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Obod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match2 Aug 2027
Obod sink to position 16
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match31 Jul 2027
Obod taken apart
0‑4 to Nasaf, 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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Aziz Ahmedov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The deal with Bukhara 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bukhara have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shaxzod Shaymanov, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Asilbek Tojiddinov commits to Obod for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jul 2027
It had gone 14 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Obod people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market26 Jul 2027
“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 targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Navbahor have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Obod offered $340.0K; Pakhtakor 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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 terraces26 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mirzo Shomurodov 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
A 1‑0 win over Metallurg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Obod had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
14 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Match17 Jul 2027
5 matches without a goal for Obod
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match17 Jul 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
6 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Obod have done the hard part with Navbahor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The offer went to Pakhtakor 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets19 Jul 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.
In brief
-
Match
Mashal take the points off Obod
-
The dugout
Vojin Vesković gets it from the manager
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Anger at Obod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match10 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
13 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
Obod taken apart
0‑3 to Shortan, 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Mirzo Urunov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirzo Urunov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Obod the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match10 Jul 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad12 Jul 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Jul 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Obod know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jul 2027
12 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 4 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Aziz Ahmedov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Obod can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Pressure builds in the Obod boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
There were 6 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 targets5 Jul 2027
The deal with Shortan 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Match3 Jul 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
11 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.
Match26 Jun 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑3 against Navbahor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Obod have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The offer went to AGMK 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Bunyodkor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Navbahor have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
Nobody left the Obod dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Aziz Ahmedov left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
-
Player ratings
Akmal Komilov beats them one at a time
-
The dugout
Farhod Masharipov is still being punished for one mistake
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jun 2027
10 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Jun 2027
A hiding for Obod
Beaten 0‑3 by Bukhara, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Navbahor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Obod 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Jun 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.
Match21 Jun 2027
Halfway: Obod sit in position 16
4 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Doors closed at Obod
-
The dugout
Aziz Ahmedov: “No excuses”
-
Squad
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Anger at Obod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Eldor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jun 2027
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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Obod have gone to AGMK 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 targets14 Jun 2027
Obod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Qizilqum, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Obod come up short against Andijon
Andijon left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match7 Jun 2027
Obod sink to position 16
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match5 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Obod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Obod is running low.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Akmal Komilov 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 targets7 Jun 2027
Obod asked and Lokomotiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Jun 2027
Nodir Ahmedov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Obod has been clear about where Nodir Ahmedov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akmal Komilov, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bekzod Sulaymonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
Eldor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match29 May 2027
7 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Match29 May 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
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.
The dugout31 May 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulla Mirzaev 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
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
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
Eldor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Match22 May 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑3 against Lokomotiv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market24 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
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.
Match22 May 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 May 2027
Obod leaking at the back
4 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.
The dugout24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirzo Fayzullaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad17 May 2027
Eldor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Market17 May 2027
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match15 May 2027
5 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match15 May 2027
5 matches without a goal for Obod
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad17 May 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Obod against AGMK
0‑2 to AGMK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirzo Fayzullaev 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Rustam Ismailov
“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
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eldor Abdullaev
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match10 May 2027
Obod are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 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.
Match8 May 2027
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 0‑3 beating by Bunyodkor was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad10 May 2027
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.
Match8 May 2027
4 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match8 May 2027
4 matches without a goal for Obod
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Obod are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Bekzod Sulaymonov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Obod dressing room in a hurry
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Looking ahead
A reunion for Behruz Islomov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
Eldor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match1 May 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑4 against Neftchi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Match1 May 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirzo Fayzullaev 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Nobody left the Obod dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout3 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout3 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Obod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eldor Abdullaev
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Mirzo Fayzullaev 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 Apr 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Aziz Ahmedov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
Eldor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 79 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match17 Apr 2027
Obod taken apart
0‑6 to Nasaf, 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Akmal Komilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Obod and Nasaf in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Beaten 6 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 Apr 2027
The drought breaks for Obod
16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Metallurg were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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 dugout12 Apr 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑0 win over Metallurg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Obod know it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 7.61. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aziz Ahmedov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Farhod Tukhtasinov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
16 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Eldor Abdullaev damages knee ligaments — 93 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Match31 Mar 2027
The small margins put Obod out
Out, 0‑1 to Navbahor, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nodir Ahmedov commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Apr 2027
Obod come up short against Mashal
Mashal left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akmal Hasanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eldor Abdullaev
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Mar 2027
14 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
7.53, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match20 Mar 2027
Obod come up short against Shortan
Shortan left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match20 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
4 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Odilbek Abdumajidov, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Mar 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
Squad15 Mar 2027
115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match13 Mar 2027
13 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
12 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Match13 Mar 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑5 against Pakhtakor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Obod know it.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
Inquest at Obod
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Too much change too quickly at Obod
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
123 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Mar 2027
12 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match6 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted Obod
11 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Match6 Mar 2027
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 0‑3 beating by Navbahor was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luigi Dalla Valle commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Obod
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
130 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Akmal Hasanov and Obod agree another 3 years.
Squad1 Mar 2027
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akmal Hasanov, and the manager let it.
Market1 Mar 2027
10 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Zulfiqor Akbarov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Obod needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Vojin Vesković knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vojin Vesković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Obod lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Obod 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.
