From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Besiktas have kept their man, and Sivasspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The chase for Hüseyin Türkmen ended with $2.7M changing hands and Antalyaspor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mattheus Oliveira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Valon Ethemi 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Sivasspor have made the call to Astra. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mert Çelik, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sivasspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$2.7M on the table at Antalyaspor. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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 Sivasspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Sivasspor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valon Ethemi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sivasspor asked and Bodo/Glimt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Antalyaspor: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Orkun Kökçü at that price
Sivasspor offered $10.3M; Besiktas said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Sivasspor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at NK Domzale, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mattheus Oliveira 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Sivasspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aly Mallé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Sivasspor, 2‑0 the final word against Istanbulspor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A masterclass from Rey Manaj
Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mattheus Oliveira has just signed for Sivasspor, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rey Manaj commits to Sivasspor for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mattheus Oliveira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Sivasspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valon Ethemi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Carrarese have kept their man, and Sivasspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Rey Manaj 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmet Muldur 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. Semih Soyuncu 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. Erdem Ozdemir has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Galatasaray have kept their man, and Sivasspor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valon Ethemi and Sivasspor agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Charis Charisis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sivasspor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valon Ethemi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Valon Ethemi
Still no offer on the table, and Valon Ethemi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Emre Bilgin is in the works
Sivasspor have made the call to Besiktas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Manchester City: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Nick Oyekunle is in the works
Sivasspor have made the call to Southampton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
-
The dugout
Rey Manaj asks for a word with the manager
-
Market
Experience through the door at Sivasspor
-
Squad
A wage question at Sivasspor