From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Polissia
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Polissia do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Leandro Andrade 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Polissia
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lindon Emërllahu, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lucas Taylor 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mykola Haiduchyk dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.28, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Polissia's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Polissia has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Polissia
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polissia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Polissia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykyta Kravchenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Epicentr to sit and watch. I want to come back to Polissia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mykola Haiduchyk 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.
Squad21 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Epicentr defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Polissia
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Polissia are no longer polite ones.
Market14 Sep 2026
Polissia say no — this time
The offer from Nyva for Andi Hadroj 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Polissia did not have in the autumn.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Leandro Andrade 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ihor Krasnopir and Polissia agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Polissia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lindon Emërllahu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“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
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bohdan Liedniev
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polissia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a win for Polissia
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Polissia are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match5 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Polissia did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polissia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Polissia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Taylor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Lucas Taylor
“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
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bohdan Liedniev
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polissia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Heorhii Bushchan: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match26 Aug 2026
Polissia march on in the cup
Inhulets are out and Polissia go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Polissia
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The goals have deserted Polissia
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Polissia can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Lindon Emërllahu 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Polissia will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
LNZ come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Polissia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Polissia's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Polissia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
Polissia 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lindon Emërllahu 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Alisson Oliveira Da Silva has come up in conversations Polissia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 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 Polissia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.11 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Polissia had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
Polissia say no — this time
The offer from Shakhtar for Bohdan Mykhailichenko 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Leandro Andrade 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Polissia cannot find the net
3 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Yevhen Volynets again, and this time the name on the line is Shakhtar. Polissia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lucas Taylor falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Karpaty came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad17 Aug 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
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Lindon Emërllahu again, and this time the name on the line is Karpaty. Polissia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bohdan Mykhailichenko commits to Polissia for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Leandro Andrade 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Polissia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Filippov 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandro Andrade, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leandro Andrade and Polissia agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polissia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Lindon Emërllahu 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Oleh Kudryk has come up in conversations Polissia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Heorhii Bushchan’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 7.14 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Polissia had the best player on the pitch.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polissia, and both men came out saying it was fine.