31 Aug 2027
Tuesday
Process
57 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Orsha

A 0‑4 beating by Lokomotiv Gomel was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Nikita Volchenko asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Market

Matvey Bazhanov has said yes to Osipovichi

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Orsha have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Orsha

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Orsha is running low.

Squad

6 saves: Maxim Makarov was the team

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.

Squad

Vladislav Bolotnikov 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. Vladislav Bolotnikov has, at Orsha, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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 targets

Door shut on Andrei Ihnatovich

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

In brief

  • Market Business is business: Stanislau Volodko goes
  • Squad Words at Orsha training over how hard people work
  • Match Orsha are shipping goals every week
Back issues
56 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Orsha

8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Abdulaziz Lawal 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Roman Kravchenko agrees terms with Bumprom Gomel

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Orsha people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Player ratings

Stanislau Volodko, 17, steals the show — 7.64

Marked 7.64 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Matvey Bazhanov is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orsha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Aliaksandr Rios out for 57 days

The medical room confirms 57 days on the sidelines for Aliaksandr Rios, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Transfer targets

Nikita Matusevich is a medical away from Orsha

The deal with Torpedo-BelAZ 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.

Boardroom

The numbers do not look good at Orsha

Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Egor Grivenev

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

In brief

55 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Orsha board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Orsha

Position 13 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Stanislau Volodko 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Orsha say no — this time

The offer from Belshina for Stanislau Volodko 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.

Boardroom

Roman Kravchenko has agreed to leave Orsha for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Market

Ostrovets expected to open talks for Matvey Bazhanov

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Orsha will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Ageev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Orsha try to borrow Kirill Apanasevich

BATE 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.

In brief

54 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Maxim Makarov stands alone

8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Denis Rudenok 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Orsha say no — this time

The offer from Spartaks for Roman Kravchenko 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.

Market

Stanislav Bulakhov is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orsha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Boardroom

Stanislav Bulakhov signs for Baranovichi while still at Orsha

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Stanislav Bulakhov has agreed terms with Baranovichi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Transfer targets

Molodechno tell Orsha: Maxim Mardas is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Khvostovich 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.

In brief

53 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Nikita Volchenko 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Terms done: Matvey Bazhanov is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uni-X Labs waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Orsha is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Orsha

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Orsha is running low.

Market

Only the photograph left for Stanislau Volodko

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislau Volodko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orsha the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

The wait goes on for Orsha

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

The dugout

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Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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.

Match

Orsha come up short against Belshina

Belshina left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Bobchenok 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.

In brief

52 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Nikita Bobchenok 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Roman Kravchenko has said yes to Slonim

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Orsha have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Orsha rebuffed over Andrei Klimovich

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

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Bobchenok 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 dugout

No place for Abdulaziz Lawal on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Orsha pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

Player ratings

Denis Khvostovich was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Osipovichi expected to open talks for Matvey Bazhanov

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Orsha will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

In brief

51 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Orsha has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Match

Orsha sink to position 13

11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Ruslan Slavin asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Player ratings

Ruslan Slavin scores twice — 8.60

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.

Market

Stanislau Volodko agrees terms with Baranovichi

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Orsha people have started saying his name in the past tense.

The dugout

Artem Volodkov: 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.” Orsha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Transfer targets

Door shut on Pavel Korzun

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

In brief

50 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Maxim Makarov puts it in writing

“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 Orsha, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

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Squad

Gleb Zheleznikov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Orsha

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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Andrei Ihnatovich

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

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Khvostovich 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 181% of the Orsha 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.

Market

Egor Filipenko steps up from the Orsha academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Egor Filipenko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Yahor Filipenko joins the Orsha first team

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

In brief

49 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Orsha put Ruslan Arlouski on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Orsha

0‑3 against Uni-X Labs, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Market

Nikita Volchenko puts it in writing

“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 Orsha, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Orsha

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Maxim Makarov

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.

