From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
Nikola Trujić gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nikola Trujić is on 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 AGMK would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market8 Nov 2027
The Uroš Kojić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Kojić signs something — a contract at AGMK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
30 starts now, an average of 7.03, and the team sheet at Shortan has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
15 appearances at Andijon and the goals have stopped going in. AGMK lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Nikola Trujić 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 Nikola Trujić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The coaching staff have set Rian Islomov something separate to do. Whether it is a weakness being addressed or a strength being sharpened, nobody outside the building will know until it shows up on a Saturday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
114% of the income goes out in wages at AGMK
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Market1 Nov 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Abror Karimov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AGMK.
The dugout1 Nov 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.
Squad1 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 AGMK would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market1 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Abror Karimov moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at AGMK than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AGMK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Oct 2027
Abror Karimov 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 AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behruzbek Asqarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Nikola Trujić
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. AGMK will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Behruzbek Asqarov is on it.
The dugout25 Oct 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout25 Oct 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 AGMK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Oct 2027
AGMK finish in position 9
37 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
“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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Ibroxim Numonov: 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.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match16 Oct 2027
No end in sight to AGMK's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AGMK has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Oct 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov 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 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Oct 2027
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Squad11 Oct 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 AGMK know it.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
No place for Temur Odilov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AGMK are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Nikola Trujić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sherzodjon Komilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Oct 2027
The Uroš Kojić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uroš Kojić signs something — a contract at AGMK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market11 Oct 2027
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and AGMK have gone and got theirs early.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
29 starts now, an average of 7.04, and the team sheet at Shortan has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
There were 8 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgi Papava and AGMK agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
A bad afternoon for AGMK against Nasaf
0‑2 to Nasaf, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giorgi Papava, and the manager let it.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages swallow 129% of the AGMK income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AGMK told Javohir Ilyosov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout4 Oct 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 0‑2 Eldor Ismailov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for AGMK against Metallurg
1‑3 to Metallurg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov 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 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Javohir Ilyosov
“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 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Akobir Mo'minov 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 Sep 2027
5 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AGMK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaloliddin Masharipov and AGMK agree another 3 years.
Match18 Sep 2027
AGMK share the spoils with Mashal
A 1‑1 draw with Mashal leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AGMK will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Eldor Ismailov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Rian 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
No place in the plan for Uroš Kojić
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.36 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Market13 Sep 2027
Irtysh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AGMK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 targets13 Sep 2027
AGMK asked and Bukhara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behruzbek Asqarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Jaloliddin Masharipov 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jaloliddin Masharipov. 1‑0 against Shortan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings13 Sep 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 7.80. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
AGMK close the window on a squad of their own making
10 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kokand 1912 keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
$130.0K on the table at Bukhara. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages swallow 95% of the AGMK income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abror Sarimsoqov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Aug 2027
3‑0, and Siavash Haghnazari took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AGMK tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
AGMK and Kokand 1912 have settled on $160.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Giorgi Papava and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kokand 1912 have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 8.56. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AGMK.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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 dugout30 Aug 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Eldor Ismailov on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A season average of 7.20 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Aug 2027
Shortan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AGMK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market23 Aug 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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Aug 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 targets23 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behruzbek Asqarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Aug 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AGMK.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
The game went through Uroš Kojić — 6.94
Marked 6.94 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Avazbek O'lmasaliyev has come up in conversations AGMK were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$150.0K on the table at Kokand 1912. 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 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
A bad afternoon for AGMK against Bukhara
0‑1 to Bukhara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Ali Abdurahmonov 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Eldor Ismailov to a room that had heard them before.
Looking ahead16 Aug 2027
The leaders are next for AGMK
Navbahor top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Aug 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; AGMK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Eldor Ismailov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout9 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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aziz Xolmurodov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Jul 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Siavash Haghnazari scored in the 87th minute, Qizilqum had already begun thinking about the journey home, and AGMK took the lot.
Squad2 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets2 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
AGMK get the job done against Qizilqum
A 2‑1 win over Qizilqum, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Loan watch2 Aug 2027
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Neftchi continues; the message travels home.
Loan watch2 Aug 2027
“I watch every AGMK game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nasaf runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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 ratings2 Aug 2027
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Avazbek O'lmasaliyev, and the manager let it.
