From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
Maksym Tretiakov damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Match15 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Obolon
Position 15 and 28 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.
Market15 Feb 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 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Figueroa 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavlo Polehenko
“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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Kostiantyn Bychek was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Obolon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Probiy runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Obolon leave it late against Veres
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Veres spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market8 Feb 2027
The paperwork is done: Ihor Potimkov joins from Ahrobiznes in a deal worth $100.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kostiantyn Bychek commits to Obolon for another 4 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Three points for Obolon, 2‑1 the final word against Veres in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Obolon's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obolon has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Feb 2027
The fee is $56.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Poltava drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leroy Abanda 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.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I watch every Obolon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shakhtar runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad1 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Obolon's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obolon has to find a result from somewhere.
Market25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 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; Obolon are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match23 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Obolon against Shakhtar
1‑2 to Shakhtar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Maksym Chekh
“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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Maksym Tretiakov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Mitch Apau falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Obolon
Position 16 and 23 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Obolon
8 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.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
16th and falling: the mood at Obolon has gone
23 points and a position everybody in the ground can do the arithmetic on. The songs have stopped being about the team and started being about surviving, which is a different noise entirely.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Leroy Abanda gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market18 Jan 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Levadia will make the call about Denys Marchenko this week. Obolon have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
“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 Obolon, and 4 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Obolon
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Obolon are no longer polite ones.
Match9 Jan 2027
Obolon cannot find the net
5 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.
Squad11 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I watch every Obolon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Feniks runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Tretiakov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mitch Apau dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Obolon's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obolon has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Denys Marchenko is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match2 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Obolon
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obolon can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitch Apau 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 ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Shakhtar to sit and watch. I want to come back to Obolon and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Obolon's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obolon has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Obolon
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Obolon can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad28 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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
Obolon 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑2 to Dynamo Kyiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavlo Polehenko
“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
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market28 Dec 2026
The name of Denys Ustymenko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Obolon say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
A hiding for Obolon
Beaten 0‑3 by Polissia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Obolon
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.
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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denys Ustymenko, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitch Apau 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.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Obolon 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.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Probiy to sit and watch. I want to come back to Obolon and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Dec 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 Obolon can pretend not to have heard.
Match12 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Obolon against Kryvbas
0‑2 to Kryvbas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mitch Apau 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.
Squad14 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.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Feniks to sit and watch. I want to come back to Obolon and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mitch Apau dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Shakhtar to sit and watch. I want to come back to Obolon and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leroy Abanda, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Ivan Nesterenko at his very best
Marked 8.68. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Obolon.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Maksym Chekh
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Maksym Chekh has come out of that comparison in the side, and Obolon have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Oleh Slobodian dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A mark of 5.61 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Tretiakov, and the manager let it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Obolon share the spoils with Zorya
A 1‑1 draw with Zorya leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Obolon right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Obolon
Jhon Figueroa 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Roman Volokhatyi. 2‑1 against LNZ, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad23 Nov 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.25 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitch Apau 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
Steady
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 Obolon can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 31 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Obolon get the job done against Rukh
A 1‑0 win over Rukh, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Denys Ustymenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Obolon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Feniks runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Nov 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leroy Abanda 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Kolos made Obolon work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Maksym Chekh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Denys Ustymenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serhii Sukhanov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch9 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 Obolon, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match2 Nov 2026
Obolon are in real trouble now
Position 14, 10 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for Obolon
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Obolon are no longer polite ones.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Obolon
Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Obolon against Metalist
1‑2 to Metalist, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Maksym Tretiakov at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Obolon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mitch Apau falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Yehor Prokopenko: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Obolon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Obolon
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Obolon are no longer polite ones.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 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 Obolon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Obolon
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Obolon are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artem Kulakovskyi and Obolon agree another 3 years.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match17 Oct 2026
Poltava left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Denys Ustymenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Feniks to sit and watch. I want to come back to Obolon and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 2026
Maksym Chekh 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 Obolon can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Denys Marchenko is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Obolon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shakhtar runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitch Apau 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
No time for Shakhtar to settle
The goal that put Shakhtar ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Obolon equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad12 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It needed Denys Ustymenko to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Shakhtar, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Denys Ustymenko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Oleksandriya, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 98% of everything Obolon earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 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.
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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Obolon
Pavlo Polehenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Obolon, 2‑1 the final word against Kudrivka in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.70 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.61 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mitch Apau 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Vasyl Bundash
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The cruellest goal, and it is Serhii Sukhanov's
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Obolon will not try tonight.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 5.78, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Sep 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 Obolon can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A move Leroy Abanda 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. Leroy Abanda is living that version at Obolon, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Obolon
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Obolon are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leroy Abanda, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch14 Sep 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 Obolon, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 26 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Obolon against Polissia
1‑2 to Polissia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavlo Polehenko, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.20 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market7 Sep 2026
Kudrivka are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Obolon will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Obolon
1‑2 against Poltava, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Ruslan Chernenko out for 112 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Obolon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ihor Medynskyi, 33, rolls back the years — 8.26
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.26 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad31 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.64, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mitch Apau 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Kryvbas leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market31 Aug 2026
Obolon have made Nazarii Fedorivskyi available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Mainz 05 come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Obolon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denys Ustymenko. 2‑1 against Karpaty, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad24 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Obolon signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Obolon
Jhon Figueroa 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad17 Aug 2026
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roman Volokhatyi and Obolon agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Obolon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denys Ustymenko, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
LNZ take the points off Obolon
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market10 Aug 2026
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Loan watch10 Aug 2026
“I did not go to Shakhtar to sit and watch. I want to come back to Obolon and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 0 matches say the rest.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 23 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pavlo Polehenko commits to Obolon for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Obolon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Polehenko 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Obolon come up short against Rukh
Rukh left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Nesterenko 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.60, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.