The dugout

Yaroslav Chistyakov says Orsha went back on their word

“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.

The dugout

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Transfer targets

Door shut on Nikita Matusevich

Orsha asked and Torpedo-BelAZ 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 dugout

No hiding place for Maxim Makarov

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

In brief

  • Squad A row about effort at Orsha
  • Squad Words exchanged at Orsha
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Orsha dressing room in a hurry
48 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Orsha taken apart

0‑3 to Volna Pinsk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market

Terms done: Matvey Bazhanov is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ostrovets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Orsha is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Prokhor Struk

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

Squad

Denis Khvostovich 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.

Market

Slonim watching Roman Kravchenko

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

Boardroom

Nobody left the Orsha dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

The dugout

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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Ruslan Arlouski to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

47 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Orsha board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

Orsha are in real trouble now

Position 12, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Ruslan Slavin 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Aliaksandr Savitski breaks Baranovichi hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Aliaksandr Savitski scored in the 89th minute, Baranovichi had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Orsha took the lot.

Player ratings

Both of them Aliaksandr Savitski's — 8.66

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Maxim Makarov keeps Orsha in it on his own

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.

Market

Orsha say no — this time

The offer from Lokomotiv Moscow for Matvey Bazhanov 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 targets

The paperwork begins on Pavel Tarletskiy

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Orsha have done the hard part with Minsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Match

At last: Orsha win one

7 matches without a win, and then this, against Baranovichi. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

In brief

46 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Maxim Makarov stands alone

9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

A hiding for Orsha

Beaten 0‑3 by Osipovichi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Maxim Makarov asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Match

7 matches without a win for Orsha

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Orsha are no longer polite ones.

Match

Orsha are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

The dugout

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Match

Orsha cannot find the net

4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Gleb Zheleznikov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Wages eat 183% of everything Orsha 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.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Abdulaziz Lawal
  • Squad A row about effort at Orsha
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Orsha dressing room in a hurry
45 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Orsha

A 0‑3 beating by Slutsk was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Match

The wait goes on for Orsha

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Market

Ivan Ageev 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

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Match

Orsha leaking at the back

6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Temerlan Salimov

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Orsha

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Orsha can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

A row about effort at Orsha

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

In brief

  • Match The half-term report on Orsha
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Orsha dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
44 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Temerlan Salimov 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Artem Volodkov says Orsha went back on their word

“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.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Orsha

5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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.

Match

Orsha come up short against Lokomotiv Gomel

Lokomotiv Gomel left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Bobchenok 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 dugout

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 Ruslan Arlouski left the room before anybody could ask which.

Boardroom

Orsha counting the cost

The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Orsha now.

In brief

43 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Orsha spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Orsha

Position 12 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Pavel Bordukov 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Maxim Makarov stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

The wait goes on for Orsha

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Match

Orsha leaking at the back

4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Match

Orsha come up short against Ostrovets

Ostrovets left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Pavel Bordukov

“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.

In brief

42 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Nikita Bobchenok puts it in writing

“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 Orsha, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Khvostovich 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.

Boardroom

167% of the income goes out in wages at Orsha

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Abdulaziz Lawal

“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.

Squad

Orsha lose Stanislau Volodko

37 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Zakhar Korenkov 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 dugout

Nikita Volchenko 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 Orsha, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Looking ahead

Denis Khvostovich faces his old club

Ostrovets next, and one man in the Orsha dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

Market

Orsha and Stanislav Bulakhov are talking past each other

“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.

In brief

41 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Orsha

A 3‑8 beating by Smorgon was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Player ratings

Ruslan Slavin, 21, steals the show — 8.19

Marked 8.19 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Squad

6 saves: Maxim Makarov was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

The dugout

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Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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.

Match

Denis Khvostovich among the goals in a wild afternoon

11 goals in one match, Denis Khvostovich on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Orsha and Smorgon.

Market

One of our own: Uladzislau Gordeichuk joins the Orsha first team

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

The dugout

Nikita Volchenko gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Bobchenok 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.