Match22 Feb 2027
Obod are in real trouble now
Position 16, 1 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Bekzod Sulaymonov 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 dugout22 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eldor Abdullaev
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Obod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rustam Ismailov and Obod agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Obod have done the hard part with Navbahor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Odilbek Abdumajidov 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
30 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andria Kazarashvili and Obod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Odilbek Abdumajidov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andria Kazarashvili 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rustam Ismailov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Obod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Obod is running low.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Obod close the window on a squad of their own making
1 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Nasaf, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odilbek Abdumajidov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Obod asked and Pakhtakor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Navbahor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiv: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bekzod Sulaymonov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Obod 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.
Match25 Jan 2027
Obod sink to position 16
1 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Obod offered $62.0K; Bunyodkor 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akmal Hasanov 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Sogdiana 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Qizilqum 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Obod have made the call to Shortan. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Nodir Ahmedov
“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
Squad18 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Sogdiana wanted more than $96.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Obod asked and Sogdiana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Timur Nematov commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Obod are still strangers to each other
10 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Andijon: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Navbahor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mirzo Shomurodov, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Timur Nematov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The offer went to Sogdiana 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Obod can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Obod 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bekzod Sulaymonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Pakhtakor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Sahob Rashidov is in the works
Obod have made the call to Sogdiana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Obod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Obod is running low.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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 targets4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bekzod Sulaymonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jan 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Obod are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Shortan: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Obod 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.
Match28 Dec 2026
Obod are in real trouble now
Position 16, 1 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Behruz Islomov commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Market28 Dec 2026
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Obod were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market28 Dec 2026
The name of Rustam Ismailov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Obod say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A move Behruz Islomov would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Behruz Islomov is living that version at Obod, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad21 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bekzod Sulaymonov 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
Too much change too quickly at Obod
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market21 Dec 2026
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market21 Dec 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Obod signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market21 Dec 2026
Mardonjon Meliyev is 20, and Obod have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market21 Dec 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Farhod Tukhtasinov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Dec 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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Farhod Ismailov and Obod agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hojiakbar Mavlonov is living that version at Obod, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Obod
Bekzod Sulaymonov 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 dugout14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Farhod Tukhtasinov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The scrutiny sharpens at Obod
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Obod is running low.
Transfer targets7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Obod
Bekzod Sulaymonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Jaloliddin Akhmedov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mirzo Urunov slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mirzo Urunov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulla Mirzaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The mood at Obod has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 1 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Andijon will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Asilbek Tojiddinov has pre-agreed a move to Obod, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Farhod Tukhtasinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market30 Nov 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bekzod Sulaymonov and Obod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout30 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Mirzo Urunov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 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.
Squad23 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akmal Komilov, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Abdulla Mirzaev 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Timur Nematov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market23 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Obod know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 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 Obod can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Abror Sarimsoqov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mirzo Shomurodov and Obod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch16 Nov 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 Obod, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abror Sarimsoqov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 57 days on the sidelines for Jaloliddin Akhmedov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Obod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match2 Nov 2026
Obod sink to position 16
1 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad2 Nov 2026
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Abror Sarimsoqov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout26 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
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
11 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Obod
10 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Match17 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 0‑3 beating by Bukhara was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abror Sarimsoqov 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akmal Komilov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Obod dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Obod
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Loan watch19 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 Obod, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Farhod Tukhtasinov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Obod know it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Obod
Something was said to Adhamjon Musulmonov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulla Mirzaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Next up at home: Bukhara, who go into it in position 13. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Obod
Position 16 and 1 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a goal for Obod
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market5 Oct 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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Jaloliddin Urunov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Abror Sarimsoqov 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 dugout5 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.
In brief
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Match
Andijon take the points off Obod
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Nodir Ahmedov does not fit this one
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 0‑3 beating by Qizilqum was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a goal for Obod
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match26 Sep 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
7 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.
Squad28 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abror Sarimsoqov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
Inquest at Obod
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑4 against Kokand 1912, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Match19 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Obod
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 6 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Obod are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Obod dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
7 new faces, and Obod 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
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Match12 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Obod
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Match12 Sep 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abror Sarimsoqov 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Lokomotiv left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kokand 1912 in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad14 Sep 2026
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Obod close the window on a squad of their own making
7 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Okzhetpes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Obod did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 51 days on the sidelines for Jaloliddin Urunov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Bunyodkor wanted more than $5.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Boardroom7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abror Sarimsoqov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Navbahor have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Akmal Komilov slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Akmal Komilov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
Okzhetpes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Obod did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Obod
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.
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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
The goals have deserted Obod
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obod can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Bunyodkor 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$25.0K was the most the club would pay and AGMK 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Obod have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match29 Aug 2026
Obod 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Obod against AGMK
0‑2 to AGMK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
A row about effort at Obod
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The dugout
Mirzo Fayzullaev is still being punished for one mistake
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AGMK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match22 Aug 2026
Obod cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Obod have gone to AGMK 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
AGMK will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Akbar O'ktamov has pre-agreed a move to Obod, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shaxzod Shaymanov, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
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Squad
7 new faces, and Obod are still learning each other
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The dugout
Aziz Ahmedov answers for it
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Obod taken apart
0‑4 to Neftchi, 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Obod out of the cup
Pakhtakor ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market17 Aug 2026
Obod say no — this time
The offer from Lokomotiv for Jaloliddin Urunov 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup embarrassment at Pakhtakor follows Obod home
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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.
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
Obod cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
Lokomotiv come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Obod did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Shortan, 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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luigi Dalla Valle commits to Obod for another 2 years.
Squad10 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 Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Obod against Sogdiana
0‑1 to Sogdiana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulla Mirzaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Shaxzod Shaymanov 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sogdiana have kept their man, and Obod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Obod have made the call to Shortan. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Obod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rustam Nematov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Aug 2026
Obod and Nasaf take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Abdulla Mirzaev
“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.