Match24 Jul 2027
0‑1 to Kokand 1912, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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 Jul 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eldor Ismailov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Crvena Zvezda 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Behruzbek Asqarov is on it.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
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
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
AGMK say no — this time
The offer from Shortan for Avazbek O'lmasaliyev 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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match17 Jul 2027
Nobody wants to play AGMK 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Lokomotiv made AGMK work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout19 Jul 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 dugout19 Jul 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
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market12 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Avazbek O'lmasaliyev again, and this time the name on the line is Shortan. AGMK are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bunyodkor keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
A performance of 9.75 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match10 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aziz Xolmurodov. 3‑1 against Pakhtakor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behruzbek Asqarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Eldor Ismailov could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Abror Sarimsoqov: 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.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Bunyodkor have accepted the money. What AGMK do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match3 Jul 2027
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kokand 1912 have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behruzbek Asqarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Jul 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Aziz Xolmurodov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AGMK.
Loan watch5 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Pakhtakor to sit and watch. I want to come back to AGMK and fight for my place.” 8 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 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 AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Jun 2027
7 matches without a win for AGMK
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around AGMK are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$150.0K on the table at Kokand 1912. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets28 Jun 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.
The dugout28 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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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 Jun 2027
AGMK rescue it on 87 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Neftchi had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Jun 2027
AGMK bow out of the cup
Lokomotiv go through and AGMK go home, 1‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market21 Jun 2027
AGMK say no — this time
The offer from Obod for Avazbek O'lmasaliyev 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 terraces21 Jun 2027
AGMK are taken apart by Lokomotiv — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Match19 Jun 2027
6 matches without a win for AGMK
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around AGMK are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Rian Islomov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.82
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 6.82, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov 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 targets21 Jun 2027
AGMK 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.
Match21 Jun 2027
Halfway: AGMK sit in position 10
17 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
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Boardroom
Doors closed at AGMK
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Uroš Kojić
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Squad
A falling-out at AGMK
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Jun 2027
Nowhere to hide for AGMK
0‑3 against Nasaf, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market14 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AGMK have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to AGMK's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AGMK has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Asilbek Aliev is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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 targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Nobody left the AGMK 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 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. AGMK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match5 Jun 2027
7 unbeaten for AGMK
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation AGMK did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Jun 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Paata Kiteishvili arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Paata Kiteishvili has, at AGMK, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
AGMK asked and Mashal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I did not go to Nasaf to sit and watch. I want to come back to AGMK and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov 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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 8.27. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AGMK.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AGMK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match29 May 2027
AGMK make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad31 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 May 2027
Whatever happens, AGMK do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad31 May 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov 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 ratings31 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.67 on the card, and the AGMK support went home talking about one name.
The dugout31 May 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad31 May 2027
One booking too many, and Arihiro Sentoku sits out. AGMK lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 May 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behruzbek Asqarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 May 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mirjamol Qosimov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AGMK.
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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Behruzbek Asqarov is on it.
The dugout24 May 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout24 May 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hamidullo Abdunabiyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGMK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 terraces17 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Aziz Xolmurodov 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.
Match15 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uroš Kojić. 2‑0 against Obod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Aziz Xolmurodov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. 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.
Squad17 May 2027
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 ratings17 May 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match8 May 2027
4 matches without a win for AGMK
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AGMK are no longer polite ones.
Match8 May 2027
AGMK make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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 ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 May 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.
Match8 May 2027
Honours even between AGMK and Navbahor
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout10 May 2027
Aziz Xolmurodov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov 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 watch3 May 2027
“I watch every AGMK game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pakhtakor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces3 May 2027
The crowd has taken to Uroš Kojić
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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Uroš Kojić at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AGMK.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Neftchi continues; the message travels home.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Asilbek Aliev 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Siavash Haghnazari
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Siavash Haghnazari has come out of that comparison in the side, and AGMK have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
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Match
Honours even between AGMK and Bukhara
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Uroš Kojić knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aziz Xolmurodov, and the manager let it.
Match24 Apr 2027
The run at home goes on for AGMK
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 8.08 — 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 ratings26 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match24 Apr 2027
AGMK and Andijon take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Eldor Ismailov chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Behruzbek Asqarov is on it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The plan did not have a place for Giorgi Papava
Nobody at AGMK is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Apr 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Eldorbek Begimov 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Eldor Ismailov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Javohir Ilyosov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Mollo Bessala: 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.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match10 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play AGMK 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.
