From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Artem Maximenko has gone, the accounts have $920.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rodina have done the hard part with Nizhniy Novgorod, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match21 Aug 2027
Whatever happens, Rodina do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market23 Aug 2027
Dinamo Moscow paid $920.0K and Rodina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Rodina
Vladislav Samko 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Lokomotiv Moscow pay $390.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Artem Sokol falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Marked 8.18 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Sebastián Arce sold
CSKA Moscow arrived with $2.3M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A brace, and Artem Maximenko takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Artem Maximenko provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Sebastián Arce has gone, the accounts have $2.3M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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 Rodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match14 Aug 2027
At last: Rodina win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Spartak Kostroma. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match14 Aug 2027
Still nobody has beaten Rodina
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad16 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Aug 2027
Dinamo Moscow pay $350.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rodina people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match7 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Rodina's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Supporters turn on the $600.0K sale of Kerfala Cissoko
He is going to Lokomotiv Moscow, the club has $600.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market9 Aug 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Sergey Volkov 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Lokomotiv Moscow pay $600.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match7 Aug 2027
Whatever happens, Rodina do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gleb Knyazev and Rodina agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Aug 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Leo Goglichidze sold
CSKA Moscow arrived with $4.5M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Market2 Aug 2027
Rodina say no — this time
The offer from Dinamo Moscow for Sergey Volkov 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Rodina
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 terraces2 Aug 2027
Leo Goglichidze has gone, the accounts have $4.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Sergey Volkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market2 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Shinnik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Svyatoslav Kozhedub. The answer from Rodina has not changed — yet.
Market2 Aug 2027
A conversation is coming this week. Rodina will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kerfala Cissoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Belenov and Rodina agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 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 Rodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Rodina's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina has to find a result from somewhere.
Market26 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2027
Dinamo Moscow pay $390.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match24 Jul 2027
The goals have deserted Rodina
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rodina can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián Arce, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Sokol 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
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Vladislav Samko had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match17 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Rodina's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Rodina
Sergey Volkov 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Rodina
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timofey Borodin 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yefrem Mikhaylov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Valentin Lukyanov 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kerfala Cissoko 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 2202. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Svyatoslav Kozhedub had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market12 Jul 2027
Rodina say no — this time
The offer from Spartak Kostroma for Artur Garibyan 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Neftekhimik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladislav Samko. The answer from Rodina has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Sergey Volkov 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 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kerfala Cissoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 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.
The dugout12 Jul 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 Astemir Gordyushenko is on it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A wage question at Rodina
Sergey Volkov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vagan Manukyan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Sergey Volkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market5 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Neftekhimik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Svyatoslav Kozhedub. The answer from Rodina has not changed — yet.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Biryukov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Georgy Yudintsev commits to Rodina for another 3 years.
Market5 Jul 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rodina, another week without a signature from Sebastián Arce.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Rodina
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Rodina sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Rodina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Rodrigo Becão 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fakel paid $140.0K and Rodina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad28 Jun 2027
46 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mitja Križan, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Mikhail Maltsev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rodina 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The Iker Pozo talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Jun 2027
Rodina refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market21 Jun 2027
The fee is $610.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Volga drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rodina have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Sokol 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
A stepping stone, not a home, for Kirill Folmer
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Rodina were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market21 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mikhail Maltsev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rodina.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Ushatov, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Nobody at Rodina 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
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Rodina
Brian Mansilla was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Rodrigo Becão 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kerfala Cissoko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 87% of the Rodina 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sebastián Arce’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
Rodina say no — this time
The offer from Radnicki Nis for Ivan Timoshenko 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Rodina have had the benefit of it.
Market7 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rodina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Vladislav Samko 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Sergey Volkov, on 19 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Becão 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 dugout7 Jun 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
Sergey Volkov gets picked when it counts
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 Sergey Volkov is on it.
Market7 Jun 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Francesco Lattisi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Rodina have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad31 May 2027
Artem Sokol 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 dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Daniel Svintsov
“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 dugout31 May 2027
Sebastián Arce knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.
