From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Nov 2027
Every point is an argument now for Probiy
Position 15 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Probiy
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Probiy is running low.
Match30 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Probiy
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
Volodymyr Adamiuk 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Probiy and Chornomorets in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match30 Oct 2027
2‑4 to Chornomorets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Nov 2027
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages eat 170% of everything Probiy 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Oct 2027
A hiding for Probiy
Beaten 1‑6 by Chernihiv, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Oleksii Bandurin among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Oleksii Bandurin on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Probiy and Chernihiv.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Volodymyr Adamiuk 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
Doors closed at Probiy
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Oct 2027
The mood at Probiy has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market18 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Paul Loundjeu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Volodymyr Adamiuk falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match16 Oct 2027
Inhulets left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Taras Shevchenko to a room that had heard them before.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
Yuriy Avramenko 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Probiy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout11 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Volodymyr Adamiuk has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artem Lovhyn commits to Probiy for another 3 years.
Squad11 Oct 2027
João Vitor 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Artem Lovhyn gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Artem Lovhyn has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Probiy will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Inhulets next, and one man in the Probiy dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Market11 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Volodymyr Adamiuk may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Probiy, another week without a signature from Aleksander Ślęzak.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Oct 2027
Probiy sink to position 15
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrii Bliznichenko commits to Probiy for another 2 years.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at Probiy
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages swallow 182% of the Probiy 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
João Vitor was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match2 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Ahrobiznes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ihor Huk will replay that one
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Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for João Vitor
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The dugout
Ihor Huk is still paying for one afternoon at Probiy
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Sep 2027
The drought breaks for Probiy
19 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Metalurh Zaporizhzhia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market27 Sep 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
Probiy supporters have found a favourite in João Vitor
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. João Vitor 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Paul Loundjeu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Probiy.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Elvin Valiev
“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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
The afternoon belonged to João Vitor
A mark of 7.45, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Sep 2027
19 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 19, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
Anger at Probiy spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Paul Loundjeu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Sep 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 Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
Probiy asked and Metalist said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Nazar Havryliuk
“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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Late, late show earns Probiy a point
Minute 92, against UCSA, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and Probiy 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
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2027
18 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Volodymyr Adamiuk has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Probiy is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Probiy close the window on a squad of their own making
27 in and 18 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yaroslav Ananchenko is living that version at Probiy, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oleksii Bandurin and Probiy agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Probiy 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Sep 2027
Probiy say no — this time
The offer from Polissia for Andrii Bliznichenko 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.
Squad6 Sep 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 Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Probiy counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Probiy now.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrii Bliznichenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages swallow 116% of the Probiy 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A loan enquiry to Obolon: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Probiy have made the call to Obolon. 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
Uneasy
Match28 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Probiy
17 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.
Match25 Aug 2027
Probiy out of the cup
Shakhtar ended it 1‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market30 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
A cup embarrassment at Shakhtar follows Probiy home
1-4. 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Probiy have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Oleksandriya is saying, and nobody at Probiy is enjoying the guessing.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Volodymyr Adamiuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Probiy can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Probiy asked and Obolon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Viktor Tryhub
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Probiy dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
Bohdan Orynchak is still being punished for one mistake
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2027
15 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
The mood at Probiy has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market23 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kolos have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match21 Aug 2027
Podillia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
João Vitor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Probiy
14 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with Kudrivka, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Probiy asked and Karpaty said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
João Vitor 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 ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Aug 2027
A bad afternoon for Probiy against Kudrivka
0‑1 to Kudrivka, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
In brief
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Squad
Maksym Kovalenko reaches 100 appearances
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Probiy
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Probiy's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Probiy has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Aug 2027
Nowhere to hide for Probiy
1‑4 against Victoriia Sumy, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market9 Aug 2027
Viktor Tryhub hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
The numbers do not look good at Probiy
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Obolon have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Paul Loundjeu
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Maksym Hirnyi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Probiy's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Probiy has to find a result from somewhere.
