From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
There were 10 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Chastening afternoon for Poltava
A 0‑3 beating by Oleksandriya was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market22 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.
Match22 Feb 2027
Poltava finish in position 16
10 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market22 Feb 2027
Nyva come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Poltava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Nazar Lys gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nazar Lys has just signed for Poltava, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
$150.0K on the table at Chornomorets. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Feb 2027
The chase for Markiian Bakus ended with $18.0K changing hands and Nyva out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2027
Poltava are in real trouble now
Position 16, 10 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.
Market15 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Everything was agreed with Metalist and then the doctor spoke. Poltava have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
$540.0K was the most the club would pay and Metalist were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Poltava have gone to Nyva with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stefan Chiriches has just signed for Poltava, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
It had gone 15 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market8 Feb 2027
Kryvbas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Poltava did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Poltava and Metalist have settled on $560.0K. 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Feb 2027
The fee is $820.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. LNZ drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
The town asked, and Poltava paid $820.0K
Oleh Horin was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $820.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Obolon, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
$820.0K settles it between the clubs for Oleh Horin
LNZ have accepted the money. What Poltava do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Poltava have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market1 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Yevhen Misiura falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Poltava asked and Oleksandriya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jan 2027
14 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Jan 2027
11 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.
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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Buzhyn 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
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Match23 Jan 2027
Poltava hit back inside 1 minutes
Polissia held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Poltava answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Match23 Jan 2027
It needed Volodymyr Odariuk to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Polissia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Poltava
13 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.
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Poltava
Position 16 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad18 Jan 2027
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Kryvbas left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Yevhen Misiura 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 terraces18 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Oleksandr Vivdych 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 ratings18 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Jan 2027
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Jan 2027
12 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 23 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
Words exchanged at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Oleksii Slutskyi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Poltava have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Poltava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yevhen Misiura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead11 Jan 2027
A six-pointer for Poltava
Kryvbas next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Marusych, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Poltava
11 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match2 Jan 2027
Poltava cannot find the net
6 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mykola Buzhyn 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 dugout4 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The team sheet said everything about Maksym Marusych
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Maksym Marusych.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nowhere to hide for Poltava
0‑6 against LNZ, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market28 Dec 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Dec 2026
Poltava cannot find the net
5 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
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 Poltava and LNZ in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Buzhyn 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 Dec 2026
Beaten 6 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Poltava dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Dec 2026
Poltava are in real trouble now
Position 16, 4 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
9 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Market21 Dec 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 Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Poltava
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Poltava can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Plakhtyr 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Poltava come up short against Rukh
Rukh left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
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 Mykhailo Burda left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Poltava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmytro Plakhtyr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Dec 2026
Poltava 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Kolos left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Poltava
Arsentiy Doroshenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniil Yermolov
“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.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Oleksandr Vivdych’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Poltava needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
Market7 Dec 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Yevhen Misiura 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Metalist left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniil Yermolov and Poltava agree another 4 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mykhailo Burda after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
11 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.
Market30 Nov 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 Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match28 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Yevhen Misiura 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Poltava against Veres
0‑1 to Veres, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Nov 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 Mykhailo Burda left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2026
Poltava sink to position 16
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match21 Nov 2026
Chastening afternoon for Poltava
A 1‑4 beating by Dynamo Kyiv was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market23 Nov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Poltava
5 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Valerii Voskonyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mykola Buzhyn 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Artem Tymoschuk 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentyn Kulach 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nazariy Marlos 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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Boardroom
Nobody left the Poltava dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Beaten 4 times: a bad day for Daniil Yermolov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match14 Nov 2026
0‑5 to Shakhtar, 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a goal for Poltava
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Misiura 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmytro Plakhtyr, and the manager let it.
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
Doors closed at Poltava
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout16 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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Mykhailo Burda to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Luke Bell gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luke Bell has just signed for Poltava, and for once the answer mattered.
Match7 Nov 2026
Poltava 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
200 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.
Match9 Nov 2026
Halfway: Poltava sit in position 16
4 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.35, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mykhailo Burda chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Poltava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Krokhmal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Poltava take on the side everybody is chasing
Shakhtar arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Nov 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 Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Poltava may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mykola Buzhyn 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentyn Boyko and Poltava agree another 3 years.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Mykhailo Burda left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Oct 2026
Poltava are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 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.
Market26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Poltava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Kudrivka left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mykhailo Burda after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vladyslav Danylenko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 Oct 2026
It had gone 12 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Oleksandr Vivdych 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Poltava, 1‑0 the final word against Obolon in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Poltava
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.72 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Poltava had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Poltava
12 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
There were 12 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Poltava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ruslan Kotchenko and Poltava agree another 3 years.
Match10 Oct 2026
Poltava leaking at the back
5 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Polissia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Yurii Tlumak
“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
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
11 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Poltava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market5 Oct 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 Poltava can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Poltava 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.
The dugout5 Oct 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Mykhailo Burda to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Poltava
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Poltava
10 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Poltava can tell you which week it ends in.
Match28 Sep 2026
Poltava sink to position 16
0 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑3 to Karpaty, 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Poltava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Valerii Voskonyan 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Poltava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Sep 2026
Poltava cannot find the net
9 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.
Market21 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 Poltava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Poltava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmytro Plakhtyr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Poltava asked and Junior said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Poltava against Zorya
0‑2 to Zorya, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valerii Voskonyan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Poltava
0‑5 against LNZ, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Poltava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a goal for Poltava
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Poltava 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
24 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Vavá Guerreiro deal
Poltava ran out of time with UCSA. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Poltava asked and UCSA said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market7 Sep 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a win for Poltava
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Poltava are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a goal for Poltava
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Poltava have gone to UCSA with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mykola Buzhyn 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luca Maiorano and Poltava agree another 5 years.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Poltava asked and Podbeskidzie said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Poltava
0‑1 against Obolon, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Poltava
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 Poltava
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Poltava can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Poltava asked and Veres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Plakhtyr 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Valerii Voskonyan 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Poltava against Kolos
0‑1 to Kolos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Poltava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Flamengo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Poltava's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Poltava has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Poltava asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Poltava 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
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Plakhtyr 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Poltava
Valerii Voskonyan 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 6.34 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match22 Aug 2026
Metalist left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Poltava will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LNZ have kept their man, and Poltava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Poltava
Mykola Buzhyn 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Poltava 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Misiura 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Veres left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Aug 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 Mykhailo Burda left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Poltava have made the call to Podbeskidzie. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Poltava will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match8 Aug 2026
0‑4 to Dynamo Kyiv, 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Poltava have gone to LNZ with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Iván Manzur
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Poltava have done the hard part with Racing, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Omelian Wiliam Chubak is living that version at Poltava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentyn Kocherhin 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. Vasyl Tymchyk 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Poltava
0‑9 against Shakhtar, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmytro Plakhtyr commits to Poltava for another 3 years.
Match1 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Poltava and Shakhtar, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Poltava
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mykola Buzhyn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Poltava asked and Volos NPS said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 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.