In brief

40 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Temerlan Salimov puts it in writing

“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 Orsha, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Maxim Makarov keeps Orsha in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Player ratings

Stanislau Volodko, 17, steals the show — 7.80

Marked 7.80 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

The dugout

Sergey Bulynenok keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Orsha may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Denis Khvostovich in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Temerlan Salimov

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Orsha share the spoils with Belshina

A 2‑2 draw with Belshina leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Ruslan Slavin

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ruslan Slavin has come out of that comparison in the side, and Orsha have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Ruslan Arlouski on the draw

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

In brief

39 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Orsha board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Match

A hiding for Orsha

Beaten 1‑4 by Lida, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

Orsha are in real trouble now

Position 12, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Player ratings

Stanislau Volodko, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76

A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Khvostovich 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 dugout

No hiding place for Pavel Bordukov

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

Player ratings

Gleb Zheleznikov was unplayable

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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Orsha

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

38 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Orsha end the wait against Slonim

It had gone 13 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Player ratings

A brace, and Ruslan Slavin takes the afternoon — 8.83

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ruslan Slavin provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Temerlan Salimov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 25. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Match

Orsha get the job done against Slonim

A 2‑1 win over Slonim, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Ruslan Slavin

At 21 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.

Boardroom

131% of the income goes out in wages at Orsha

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 dugout

Ruslan Arlouski: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

In brief

37 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

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Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Orsha against Bumprom Gomel

0‑2 to Bumprom Gomel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

Raman Skavysh steps up from the Orsha academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raman Skavysh has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Uladzimir Noyok steps up from the Orsha academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uladzimir Noyok has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

The dugout

Taysir Adamchik gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Denis Khvostovich

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Abdulaziz Lawal knocks on the manager's door
  • Market Andrey Romanov is free to find somewhere else
36 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

12 matches without a win for Orsha

The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Orsha are no longer polite ones.

Match

Orsha bow out of the cup

Naftan go through and Orsha go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Market

Temerlan Salimov puts it in writing

“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 Orsha, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Maxim Makarov

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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.

Squad

Denis Khvostovich 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.

Match

Uni-X Labs take the points off Orsha

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Maxim Makarov

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

Player ratings

Gleb Zheleznikov was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. 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.

In brief

35 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Pavel Bordukov damages knee ligaments — 18 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The terraces

Anger at Orsha spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

The wait goes on for Orsha

10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Denis Khvostovich 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Yan Komarov

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 ratings

Nobody could get near Temerlan Salimov

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

100 appearances for Taysir Adamchik

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Player ratings

Yan Komarov takes the honours

Marked 7.63 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Orsha had the best player on the pitch.

In brief

34 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Pavel Bordukov damages knee ligaments — 25 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.

Match

9 matches without a win for Orsha

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Orsha are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

A brace, and Ruslan Slavin takes the afternoon — 8.74

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ruslan Slavin provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Orsha and Baranovichi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Match

Baranovichi take the points off Orsha

Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

One of their own: Ruslan Slavin

He is 20 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 123% of everything Orsha 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.

In brief

33 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Pavel Bordukov damages knee ligaments — 32 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.

Squad

11 saves: Maxim Makarov was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Maxim Makarov: 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.” Orsha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

The dugout

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Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Ruslan Slavin 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Orsha

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

Match

A bad afternoon for Orsha against Osipovichi

0‑2 to Osipovichi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Ruslan Slavin gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

32 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikita Bobchenok

19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orsha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

The wait goes on for Orsha

7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Boardroom

Orsha told to sell

The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.

Squad

Pavel Bordukov signs on for more

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

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

Denis Khvostovich was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Transfer targets

Orsha rebuffed over Denis Chuprunov

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

Boardroom

A promise the Orsha board did not keep

There was a commitment, there was a date, and the date went past. Trust at a football club takes years to build and one afternoon to spend.

The dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal is still paying for one afternoon at Orsha

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.

In brief

31 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok damages knee ligaments — 26 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

The terraces

Anger at Orsha spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Denis Rudenok asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Orsha

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Orsha lose Abdulaziz Lawal

22 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Gleb Zheleznikov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

Orsha counting the cost

The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Orsha now.

Market

Talks stall between Orsha and Sergey Bulynenok

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

The dugout

No hiding place for Stanislav Bulakhov

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

In brief

30 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok damages knee ligaments — 33 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Transfer targets

Orsha rebuffed over Valery Kislyak

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

Squad

Denis Khvostovich 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 124% of everything Orsha 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.

In brief

29 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikita Bobchenok

40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orsha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Maxim Makarov asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Baranovichi tell Orsha: Oleg Tyulkov is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Khvostovich 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 dugout

The manager makes Sergey Bulynenok a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Orsha. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

28 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok damages knee ligaments — 47 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.

Market

Temerlan Salimov asks to leave Orsha

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Transfer targets

Orsha rebuffed over Denis Chuprunov

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

The dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Yaroslav Chistyakov 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Abdulaziz Lawal's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Transfer targets

Orsha try to borrow Valery Kislyak

Gomel 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.

Market

Roman Kravchenko is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Orsha has been clear about where Roman Kravchenko stands, which is more than many ever get.

Market

Ivan Ageev placed on the list

Orsha have made Ivan Ageev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

In brief

27 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikita Bobchenok

55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orsha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The terraces

Anger at Orsha spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Market

Sergey Bulynenok 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Temerlan Salimov’s move to Bumprom Gomel falls through

The deal that would have taken Temerlan Salimov to Bumprom Gomel has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Orsha with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Market

Smorgon come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Orsha did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Abdulaziz Lawal out for 50 days

The medical room confirms 50 days on the sidelines for Abdulaziz Lawal, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Transfer targets

Prokhor Struk turns down Orsha

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

Squad

A row about effort at Orsha

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

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

In brief

26 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikita Bobchenok

63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orsha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Denis Khvostovich 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 123% of the Orsha 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 dugout

Taysir Adamchik 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 Orsha, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Denis Rudenok is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Orsha has been clear about where Denis Rudenok stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

Roman Kravchenko gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

25 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Nikita Bobchenok out for 70 days

70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Orsha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Temerlan Salimov is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orsha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

In brief

24 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Nikita Bobchenok out for 77 days

77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Orsha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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.

Squad

Denis Khvostovich 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.

Market

Orsha promote Mikita Nekhaichik from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mikita Nekhaichik has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

Orsha promote Artem Shikavka from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Artem Shikavka 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.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Abdulaziz Lawal's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Squad

Yaroslav Chistyakov is a square peg at Orsha

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

The dugout

No hiding place for Stanislav Bulakhov

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

In brief

23 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok damages knee ligaments — 84 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.

Market

Temerlan Salimov asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Squad

A move Yaroslav Chistyakov would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yaroslav Chistyakov is living that version at Orsha, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Gleb Zheleznikov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sergey Bulynenok

“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.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Chistyakov 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.

In brief

22 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok damages knee ligaments — 91 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Boardroom

161% of the income goes out in wages at Orsha

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 dugout

Sergey Bulynenok has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sergey Bulynenok has written the date down.

Market

The Matvey Bazhanov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matvey Bazhanov signs something — a contract at Orsha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

Roman Kravchenko: “I am not a substitute”

“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 Orsha will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

In brief

21 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok damages knee ligaments — 98 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Temerlan Salimov

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Temerlan Salimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orsha the goodbyes have quietly begun.

The dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal 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 Orsha, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

20 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Nikita Bobchenok damages knee ligaments — 105 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Nikita Bobchenok 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 dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal is still paying for one afternoon at Orsha

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal 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 Orsha, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Orsha put Temerlan Salimov up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Temerlan Salimov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

Market

Orsha and Roman Kravchenko are talking past each other

“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.