Squad12 Apr 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
At 22 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Siavash Haghnazari. 2‑0 against Kokand 1912, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Nodirbek Abdurazzoqov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AGMK.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamidullo Abdunabiyev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Mar 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Asilbek Aliev obliged against Bukhara. 4‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is AGMK.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
A brace, and Asilbek Aliev takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Asilbek Aliev provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Giorgi Papava and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
At 22 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giorgi Papava, and the manager let it.
Match3 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Siavash Haghnazari. 1‑0 against Lokomotiv, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
AGMK's travelling support get something back at Lokomotiv
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 1-0 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Mar 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 Mar 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov 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 dugout29 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Lokomotiv next, and one man in the AGMK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market29 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Asilbek Aliev 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 AGMK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AGMK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match20 Mar 2027
6 goals in one match, Siavash Haghnazari on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AGMK and Pakhtakor.
Match20 Mar 2027
Pakhtakor left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout22 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
Javohir Ilyosov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Asilbek Aliev 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 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamidullo Abdunabiyev, and the manager let it.
Match13 Mar 2027
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 dugout15 Mar 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
AGMK take on the side everybody is chasing
Pakhtakor arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
Pakhtakor next, and one man in the AGMK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad15 Mar 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 AGMK would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The AGMK board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Papava and AGMK agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Mollo Bessala 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Asilbek Aliev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at AGMK
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.
Match6 Mar 2027
AGMK come up short against Neftchi
Neftchi left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rustam Suyunov 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Amir Nematov 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
One of our own: Jasur Mirzaev joins the AGMK first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jasur Mirzaev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
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Market
Sherzod Akhmedov steps up from the AGMK academy
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Squad
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
A promise the AGMK board did not keep
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
Giorgi Papava 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.
Squad1 Mar 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; AGMK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Mollo Bessala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmadullo Muqumjonov 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Neftchi next, and one man in the AGMK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market1 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AGMK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giorgi Papava
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AGMK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGMK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
Javohir Ilyosov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Giorgi Papava damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
AGMK asked and Legia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mirjamol Qosimov, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Nikola Trujić 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. AGMK know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mirjamol Qosimov is on it.
Market15 Feb 2027
The Uroš Kojić question follows AGMK around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Uroš Kojić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Giorgi Papava damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AGMK people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Giorgi Papava and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at AGMK
5 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Aziz Xolmurodov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
AGMK bring in an old head
Nikola Trujić is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Giorgi Papava damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Qizilqum come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AGMK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 2 in, 5 out at AGMK
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
AGMK asked and LNZ 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
LNZ 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AGMK will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Behruzbek Asqarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
Squad1 Feb 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 AGMK would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces25 Jan 2027
AGMK sell a favourite for $630.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Asadbek Sobirjonov was one of the reasons people came, and $630.0K does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pakhtakor is saying, and nobody at AGMK is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets25 Jan 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LNZ have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market25 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Neftchi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Shahzod Toirov. The answer from AGMK has not changed — yet.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at AGMK
Asilbek Aliev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market25 Jan 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Mashal will make the call about Hamidullo Abdunabiyev this week. AGMK have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 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 AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Andijon 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at AGMK
Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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 dugout18 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.
The dugout18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The Uroš Kojić question follows AGMK around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Uroš Kojić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody else’s transfer, somebody else’s headline. What it left at AGMK is a friend gone and a player who keeps looking at the space.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Uroš Kojić takes up the language
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 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 AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
Pakhtakor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AGMK did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AGMK people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AGMK will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Aziz Xolmurodov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
The dugout11 Jan 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at AGMK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
AGMK say no — this time
The offer from Pakhtakor for Giorgi Papava 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Sherzodjon Komilov again, and this time the name on the line is Nasaf. AGMK are listening politely and promising nothing.
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
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 targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Ivan Timoshenko is in the works
AGMK have made the call to Rodina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market4 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AGMK will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eldorbek Begimov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 148% of everything AGMK 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.
The dugout28 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Javohir Ilyosov is on it.
Market28 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aziz Xolmurodov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siavash Haghnazari 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
A falling-out at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 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.