Market2 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout2 Aug 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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
An order from above at Probiy: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The deal with Oleksandriya is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Probiy had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kudrivka, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Volodymyr Adamiuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Probiy
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Jul 2027
Supporters organise against the Probiy board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2027
Volodymyr Barabanov has left for UCSA in a $38.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kolos have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Hirnyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Probiy will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Probiy
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Probiy is running low.
Market19 Jul 2027
Maksym Kulish hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Karpaty keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Hirnyi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Probiy will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market19 Jul 2027
UCSA are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Probiy will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jul 2027
Probiy are in real trouble now
Position 16, 18 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.
Market12 Jul 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Belts tighten at Probiy
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Probiy have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
108% of the income goes out in wages at Probiy
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan move for Marko Sapuha is in the works
Probiy have made the call to Karpaty. 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
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Everything was agreed with another club and then the doctor spoke. Probiy have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bukovyna is saying, and nobody at Probiy is enjoying the guessing.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Gabriel Šrot arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gabriel Šrot has, at Probiy, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
João Vitor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Jul 2027
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The formation has left Viktor Tryhub behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Probiy will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Jun 2027
The mood at Probiy has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
João Vitor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Bukovyna: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to LNZ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksander Ślęzak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Roman Serdiuk
“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
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Probiy
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Feniks come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Probiy did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Probiy had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Karpaty, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mykhaylo Kozhushko, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan move for Illia Ukhan is in the works
Probiy have made the call to Poltava. 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
Match14 Jun 2027
Probiy are in real trouble now
Position 16, 18 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.
Market14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Volodymyr Adamiuk 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 111% of everything Probiy 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Probiy counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Probiy now.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Bohdan Orynchak keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Probiy say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Jun 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Volodymyr Adamiuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Noa Oftedal commits to Probiy for another 3 years.
Market7 Jun 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Probiy signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market7 Jun 2027
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Volodymyr Adamiuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 May 2027
The mood at Probiy has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. August Kayanja-Drejgaard is living that version at Probiy, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Volodymyr Adamiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market31 May 2027
Kalle Dutz is 19, and Probiy have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market31 May 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Volodymyr Savchyn, and the manager let it.
Squad31 May 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 May 2027
Pressure builds in the Probiy boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market24 May 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Diego Arroyo 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout24 May 2027
Ihor Huk gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Probiy
Position 16 and 18 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.
Market17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Andi Hadroj 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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Wages swallow 161% of the Probiy 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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Probiy counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Probiy now.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksander Ślęzak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
Bohdan Dryhan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market17 May 2027
The name of Bohdan Orynchak keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Probiy say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout17 May 2027
Danylo Honcharuk has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Probiy will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 May 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Arroyo 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 May 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Maksym Kulish was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout10 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Volodymyr Savchyn has written the date down.
The dugout10 May 2027
Roman Serdiuk knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roman Serdiuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 May 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Paul Loundjeu has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 May 2027
The mood at Probiy has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Taras Shevchenko has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 May 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Diego Arroyo 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
Maksym Kulish and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Probiy can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout3 May 2027
Andi Hadroj loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Andi Hadroj's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 May 2027
Probiy have let the market know Maksym Kulish can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Probiy
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Diego Arroyo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Volodymyr Savchyn, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Aleksander Ślęzak 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 Apr 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market26 Apr 2027
Probiy have let the market know Volodymyr Radulskyi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Apr 2027
Probiy sink to position 16
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market19 Apr 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 Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Ihor Huk says Probiy went back on their word
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Diego Arroyo 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 178% of everything Probiy 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The numbers do not look good at Probiy
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Bohdan Dryhan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bohdan Orynchak signs something — a contract at Probiy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Arroyo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Diego Arroyo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Probiy may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Probiy know it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 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 Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Probiy
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Arroyo 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.
