From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Ronaldo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Lucas Olaza in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“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 Rostov, and 1 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Match6 Feb 2027
Orenburg made Rostov work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market8 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Denis Savinov 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Savely Shevchenko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Konstantin Kuchaev 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Timur Suleimanov at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rostov.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Akron, and it could have been more.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Both of them Ronaldo's — 9.11
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market1 Feb 2027
CSKA Moscow come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rostov did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ronaldo has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Rostov can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Rostov
Lucas Olaza 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rostov and Akron in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Anton Zabolotny
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rostov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Rostov
Alexey Mironov 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Artem Bandikyan has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Rostov have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nizhniy Novgorod left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Semyon Cheryshev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Konstantin Kuchaev will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
Anton Zabolotny damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rustam Yatimov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. German Ignatov 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ronaldo runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun 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 Rostov
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Olaza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
8.43. 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Match6 Jan 2027
Rostov march on in the cup
Baltika are out and Rostov go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Timur Suleimanov takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Timur Suleimanov provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Vadim Rassadin at 20 — 7.64
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vadim Rassadin did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Khoren Bairamyan, 35, rolls back the years — 7.99
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market11 Jan 2027
The name of Rustam Yatimov has come up in conversations Rostov were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Lucas Olaza in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Vadim Rassadin is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Anton Zabolotny
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 41. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match4 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Rostov
Position 14 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Rostov
Lucas Olaza 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Artemy Kosogorov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Rostov have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match2 Jan 2027
1‑2 to CSKA Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
There were 19 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.86 for the rest of it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Rostov
Lucas Olaza 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
Alexey Mironov scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑5 to Zenit, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match26 Dec 2026
8 goals as Rostov and Zenit go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Rostov and Zenit, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Chistyakov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A masterclass from Ronaldo
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Prokhin 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Ulises Torres dropped after a run of poor form
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The dugout
Matěj Radosta has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Anton Zabolotny
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Rostov
Lucas Olaza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Mukhin. 2‑0 against Dinamo Makhachkala, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Maxim Mukhin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Rostov
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Kuchaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.27. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rostov.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
18 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Ulises Torres gets it from the manager
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Looking ahead
The leaders are next for Rostov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Vadim Rassadin: 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.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Rostov
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oleg Berezhnoy is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match12 Dec 2026
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Oumar Sako 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
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
Anton Zabolotny, 35, rolls back the years — 8.03
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lucas Olaza and Rostov agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Rostov
Alexey Mironov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Dmitry Chistyakov 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 watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Slavia Mozyr to sit and watch. I want to come back to Rostov and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match5 Dec 2026
Honours even between Rostov and Sochi
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Semyon Cheryshev after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market30 Nov 2026
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Victor Melekhin
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Konstantin Kuchaev 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Matěj Radosta, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match18 Nov 2026
Rostov march on in the cup
Nart are out and Rostov go through, 7‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match23 Nov 2026
Rostov sink to position 14
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 9.44 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Rostov
Lucas Olaza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Nov 2026
7 goals as Rostov and Nart go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Rostov and Nart, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
At 22 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
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Khoren Bairamyan
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.55, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Rostov — 7.99
1 for Maxim Mukhin, marked 7.99, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ronaldo runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Lucas Olaza in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
8.57. 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Level with 96 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Rostov had all but put away. Rubin will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Match14 Nov 2026
Rostov share the spoils with Rubin
A 3‑3 draw with Rubin leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Khoren Bairamyan damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Olaza 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 terraces9 Nov 2026
Rostov supporters have found a favourite in Ivan Komarov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Komarov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Olakunle Olusegun. 2‑0 against Baltika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match7 Nov 2026
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Innokentiy Korotkov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Khoren Bairamyan damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Rostov's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rostov has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Rostov
Lucas Olaza 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Alexey Mironov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Krasnodar left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oumar Sako, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Semyon Cheryshev after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Konstantin Kuchaev damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Oct 2026
Rostov sink to position 15
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rostov may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Rostov
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Rostov
Alexey Mironov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Semenchuk commits to Rostov for another 4 years.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Daniil Shantaliy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ronaldo runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Rostov against Akron
0‑2 to Akron, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Rostov dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Semyon Cheryshev to a room that had heard them before.
Market19 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Anderson Carvalho has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rostov.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The formation has left Favio Durán behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Rostov will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Ronaldo
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Mironov 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Daniil Shantaliy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
105% of the income goes out in wages at Rostov
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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Nobody at Rostov has picked up the phone to Lucas Olaza
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad12 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Rostov 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Rostov game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Slavia Mozyr runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Konstantin Kuchaev damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match30 Sep 2026
Rostov march on in the cup
Dinamo St Petersburg are out and Rostov go through, 7‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The match ball belongs to Timur Suleimanov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.95 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Anderson Carvalho takes the afternoon — 7.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anderson Carvalho provided it, and the 7.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets5 Oct 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Rostov
Lucas Olaza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match30 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Rostov and Dinamo St Petersburg, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match28 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for Rostov
Position 14 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market28 Sep 2026
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Rostov's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rostov has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun 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
0‑1 to Spartak Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Andrey Langovich 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Oumar Sako 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
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ronaldo was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dmitry Chistyakov 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Alexey Mironov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Semyon Cheryshev after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Uroš Drezgić
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Rostov
1‑5 against Zenit, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Maxim Mukhin delivers — 7.73
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Maxim Mukhin scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Rostov 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Lucas Olaza for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rostov will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Rostov
Alexey Mironov 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rostov and Zenit in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Konstantin Kuchaev damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market7 Sep 2026
Rostov spend $2.4M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.4M has been paid because Lucas Olaza is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Anton Zabolotny, 35, rolls back the years — 8.05
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Rostov spend $2.4M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.4M for Lucas Olaza, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
100 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Maxim Mukhin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Anton Zabolotny, 35, rolls back the years — 8.69
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.69 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Rostov asked and Akron said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Krasnodar this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rostov
Victor Melekhin 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Akhmat made Rostov work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rostov
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Anton Shamonin again, and this time the name on the line is Slavia Mozyr. Rostov are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Olakunle Olusegun at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rostov.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Konstantin Kuchaev damages knee ligaments — 86 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ronaldo was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Rostov spend $3.8M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.8M has been paid because Harold Santiago Mosquera is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Door shut on Pedro
Rostov asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
Rostov get their man
The chase for Uroš Drezgić ended with $730.0K changing hands and Rubin out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Slovan Bratislava is saying, and nobody at Rostov is enjoying the guessing.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Rostov's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rostov has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Nizhniy Novgorod wanted more than $680.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Fee done, terms next for Uroš Drezgić
Rostov and Rubin have settled on $730.0K. 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Cerro Porteno this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun 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
Ronaldo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Chistyakov, and the manager let it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter have kept their man, and Rostov go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Matěj Radosta would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matěj Radosta is living that version at Rostov, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monza is saying, and nobody at Rostov is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ronaldo and Rostov agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ivan Kurlov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Inter this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market3 Aug 2026
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anton Zabolotny and Rostov agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rostov
Olakunle Olusegun 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
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Match1 Aug 2026
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Rostov had all but put away. Rubin will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Rostov dressing room in a hurry
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Market
Nobody at Rostov has picked up the phone to Dmitry Chistyakov
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Squad
8 new faces, and Rostov are still learning each other