Squad21 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.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
30 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
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 AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behruzbek Asqarov 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 dugout14 Dec 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Ali Abdurahmonov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AGMK say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Akbar O'ktamov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Akbar O'ktamov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGMK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abror Sarimsoqov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 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.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Uroš Kojić linked with a move away
The name of Uroš Kojić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AGMK say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sherzodjon Komilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AGMK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siavash Haghnazari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
167% of the income goes out in wages at AGMK
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Javohir Ilyosov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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
Tempers go at AGMK
Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Eldorbek Begimov 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
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout16 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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
Siavash Haghnazari 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
62 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout16 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
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Nov 2026
Akbar O'ktamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siavash Haghnazari 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Behruzbek Asqarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Uroš Kojić linked with a move away
The name of Uroš Kojić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AGMK say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGMK will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The AGMK board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 167% of everything AGMK 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.
The dugout2 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market2 Nov 2026
AGMK have made Dilshodbek Ahmadaliyev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market2 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aziz Xolmurodov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one AGMK will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AGMK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Siavash Haghnazari 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 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AGMK told Arihiro Sentoku something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and AGMK 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Naoaki Senaga
“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
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Squad19 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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Siavash Haghnazari. 1‑0 against Sogdiana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.62, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Eldor Ismailov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout19 Oct 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Aziz Xolmurodov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. AGMK lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Oct 2026
Akbar O'ktamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at AGMK
Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eldorbek Begimov 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamidullo Abdunabiyev, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market12 Oct 2026
Uroš Kojić linked with a move away
The name of Uroš Kojić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AGMK say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AGMK will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Siavash Haghnazari 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for AGMK
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
234% of the income goes out in wages at AGMK
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match3 Oct 2026
Nasaf take the points off AGMK
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Oct 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
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 0‑2 Eldor Ismailov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Javohir Ilyosov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Javohir Ilyosov has come out of that comparison in the side, and AGMK have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Sep 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Asadbek Sobirjonov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AGMK.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at AGMK
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmadullo Muqumjonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Eldor Ismailov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout28 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.
Player ratings28 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
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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
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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Avazbek O'lmasaliyev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eldor Ismailov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AGMK dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nobody at AGMK is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Match19 Sep 2026
AGMK draw a blank against Mashal
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Mashal defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Metallurg next, and one man in the AGMK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Sep 2026
AGMK say no — this time
The offer from Shortan for Abror Karimov 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Akbar O'ktamov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGMK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Mirjamol Qosimov did the work nobody counts — 7.42
13 combined actions and 7.42. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Arihiro Sentoku did the work nobody counts — 7.76
12 combined actions and 7.76. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The terraces14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
AGMK get the job done against Shortan
A 2‑0 win over Shortan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AGMK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at AGMK
Shahzod Toirov 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
Steady
Market7 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 AGMK can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
AGMK close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 5 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
AGMK say no — this time
The offer from Obod for Akbar O'ktamov 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banik Ostrava have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sherzodjon Komilov, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Javohir Ilyosov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AGMK 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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AGMK needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for AGMK
0‑2 against Navbahor, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
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 AGMK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Aug 2026
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
AGMK had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Radnicki Nis, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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
A falling-out at AGMK
Behruzbek Asqarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
AGMK find a way past Obod
Obod made AGMK work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Arihiro Sentoku
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match19 Aug 2026
AGMK through in the cup
A 1‑1 win over Nasaf, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match22 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for AGMK
A 0‑3 beating by Navbahor was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Shahzod Toirov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Neftchi is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Neftchi is saying, and nobody at AGMK is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Akbar O'ktamov has agreed terms with Obod for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Siavash Haghnazari 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
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
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for AGMK
A 4‑0 win over Qizilqum, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Abror Karimov takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abror Karimov provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Uroš Kojić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AGMK.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siavash Haghnazari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and AGMK go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at AGMK
Abubakr-Rizo Turdialiyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 AGMK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Abror Sarimsoqov has come up in conversations AGMK were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
AGMK asked and Dila said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 22 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jaloliddin Suyunov 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. Eldor Hasanov 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
One of our own: Aziz Abdullaev joins the AGMK first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aziz Abdullaev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Basaksehir 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Siavash Haghnazari commits to AGMK for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AGMK
Giorgi Papava 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 Aug 2026
A row about effort at AGMK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siavash Haghnazari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
AGMK asked and Universitatea Craiova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match1 Aug 2026
Qizilqum left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and AGMK 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.