From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match7 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Qizilqum
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qizilqum may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nasaf keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
The goals have deserted Qizilqum
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Qizilqum can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Qizilqum asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Oleksiy Shchebetun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samandar Shukurullayev, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Match31 Jul 2027
5 matches without a win for Qizilqum
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Qizilqum are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
32 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Qizilqum know exactly what they have.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović 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 targets2 Aug 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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Jul 2027
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2027
6 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Qizilqum
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.
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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jul 2027
56 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match24 Jul 2027
AGMK left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jacob Shaw after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
DAC Dunajska Streda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with CSKA 1948, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Banik Ostrava is saying, and nobody at Qizilqum is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Akmaljon Muzaffarov has agreed terms with Sogdiana for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market19 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qizilqum they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Asror G'ofurov 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov, and the manager let it.
Match17 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Nasaf is saying, and nobody at Qizilqum is enjoying the guessing.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Partizan have kept their man, and Qizilqum go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match10 Jul 2027
Neftchi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov 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 dugout12 Jul 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market12 Jul 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Sulton Rahmatov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Qizilqum.
The dugout12 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 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 Qizilqum, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Banik Ostrava, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Jul 2027
Still nobody has beaten Qizilqum
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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 targets5 Jul 2027
Qizilqum asked and Navbahor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match3 Jul 2027
After 5 games, Qizilqum finally taste it again
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Sogdiana; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
CSKA 1948 have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A brace, and Oleksiy Shchebetun takes the afternoon — 8.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oleksiy Shchebetun provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match26 Jun 2027
Nobody wants to play Qizilqum right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match26 Jun 2027
Nasaf made Qizilqum work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Qizilqum asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match26 Jun 2027
Qizilqum keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.58 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
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.
Match19 Jun 2027
Qizilqum make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Qizilqum have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad21 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Qizilqum asked and San Telmo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Jun 2027
Metallurg made Qizilqum work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Marked 8.43. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qizilqum.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov 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 Jun 2027
Vojvodina have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A brace, and Roman Paparyga takes the afternoon — 8.78
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roman Paparyga provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Qizilqum make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Qizilqum have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Ilhomjon Vahobov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Jun 2027
A 2‑0 win over Mashal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Qizilqum has been clear about where Oleksiy Shchebetun stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Qizilqum, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Asror G'ofurov 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
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Islom Kenjaboyev has his answer from Qizilqum; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match5 Jun 2027
Shortan made Qizilqum work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Qizilqum are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Vojvodina have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 May 2027
Obod will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Qizilqum were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A brace, and Islom Kenjaboyev takes the afternoon — 8.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Islom Kenjaboyev provided it, and the 8.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Age has not caught Jaba Jighauri yet — 8.15
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad31 May 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov 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 dugout31 May 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 ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout31 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑0, Jacob Shaw could afford to be generous.
The dugout31 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Qizilqum told Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
Asror G'ofurov 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.
Match22 May 2027
0‑1 to Navbahor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 May 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 0‑1 Jacob Shaw left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Squad24 May 2027
One booking too many, and Asror G'ofurov sits out. Qizilqum lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Looking ahead24 May 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Humoyun Abdualimov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Qizilqum needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 May 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 May 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Shahzod Rahmatullayev scored in the 87th minute, Bukhara had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Qizilqum took the lot.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 May 2027
A 1‑0 win over Bukhara, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Shahzod Turopov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shahzod Rahmatullayev, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jacob Shaw on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Looking ahead17 May 2027
Navbahor next, and one man in the Qizilqum dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Grigol Chabradze, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match8 May 2027
Andijon left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 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 0‑1 Jacob Shaw left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Murodali Usmonov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Farrux Jo'rayev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
Bukhara next, and one man in the Qizilqum dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout10 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
Steady
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 May 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match1 May 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Pakhtakor leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout3 May 2027
Jacob Shaw: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout3 May 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 ahead3 May 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Asror G'ofurov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Qizilqum needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match24 Apr 2027
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Jaba Jighauri decided nobody was going anywhere. Kokand 1912 had no time left to answer.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Age has not caught Jaba Jighauri yet — 8.04
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Qizilqum have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Apr 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Apr 2027
A 2‑1 win over Kokand 1912, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksiy Shchebetun 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Jacob Shaw: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Ratković, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Apr 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
7.67, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Qizilqum had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jacob Shaw was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Qizilqum dressing room was either.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Lokomotiv came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ilhomjon Vahobov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Qizilqum needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Nobody at Qizilqum 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 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 Qizilqum can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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 Apr 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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout12 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jacob Shaw after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market12 Apr 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Samandar Shukurullayev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Qizilqum.
