From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Danila Nekrasov
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Druzhba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Dinamo Vladivostok, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Pobeda asked and Chaika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Magomednur Isaev 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.24 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Danila Nekrasov
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market25 Jan 2027
Pobeda say no — this time
The offer from Kauno Zalgiris for Magomed Nasibov 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomednur Isaev 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Pobeda
Anton Zhiga 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Shamil Saaduev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Pobeda.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Danila Nekrasov
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.41, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Magomedsalam Kuniev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Magomednur Isaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match16 Jan 2027
Three points for Pobeda, 2‑0 the final word against Astrakhan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match9 Jan 2027
Honours even between Pobeda and Legion
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Jan 2027
Kuban Holding left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“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 Pobeda will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Dec 2026
Sevastopol made Pobeda work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 213% of the Pobeda 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 terraces28 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Magomed Nasibov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Magomednur Isaev 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Spartak Nalchik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Oleg Sokolov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Anton Zhiga wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Pobeda will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Magomed Nasibov takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Magomed Nasibov provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market14 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alimsultan Sultanaliev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Magomed Nasibov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Pobeda.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muslim Shikhbabaev, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.25 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pobeda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomednur Isaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Oleg Sokolov to a room that had heard them before.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Pobeda
Alimsultan Sultanaliev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Ibragim Umarov
6 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adam Shikhanmatov
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pobeda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Dinamo Makhachkala 2, and it could have been more.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 205% of the Pobeda 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 terraces30 Nov 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Shamil Saaduev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.52. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Magomed Nasibov at his very best
Marked 8.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Pobeda.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adam Shikhanmatov
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pobeda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market23 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Magomedsalam Kuniev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomednur Isaev 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Oleg Sokolov to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Pobeda
Something was said to Marat Abulashov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adam Shikhanmatov
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pobeda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muslim Shikhbabaev 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Maxim Azarenkov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muslim Shikhbabaev 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.
Match9 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Pobeda
Position 4, 25 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pobeda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Magomed Nasibov takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Magomed Nasibov provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The Pobeda board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 205% of everything Pobeda earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match31 Oct 2026
Dinamo Stavropol made Pobeda work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ibragim Umarov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ibragim Umarov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Oleg Sokolov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match24 Oct 2026
7‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The match ball belongs to Shamil Saaduev, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Anton Gurylev, 21, steals the show — 8.28
Marked 8.28 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pobeda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market26 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match24 Oct 2026
Shamil Saaduev among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Shamil Saaduev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Pobeda and Angusht.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pobeda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Magomednur Isaev 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
No time for Nart to settle
The goal that put Nart ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Pobeda equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Pobeda
David Gigolaev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Magomednur Isaev 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Islam Vagabov has his answer from Pobeda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Nart in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Pobeda will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Magomed Nasibov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market12 Oct 2026
Pobeda have let the market know Rustam Khalimbekov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
282% of the income goes out in wages at Pobeda
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Magomednur Isaev, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Magomed Nasibov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Magomed Nasibov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Sep 2026
Pobeda are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 18 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market28 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Pobeda, 2‑0 the final word against Legion in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Magomednur Isaev 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Pobeda are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alimsultan Sultanaliev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov 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 targets21 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ibragim Umarov at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Pobeda.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Muslim Shikhbabaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Sep 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Match19 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Anton Gurylev, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market14 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Pobeda until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market14 Sep 2026
Pobeda say no — this time
The offer from Dinamo Vladivostok for Magomedsalam Kuniev 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 targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at KAMAZ is saying, and nobody at Pobeda is enjoying the guessing.
Match12 Sep 2026
Magomed Nasibov among the goals in a wild afternoon
10 goals in one match, Magomed Nasibov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Pobeda and Sevastopol.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pobeda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Pobeda
Imamutdin Djamalavov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A loan move for Savely Ratnikov is in the works
Pobeda have made the call to KAMAZ. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ibragim Umarov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ibragim Umarov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pobeda have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market31 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pobeda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market31 Aug 2026
Pobeda say no — this time
The offer from Tver for Alimsultan Sultanaliev 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 targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pobeda have done the hard part with Dinamo Bryansk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Krasnodar is saying, and nobody at Pobeda is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad31 Aug 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Pobeda
David Gigolaev 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Artem Khmarin is in the works
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Squad
5 new faces, and Pobeda are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Pobeda
0‑4 against Amkar, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
A cup embarrassment at Amkar follows Pobeda home
0-4. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Krasnodar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov 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 targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match15 Aug 2026
Pobeda cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Pobeda asked and Shinnik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Shamil Saaduev. 2‑1 against Rostov 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shamil Saaduev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Pobeda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Magomednur Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Oleg Sokolov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Magomed Nasibov is not enjoying his job description
Played out of position, hooked on the hour, asked to be somebody he is not — the details vary and the mood does not. Pobeda have a player doing his work under protest.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Dinamo Makhachkala 2 had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Pobeda did not stop to explain themselves.
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pobeda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Chances created: 16. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Pobeda asked and Volgar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lev Kharlamov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yuri Dobrynin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Danila Nekrasov 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
The chances came and went for Rashid Salimov
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market3 Aug 2026
Pobeda say no — this time
The offer from Irtysh for Shamil Saaduev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Anton Gurylev, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Magomed Nasibov commits to Pobeda for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Pobeda
Ibragim Umarov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAMAZ have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Sochi 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
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Market
Talks stall between Pobeda and Marat Abulashov
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Squad
5 new faces, and Pobeda are still learning each other