The terraces31 May 2027
The Iker Pozo rumours reach the terraces
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Rodina would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
The dugout31 May 2027
Artem Sokol has been promised minutes
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 Artem Sokol has written the date down.
Market31 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 May 2027
Rodina are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 69 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Becão 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.
Market24 May 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Evgeniy Bobylev 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.
Market24 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yuri Lermontov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nobody at Rodina 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 dugout24 May 2027
Artem Sokol has been promised minutes
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 Artem Sokol has written the date down.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leo Goglichidze’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
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
Steady
The dugout17 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 May 2027
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Denis Egorov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Vladislav Samko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Becão 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Mitja Križan
“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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Wages eat 102% of everything Rodina 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 dugout17 May 2027
Nobody at Rodina 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.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sebastián Arce’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad17 May 2027
A wage question at Rodina
Sergey Volkov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rodina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Vladislav Samko 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Artem Sokol 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.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I watch every Rodina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at SKA Khabarovsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 May 2027
Sergey Volkov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rodina 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.
Market10 May 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Markitesov, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Mitja Križan 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.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Iker Pozo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout3 May 2027
Dmitry Tananeev: 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.” Rodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rodina, another week without a signature from Sebastián Arce.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Ushatov, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 May 2027
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.
The dugout3 May 2027
Mitja Križan 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 Mitja Križan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad3 May 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Apr 2027
Rodina up to position 3
69 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Burlakov, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Artem Biryukov 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 Artem Biryukov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Apr 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 Stanislav Bessmertny is on it.
Squad26 Apr 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes Artem Sokol a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rodina. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leo Goglichidze’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
49 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Sebastián Arce
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Sokol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
108% of the income goes out in wages at Rodina
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 dugout19 Apr 2027
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.
Market19 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matvey Burlakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A wage question at Rodina
Sergey Volkov has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rodina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Artem Biryukov
“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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every Rodina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at SKA Khabarovsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Sebastián Arce 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The formation has left Fahad Khalid behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Rodina will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Veles will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alexandr Krasnopevtsev has pre-agreed a move to Rodina, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Maximenko, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Artem Sokol 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.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Danilin signs something — a contract at Rodina or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Mar 2027
Rodina are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 69 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout29 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Vladislav Samko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Sokol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Svinov, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Nobody at Rodina 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Artem Sokol 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 Artem Sokol trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Kirill Ushatov 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 Rodina that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Maxim Danilin damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Rodrigo Becão 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
109% of the income goes out in wages at Rodina
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
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 Astemir Gordyushenko is on it.
Market22 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Sergey Volkov 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 Rodina that is a harder question to answer.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
22 appearances at Feirense and the goals keep coming. Rodina are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Danilin
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rodina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Rodrigo Becão 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Astemir Gordyushenko, and the manager let it.
Market15 Mar 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kirill Ushatov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rodina.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Sergey Volkov gets picked when it counts
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 Sergey Volkov is on it.
Squad15 Mar 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
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Danilin
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Chaika will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Roman Graschenkov has pre-agreed a move to Rodina, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets8 Mar 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nikolay Baranov 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Sokol 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
$269.9K on the table at Rodina
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.61 on the card, and the Rodina support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match24 Feb 2027
The small margins put Rodina out
Out, 1‑2 to Akhmat, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market1 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spartak Kostroma waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match1 Mar 2027
Rodina are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 68 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 3 in, 5 out at Rodina
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladislav Samko and Rodina agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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 ratings1 Mar 2027
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Danilin
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Feb 2027
BATE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rodina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market22 Feb 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 Rodina can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Feb 2027
Rodina make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rodina have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Business is business: Yordy Reyna goes
Spartak Moscow paid $440.0K and Rodina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Rodrigo Becão 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 targets22 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
Steady
Market15 Feb 2027
$6.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market15 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rodina people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match13 Feb 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
Supporters turn on the $6.3M sale of German Onugkha
He is going to Bodo/Glimt, the club has $6.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Yordy Reyna yet — 8.39
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Rodina and Ufa have settled on $47.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market15 Feb 2027
MFK Skalica come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rodina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market15 Feb 2027
Akhmat Grozny pay $1.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on German Onugkha
23 goals and a season average of 7.51 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
At 20, Artem Biryukov is already the best thing here
An average of 6.58 in a first team he is several years too young for. Rodina have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.99, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market8 Feb 2027
The name of Iker Pozo has come up in conversations Rodina were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings8 Feb 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.
Squad8 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, Rodina do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Rodrigo Becão 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
Rodina asked and Ufa 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
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Banik Ostrava waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match1 Feb 2027
Rodina refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 58 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Rodina's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Rodina 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Rodina
Astemir Gordyushenko 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Artem Sokol
“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 dugout1 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rodina told Sebastián Arce something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I watch every Rodina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Akhmat Grozny runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Sergey Aidarov out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rodina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Artem Sokol and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
160% of the income goes out in wages at Rodina
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Match23 Jan 2027
Rodina caught on 87 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ufa scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Ushatov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Ushatov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. German Onugkha had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Sergey Aidarov out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rodina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad18 Jan 2027
22 goals and a season average of 7.52. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead18 Jan 2027
Rodina and Ufa meet at the summit
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Match16 Jan 2027
A point taken on 85 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Jan 2027
Rodina march on in the cup
Rubin are out and Rodina go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Paralimni waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.51 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rodrigo Becão 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 terraces11 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
83 days out for Sergey Aidarov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rodina will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.50, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match4 Jan 2027
Rodina refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 54 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market4 Jan 2027
OB come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rodina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.49 with 20 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.47, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Rodina will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Match2 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
No mercy from Rodina
Arsenal Tula will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rodina were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad28 Dec 2026
90 days out for Sergey Aidarov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rodina will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and German Onugkha takes the afternoon — 9.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. German Onugkha provided it, and the 9.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
18 goals and a season average of 7.43. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.88, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Rodina right now
3 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Rodina keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 319% of everything Rodina earn
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Looking ahead
The big one: Fakel come into view
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Player ratings
Brian Mansilla runs at them all day
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Dec 2026
The run at home goes on for Rodina
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
The goals keep arriving from Matvey Burlakov’s exile
21 goals in 20 games at Dinamo Vologda — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rodina updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.38 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Rodina do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Becão is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Soltmurad Bakaev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rodina.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Soltmurad Bakaev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Squad
A falling-out at Rodina
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Mitja Križan
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Neftekhimik, and it could have been more.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Artur Garibyan at 20 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Artur Garibyan did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
19 appearances at Dinamo Vologda and the goals keep coming. Rodina are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on German Onugkha
15 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 unbeaten for Rodina
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Rodina did not have in the autumn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Artem Sokol 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 terraces14 Dec 2026
At 20 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Rodina 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Artyom Aliyev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Dec 2026
Rodina are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 45 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Yordy Reyna takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yordy Reyna provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match5 Dec 2026
Rodina make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
The goals keep arriving from Matvey Burlakov’s exile
17 goals in 18 games at Dinamo Vologda — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rodina updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergey Volkov, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Astemir Gordyushenko 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
A goal on 90 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
17 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 329% of the Rodina 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Chelyabinsk made Rodina work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Soltmurad Bakaev at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rodina.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Viktor Galkin could afford to be generous.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rodina told Sebastián Arce something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Chances created: 10. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
Match18 Nov 2026
Rodina through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Sochi, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match21 Nov 2026
Rodina make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
The goals keep arriving from Matvey Burlakov’s exile
14 goals in 16 games at Dinamo Vologda — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rodina updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Artem Maximenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.68. 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.