In brief

19 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Nikita Bobchenok out for 112 days

112 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Orsha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok puts it in writing

“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 Orsha, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Squad

A row about effort at Orsha

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

The dugout

Sergey Bulynenok gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Orsha

Something was said to Maxim Makarov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

18 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Nikita Bobchenok out for 119 days

119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Orsha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Temerlan Salimov 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ivan Berezun

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Berezun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orsha the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Temerlan Salimov

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Orsha will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Denis Khvostovich 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.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulaziz Lawal 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 152% of the Orsha 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Stanislau Volodko

“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.

Market

The Matvey Bazhanov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matvey Bazhanov signs something — a contract at Orsha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

17 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Nikita Bobchenok out for 126 days

126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Orsha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Only the photograph left for Temerlan Salimov

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Temerlan Salimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orsha the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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 dugout

Roman Kravchenko gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Stanislau Volodko 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 Stanislau Volodko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

The training reports on Gleb Zheleznikov are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

In brief

16 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Nikita Bobchenok out for 133 days

133 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Orsha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

Artem Volodkov says Orsha went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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 dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

Andrey Romanov gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Ivan Berezun 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 Orsha, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

15 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Nikita Bobchenok out for 140 days

140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Orsha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Squad

Gleb Zheleznikov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Orsha promote Artem Dragun from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Artem Dragun 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sergey Bulynenok

“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.

Market

Orsha and Ivan Berezun are talking past each other

“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.

In brief

14 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Temerlan Salimov 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ivan Berezun

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Berezun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orsha the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Orsha told to sell

The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 152% of the Orsha 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 dugout

No hiding place for Abdulaziz Lawal

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

Market

Still no ink between Orsha and Sergey Bulynenok

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

Squad

Maxim Makarov moves up the pecking order

Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Orsha than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.

Market

The Matvey Bazhanov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matvey Bazhanov signs something — a contract at Orsha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

Ruslan Slavin is put on a programme of his own

Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.

In brief

13 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal: 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.” Orsha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Temerlan Salimov has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orsha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulaziz Lawal 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Stanislau Volodko 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 dugout

Roman Kravchenko gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

Roman Kravchenko wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Orsha will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

In brief

12 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Ruslan Slavin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Abdulaziz Lawal 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Abdulaziz Lawal's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

In brief

11 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Nikita Bobchenok 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Denis Khvostovich and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Market

Orsha promote Yauhen Rios from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yauhen Rios 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.

The dugout

Sergey Bulynenok gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Ivan Ageev 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 Ivan Ageev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Denis Khvostovich has settled at Orsha

The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.

In brief

10 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Temerlan Salimov 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Ivan Berezun has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orsha they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Squad

Abdulaziz Lawal 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 183% of the Orsha 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Orsha

11 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 dugout

No hiding place for Zakhar Korenkov

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

Market

The Matvey Bazhanov story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matvey Bazhanov signs something — a contract at Orsha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

Orsha put Sergey Chistyakov up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Sergey Chistyakov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

9 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Temerlan Salimov is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orsha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Abdulaziz Lawal 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 dugout

Artem Volodkov gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Orsha to Maxim Sapriko

The clock did what Vitebsk would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

The dugout

Ivan Berezun asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

8 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Sergi Abramishvili turns down Orsha

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

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov 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 targets

Door shut on Pavel Korzun

Orsha asked and Molodechno 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 targets

Deadline beats Orsha to Denis Zakharov

The clock did what Vitebsk would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

The dugout

Abdulaziz Lawal is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

Artem Volodkov 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 Orsha, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

7 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Nikita Bobchenok puts it in writing

“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 Orsha, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

The Volna Pinsk deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nikita Bobchenok reports back to Orsha with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Sergi Abramishvili

Orsha and Isloch have settled on $57.0K. 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.