Squad29 Mar 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 Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2027
Probiy are in real trouble now
Position 16, 18 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.
Market22 Mar 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Diego Arroyo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Andi Hadroj 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
181% of the income goes out in wages at Probiy
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Ihor Huk
“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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Belts tighten at Probiy
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Probiy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Bohdan Dryhan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Probiy's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Probiy has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 Mar 2027
The season ends: position 16 for Probiy
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 18 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Diego Arroyo 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 Mar 2027
Probiy are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match13 Mar 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Taras Shevchenko after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Probiy
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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Paul Loundjeu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrii Bliznichenko commits to Probiy for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Arroyo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Oleksandriya have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match6 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Probiy
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match6 Mar 2027
UCSA take the points off Probiy
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Diego Arroyo
“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
Match27 Feb 2027
9 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Mar 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Probiy
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Probiy is running low.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 5 in, 6 out at Probiy
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
João Vitor gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. João Vitor has just signed for Probiy, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Probiy have done the hard part with Karpaty, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Diego Arroyo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andi Hadroj 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Feb 2027
Probiy sink to position 16
17 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match20 Feb 2027
Chastening afternoon for Probiy
A 0‑3 beating by Vorskla was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Probiy's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Probiy has to find a result from somewhere.
Market22 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Andi Hadroj 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
139% of the income goes out in wages at Probiy
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Probiy 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
Match13 Feb 2027
Chastening afternoon for Probiy
A 1‑4 beating by Chornomorets was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
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.
Match13 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Probiy
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Maksym Kulish: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Probiy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Andi Hadroj 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Taras Shevchenko to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad8 Feb 2027
10 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.
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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Probiy
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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Probiy say no — this time
The offer from Bukovyna for Volodymyr Ivanychuk 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Andi Hadroj in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Probiy 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Paul Loundjeu
“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
Squad1 Feb 2027
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Probiy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ruslan Kharuk hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pressure builds in the Probiy boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match30 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Probiy may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Probiy can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andi Hadroj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Probiy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Probiy
Position 16 and 16 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market25 Jan 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Probiy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match23 Jan 2027
4 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Diego Arroyo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andi Hadroj 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Probiy against Nyva
0‑2 to Nyva, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market18 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Probiy
Diego Arroyo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match16 Jan 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Livyi Bereh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Taras Shevchenko was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Probiy dressing room was either.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bohdan Orynchak’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
Volodymyr Savchyn damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad11 Jan 2027
10 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Probiy
Diego Arroyo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Borysevych, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Taras Shevchenko to a room that had heard them before.
Market11 Jan 2027
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
Volodymyr Savchyn damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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 Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andi Hadroj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Jan 2027
Bukovyna left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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.
Looking ahead4 Jan 2027
Probiy face Feniks in the game that matters most
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Taras Shevchenko left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Andi Hadroj makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Volodymyr Savchyn damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match28 Dec 2026
Probiy sink to position 15
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market28 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Paul Loundjeu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Probiy.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 202% of everything Probiy 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 terraces28 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Valentyn Napuda has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Volodymyr Savchyn
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Probiy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andi Hadroj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Dec 2026
Podillia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Diego Arroyo gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Taras Shevchenko to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Roman Borysevych
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad21 Dec 2026
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Probiy will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Volodymyr Savchyn
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Probiy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Dec 2026
At last: Probiy win one
14 matches without a win, and then this, against Inhulets. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Andi Hadroj takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andi Hadroj provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andi Hadroj 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andi Hadroj. 2‑0 against Inhulets, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrii Fesenko, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Probiy
Volodymyr Barabanov 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 dugout14 Dec 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.” Taras Shevchenko kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
14 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Probiy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Probiy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Probiy
Diego Arroyo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Andi Hadroj
“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.
Match5 Dec 2026
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match5 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Roman Savchenko is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
13 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Volodymyr Savchyn
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Probiy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Probiy
Position 16 and 8 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑3 to Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, 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.