Match10 Apr 2027
Point won or two lost for Qizilqum?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against AGMK? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Mar 2027
The cup run ends for Qizilqum
0‑7 against Navbahor, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
A cup embarrassment at Navbahor follows Qizilqum home
0-7. 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The Qizilqum board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match31 Mar 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Qizilqum and Navbahor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match3 Apr 2027
The drought breaks for Qizilqum
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bunyodkor were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match27 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Qizilqum
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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Neftchi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Mar 2027
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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diyor Rahmatullayev, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Paparyga signs something — a contract at Qizilqum or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Murodali Usmonov 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.
Match20 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jacob Shaw was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Qizilqum dressing room was either.
Looking ahead22 Mar 2027
Neftchi next, and one man in the Qizilqum dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Off the bench and decisive: Luka Ratković
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Qizilqum were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qizilqum may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Qizilqum are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Shahzod Turopov 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
A fresh start for Jaba Jighauri under the new man
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Jaba Jighauri has taken the hint, and Qizilqum are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
Market8 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 Qizilqum, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qizilqum may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaba Jighauri and Qizilqum agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Qizilqum can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Graduation day at Qizilqum
1 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Qizilqum are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Qizilqum can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Jaba Jighauri wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Qizilqum know now that the thought has arrived.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Asror G'ofurov 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ilhomjon Kenjayev has his answer from Qizilqum; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 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.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Metallurg in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diyor Rahmatullayev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” G'iyosjon Rizaqulov and Qizilqum agree another 4 years.
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Qizilqum. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Qizilqum lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
Still no name above the door at Qizilqum
Day 10 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Qizilqum has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The compensation was agreed inside a week and the club has lost a manager it had no intention of losing. Qizilqum start again, and start behind.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Luka Ratković damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nikola Kumburović 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 targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Qizilqum go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
A fresh start for Jaba Jighauri under the new man
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Jaba Jighauri has taken the hint, and Qizilqum are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamron Norqulov, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Feb 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 Qizilqum, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season on the outside for Jaba Jighauri
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Qizilqum has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Qizilqum lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Qizilqum have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed Sardor Nematov. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Qizilqum until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Qizilqum are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Shahzod Turopov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiv Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov 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 targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Napredak: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shahzod Rahmatullayev is on it.
The dugout25 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market25 Jan 2027
Qizilqum have let the market know Diyor Rahmatullayev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Akmaljon Muzaffarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Mashal had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Navbahor have accepted the money. What Qizilqum do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Pakhtakor 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ilhomjon Vahobov 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
Suhrob Eshboyev asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Jaba Jighauri, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović 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 targets11 Jan 2027
Qizilqum asked and Llaneros said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ulugbek Shomurodov and Qizilqum agree another 3 years.
Market11 Jan 2027
Mashal are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Qizilqum will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radnicki Nis have kept their man, and Qizilqum go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diyor Rahmatullayev and Qizilqum agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Leandro Filipe is in the works
Qizilqum have made the call to DAC Dunajska Streda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Krylya Sovetov have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Open for business: Qizilqum enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Qizilqum. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev 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 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aziz Hasanov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market28 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ulugbek Shomurodov 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Doniyor Ganiev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market28 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sherzod Masharipov 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Qizilqum 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shahzod Rahmatullayev is on it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diyor Rahmatullayev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nikola Kumburović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Akmaljon Muzaffarov 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 dugout21 Dec 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
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Shahzod Turopov 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akmaljon Muzaffarov 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Oleksiy Shchebetun’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Murodali Usmonov 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Qizilqum are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 112% of the Qizilqum 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Nobody at Qizilqum 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diyor Rahmatullayev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilhomjon Vahobov
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Qizilqum lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Nikola Kumburović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akmaljon Muzaffarov 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
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilhomjon Vahobov
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Qizilqum lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Asror G'ofurov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ilhomjon Vahobov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muhammadaziz Ibrohimov 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
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ilhomjon Vahobov
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Qizilqum lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
112% of the income goes out in wages at Qizilqum
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Akmaljon Muzaffarov 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 dugout2 Nov 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 Qizilqum, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ilhomjon Vahobov damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ilhomjon Vahobov damages knee ligaments — 59 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
62 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Shahzod Turopov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fayzullobek Jumanqo'ziyev, and the manager let it.
Market19 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Oleksiy Shchebetun’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islom Kenjaboyev and Qizilqum agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Suhrob Eshboyev, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Akmaljon Muzaffarov 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Qizilqum know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Asror G'ofurov has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Qizilqum that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Qizilqum are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Asror G'ofurov 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 151% of the Qizilqum 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. G'iyosjon Rizaqulov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shahzod Rahmatullayev is on it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout5 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 Qizilqum, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Oct 2026
The name of Roman Paparyga keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Qizilqum say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nikola Kumburović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 3‑2 win over Mashal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match26 Sep 2026
Qizilqum keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Sep 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Qizilqum are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
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 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Akmaljon Muzaffarov 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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Samandar Shukurullayev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Qizilqum needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
The dugout21 Sep 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
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Islom Kenjaboyev takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Islom Kenjaboyev provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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 targets14 Sep 2026
Qizilqum asked and Neftekhimik 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
Obod made Qizilqum work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Sardor Nematov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Suhrob Eshboyev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Shortan next, and one man in the Qizilqum dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Qizilqum until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Qizilqum ran out of time with Navbahor. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Islom Kenjaboyev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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 Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Islom Kenjaboyev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Napredak keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Qizilqum, 2‑1 the final word against Bukhara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shahzod Rahmatullayev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Islom Kenjaboyev at his very best
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qizilqum.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Shahzod Turopov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Qizilqum are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 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 Qizilqum can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Islom Kenjaboyev again, and this time the name on the line is Tobol. Qizilqum are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nikola Kumburović 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radnik Surdulica have kept their man, and Qizilqum go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Andijon, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Ilhomjon Vahobov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Islom Kenjaboyev at his very best
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qizilqum.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Roman Paparyga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match22 Aug 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Islom Kenjaboyev had Qizilqum level again within 2 minutes, and Andijon never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Qizilqum out
Out, 1‑2 to AGMK, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Jaba Jighauri, 34, rolls back the years — 8.21
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Llaneros is saying, and nobody at Qizilqum is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Qizilqum asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Pakhtakor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Qizilqum say no — this time
The offer from Veres for Roman Paparyga 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Llaneros, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nikola Kumburović 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 targets10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sherzod Ahmedov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rustam Ganiev 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jaba Jighauri commits to Qizilqum for another 2 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Roman Paparyga has come up in conversations Qizilqum were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Kumburović 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Qizilqum asked and OFI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Islom Kenjaboyev 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Lokomotiv made Qizilqum work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Qizilqum, another week without a signature from Jaba Jighauri.
In brief
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Squad
8 new faces, and Qizilqum are still learning each other
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Matija Gočmanac is in the works
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The dugout
The view from the dugout