Boardroom

Orsha close the window on a squad of their own making

16 in and 4 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 targets

Maxim Sapriko due for a Orsha medical

Everything agreed with Vitebsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Orsha rebuffed over Kirill Butevich

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

Squad

A row about effort at Orsha

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sergey Bulynenok

“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.

Market

Talks stall between Orsha and Ivan Berezun

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

In brief

6 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Temerlan Salimov 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Ivan Berezun is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orsha is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Transfer targets

Pavel Tarletskiy due for a Orsha medical

Everything agreed with Minsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Orsha rebuffed over Vitaliy Zygmantovich

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

Squad

Abdulaziz Lawal 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.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Yan Komarov for 17 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Orsha will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

10 new faces, and Orsha 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Market

Still no ink between Orsha and Sergey Bulynenok

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

In brief

5 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Temerlan Salimov

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Temerlan Salimov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orsha the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

The wait goes on for Orsha

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Transfer targets

Orsha agree $24.0K for Vladislav Zaytsev

The clubs have shaken hands with Dnepr Mogilev; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Match

Orsha leaking at the back

6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Boardroom

Orsha to lose Ivan Berezun for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ivan Berezun has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Transfer targets

Orsha rebuffed over Gleb Loyko

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

Squad

Tempers go at Orsha

Nikita Bobchenok 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.

Match

Orsha refuse to lose to Ostrovets

A point taken on 97 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.

Player ratings

Denis Khvostovich runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

4 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Ruslan Slavin at 20 — 7.61

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ruslan Slavin did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Match

No end in sight to Orsha's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orsha has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Orsha say no — this time

The offer from Ostrovets for Roman Kravchenko 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 targets

Zikrula Abdurakhmanov due for a Orsha medical

Everything agreed with Slonim, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Orsha

5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Match

Ruslan Slavin’s goal not enough for Orsha

Ruslan Slavin scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Uni-X Labs, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Transfer targets

Torpedo-BelAZ tell Orsha: Nazar Chizh is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A row about effort at Orsha

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

In brief

  • Player ratings Nobody could get near Denis Khvostovich
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout The manager has not finished forgetting Abdulaziz Lawal's mistake
3 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Terms done: Temerlan Salimov is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Isloch waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Orsha is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Match

The small margins put Orsha out

Out, 1‑3 to Smorgon, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Market

Nikita Bobchenok asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Orsha

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Orsha are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Ruslan Slavin has a hand in both — 7.35

One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.35, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.

Squad

Gleb Zheleznikov in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Volna Pinsk tell Orsha: Daniil Tkachik is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Orsha are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Match

A bad afternoon for Orsha against Volna Pinsk

1‑2 to Volna Pinsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

2 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A hiding for Orsha

Beaten 0‑5 by Belshina, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Temerlan Salimov 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 Orsha can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Orsha say no — this time

The offer from Slavia Mozyr for Maxim Makarov 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 targets

Danil Ananka is a medical away from Orsha

The deal with Neman 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Orsha

Gleb Zheleznikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Orsha training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulaziz Lawal 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.

Market

Aliaksandr Savitski steps up from the Orsha academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aliaksandr Savitski has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Kirill Balanovich joins the Orsha first team

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

Squad

Ruslan Slavin stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ruslan Slavin and Orsha agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

  • The dugout Nikita Bobchenok gets it from the manager
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Orsha dressing room in a hurry
  • Squad 10 new faces, and Orsha are still learning each other
1 Edition

The Orsha Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Orsha

A 0‑5 beating by Lida was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Maxim Makarov asks to leave Orsha

“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.

Squad

Pavel Bordukov signs on for more

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

Squad

A falling-out at Orsha

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

Transfer targets

Door shut on Evgeniy Tishkov

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

Squad

A row about effort at Orsha

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Taysir Adamchik

“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.

Squad

The formation has left Denis Khvostovich behind

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

Boardroom

Nobody left the Orsha 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.

In brief