Market30 Nov 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 Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Match28 Nov 2026
Probiy 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Probiy can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Diego Arroyo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andi Hadroj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Boardroom
197% of the income goes out in wages at Probiy
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Match
Probiy at the halfway mark
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Probiy
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Probiy's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Probiy has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Volodymyr Savchyn damages knee ligaments — 79 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 79 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Probiy
Diego Arroyo 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andi Hadroj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Probiy
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Probiy can tell you which week it ends in.
Match21 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Probiy against UCSA
0‑1 to UCSA, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Volodymyr Savchyn damages knee ligaments — 86 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Maksym Hirnyi
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market16 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Andrii Fesenko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Volodymyr Savchyn
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Probiy lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match7 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Probiy
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.
Market9 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.
Squad9 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andi Hadroj 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Metalist left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrii Fesenko, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Taras Shevchenko to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 22 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Match2 Nov 2026
Probiy are in real trouble now
Position 15, 8 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.
Market2 Nov 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 Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Probiy have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at Probiy: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Probiy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andi Hadroj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 197% of the Probiy 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Probiy
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
16 combined actions and 6.71. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Match24 Oct 2026
Chornomorets left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Probiy are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Taras Shevchenko after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Probiy
Volodymyr Barabanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Probiy
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Probiy
Diego Arroyo 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andi Hadroj 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Probiy told Roman Savchenko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Volodymyr Savchyn, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Taras Shevchenko after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bohdan Dryhan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Match17 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Chernihiv 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
Market12 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Diego Arroyo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Probiy
Diego Arroyo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Andi Hadroj 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruslan Kharuk, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Maksym Kovalenko's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout12 Oct 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 Probiy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Oct 2026
Probiy sink to position 15
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Probiy
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Probiy may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Probiy can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Diego Arroyo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Victoriia Sumy left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 255% of the Probiy 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Paul Loundjeu
“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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Probiy
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andi Hadroj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets28 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Epicentr have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
11 new faces, and Probiy are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Taras Shevchenko chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Probiy lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andi Hadroj is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
Livyi Bereh left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Sep 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Taras Shevchenko to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 0 out at Probiy
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Probiy
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Probiy are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Probiy asked and LNZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Andi Hadroj gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Squad14 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 Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Probiy will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 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 Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Andi Hadroj 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 targets7 Sep 2026
Probiy asked and Karpaty said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruslan Kharuk, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Andrii Fesenko slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Andrii Fesenko is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A loan enquiry to LNZ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market7 Sep 2026
Probiy have made Bohdan Orynchak available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2026
The small margins put Probiy out
Out, 1‑5 to Dynamo Kyiv, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market31 Aug 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 Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Probiy are taken apart by Dynamo Kyiv — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Probiy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Borysevych 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Probiy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Probiy
Paul Loundjeu 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
Probiy asked and Obolon 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
Prykarpattia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 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.
The dugout24 Aug 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Nobody at Probiy is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Maksym Hirnyi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Probiy needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad24 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Andi Hadroj
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Probiy will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets17 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Probiy, 2‑0 the final word against Podillia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Roman Borysevych 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Probiy, another week without a signature from Mykhaylo Kozhushko.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.63, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Taras Shevchenko on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Market17 Aug 2026
Probiy have made Vladyslav Felipovych available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Probiy have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Livyi Bereh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Probiy did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 7.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Polissia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paul Loundjeu and Probiy agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Probiy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and Probiy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mykhailo Haiduchok 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kostiantyn Boyko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Taras Popov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 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 Probiy can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Valentyn Napuda, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-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.” Andrii Bliznichenko commits to Probiy for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Probiy
Andrii Fesenko 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 targets3 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market3 Aug 2026
A stepping stone, not a home, for Paul Loundjeu
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Probiy were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Kovalenko, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
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Market
Probiy and Bohdan Orynchak are talking past each other
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Squad
7 new faces, and Probiy are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict