From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Okzhetpes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitriy Borodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Dmitriy Borodin 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 Dec 2026
Rinat Nurgaliev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout21 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Qobylandy Kamariden commits to Okzhetpes for another 3 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dmitriy Borodin 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
Saian Mūqanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zhansūltan Mūkhametzhanov and Okzhetpes agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Vasiliy Sovpel 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
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Borodin 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
Upbeat
Market30 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Okzhetpes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitriy Borodin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Nov 2026
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Okzhetpes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shahzod Azmiddinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Shahzod Azmiddinov 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
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Talğat Kusiapov 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
Upbeat
Market2 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Viktor Ziabko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viktor Ziabko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Okzhetpes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fernandinho and Okzhetpes agree another 1 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Shahzod Azmiddinov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Toqtar Zhańğylyshbai, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Fernandinho has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Okzhetpes know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Okzhetpes, another week without a signature from Fernandinho.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Shahzod Azmiddinov 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
Upbeat
Market19 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 18 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ordabasy Abiken and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Shahzod Azmiddinov 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
Okzhetpes are still strangers to each other
23 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Oct 2026
Viktor Ziabko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shahzod Azmiddinov 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
Upbeat
Market28 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Dmitriy Borodin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Talğat Kusiapov 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
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Okzhetpes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Vasiliy Sovpel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Okzhetpes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 0 out at Okzhetpes
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Obod is saying, and nobody at Okzhetpes is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Ordabasy Abiken 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 Sep 2026
Talğat Kusiapov 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 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Okzhetpes are still strangers to each other
23 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.
Market14 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Okzhetpes lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Viktor Ziabko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Viktor Ziabko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Okzhetpes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Pakhtakor 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Talğat Kusiapov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Okzhetpes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Borodin 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 targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aktobe have kept their man, and Okzhetpes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zhansūltan Mūkhametzhanov, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Oralkhan Ömirtaev 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.
Market7 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Okzhetpes lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Okzhetpes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Zhansūltan Mūkhametzhanov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Borys Lototskyi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Zhalğas Zhaqsylyqov 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
Upbeat
Market24 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Okzhetpes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Aug 2026
Viktor Ziabko 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 Okzhetpes can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mohammed Ensebaev has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Vasiliy Sovpel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dmitriy Borodin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Okzhetpes asked and Temperley 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Okzhetpes have made the call to Pakhtakor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Bukhara 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Baurzhan Taykenov and Okzhetpes agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2026
Okzhetpes bow out of the cup
Irtysh go through and Okzhetpes go home, 2‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nūrğaini Böribaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Okzhetpes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Okzhetpes — 7.43
1 for Zhansūltan Mūkhametzhanov, marked 7.43, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Akzhaiyk 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Viktor Ziabko has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vasiliy Sovpel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Okzhetpes and Irtysh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Marat Shomko after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Okzhetpes
Dmitriy Borodin 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Talğat Kusiapov for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Okzhetpes will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Maxim Tymoshchuk has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ordabasy Dosmagambetov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Baurzhan Taykenov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Serikzhan Beysebekov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Match8 Aug 2026
Atyrau made Okzhetpes work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Okzhetpes support went home talking about one name.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Okzhetpes
19 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
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vasiliy Sovpel and Okzhetpes agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Okzhetpes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dmitriy Borodin 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 targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Akzhaiyk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.