Match23 Nov 2026
Rodina at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 2, 41 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Ushatov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.39 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad16 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Rodina
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rodrigo Becão falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match14 Nov 2026
KAMAZ made Rodina work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.61, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Nov 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Nov 2026
Rodina are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on German Onugkha
14 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ural take the points off Rodina
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pyotr Markov 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Stenyakin, and the manager let it.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
14 appearances at Dinamo Vologda and the goals keep coming. Rodina are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 unbeaten for Rodina
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Rodina did not have in the autumn.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wins at Rodina
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Rodina
Artem Sokol and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 329% of the Rodina 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Rodina, and 7 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.26 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Rodina had the best player on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 Oct 2026
Rodina make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rodina have 5 straight wins of it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Age has not caught Yordy Reyna yet — 8.58
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.58 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Yegor Larionov: 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.” Rodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Rodina, 2‑0 the final word against Shinnik in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Becão 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Ivan Timoshenko 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Rodina 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
Triumph
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Brian Mansilla took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rodina tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match17 Oct 2026
Rodina make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rodina have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on German Onugkha
13 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Artem Sokol 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
The run at home goes on for Rodina
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
German Onugkha was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Rodrigo Becão 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Artem Sokol 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Oct 2026
Nobody above Rodina
First, on 30 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Rodina right now
3 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sebastián Arce. 2‑1 against SKA Khabarovsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match10 Oct 2026
The goal that put SKA Khabarovsk ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Rodina equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.99 on the card, and the Rodina support went home talking about one name.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Viktor Galkin on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Kirill Ushatov
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Artem Sokol dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑2 against Chernomorets, and it could have been more.
Squad5 Oct 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match30 Sep 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Artem Maximenko obliged against Nart. 4‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Rodina.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Yordy Reyna takes the afternoon — 9.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yordy Reyna provided it, and the 9.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and German Onugkha takes the afternoon — 9.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. German Onugkha provided it, and the 9.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Yordy Reyna among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Yordy Reyna on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Rodina and Chernomorets.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Artem Maximenko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.72. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A season average of 7.30 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Sep 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Rodina against Ufa
0‑1 to Ufa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Becão falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Rodina 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
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 Viktor Galkin to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Mikhail Maltsev
“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
Triumph
Match19 Sep 2026
Rodina cannot stop winning
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iker Pozo. 2‑1 against Chaika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Brian Mansilla was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Iker Pozo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Sokol, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Viktor Galkin, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Rodina have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The weekend belonged to Yordy Reyna
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Sep 2026
Timur Artemov damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match12 Sep 2026
Rodina cannot stop winning
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Rodina 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Rotor made Rodina work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Becão is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Astemir Gordyushenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
Timur Artemov damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Rodina make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rodina have 6 straight wins of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Rodina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Sep 2026
The name of Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov has come up in conversations Rodina were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rodina
Artem Sokol and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Stanislav Bessmertny 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Rodina 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Rodina get the job done against Fakel
A 1‑0 win over Fakel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Timur Artemov
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Radnicki 1923 had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nobody wants to play Rodina 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Business is business: Igor Andreev goes
Arsenal Tula paid $870.0K and Rodina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market31 Aug 2026
Baltika pay $680.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Mikhail Maltsev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Arsenal Tula, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
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Squad
8 new faces, and Rodina are still learning each other
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The dugout
A satisfied Viktor Galkin
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. 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 Aug 2026
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sampdoria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Napredak come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rodina did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match22 Aug 2026
Rodina cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: German Onugkha. 2‑1 against Sokol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match15 Aug 2026
No mercy from Rodina
Neftekhimik will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rodina were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market17 Aug 2026
Rodina say no — this time
The offer from Sokol for Ilja Svinov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Rodina cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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 ratings17 Aug 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.77, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Kerfala Cissoko again, and this time the name on the line is Podbeskidzie. Rodina are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Becão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and German Onugkha takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. German Onugkha provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rodina
Brian Mansilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: German Onugkha. 2‑0 against Spartak Kostroma, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ilja Svinov again, and this time the name on the line is Sokol. Rodina are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eduard Zimnin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vladislav Bessonov 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. Georgy Gorelov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Viktor Galkin kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” German Onugkha and Rodina agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Volkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: German Onugkha. 2‑0 against Chelyabinsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseny Khorin, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.