62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Slavia Mozyr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Add another name to the list: Vitebsk have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexandr Derzhinskiy. The answer from Slavia Mozyr has not changed — yet.
Olexandr Batischev 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayelsa United have kept their man, and Slavia Mozyr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Slavia Mozyr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anton Shamonin 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.
Slavia Mozyr have made the call to Olympiacos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Mozyr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilja Kalachev and Slavia Mozyr agree another 3 years.
Andrey Shemruk 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.
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 Anton Shamonin is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Bayelsa United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Valeriy Senko is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Slavia Mozyr will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Ilya Verenich on the training pitch
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Mozyr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Slavia Mozyr asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Mozyr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ivan Chintsov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slavia Mozyr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikalai Dragun and Slavia Mozyr agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mikalai Dragun
Nobody at Slavia Mozyr 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Mozyr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vitaliy Savitski 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vadzim Sivakov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raman Malevich 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Mikalai Dragun 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.
Olexandr Batischev 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 easiest signature of my career.” Terentiy Lutsevich and Slavia Mozyr agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Slavia Mozyr than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Slavia Mozyr, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slavia Mozyr can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody at Slavia Mozyr 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.
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.
0‑2 away to the standard of BK Hacken. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Derzhinskiy and Slavia Mozyr agree another 4 years.
Ricky Ngatchou 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Valery Balanovich to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Mozyr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Derzhinskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Terentiy Lutsevich is on it.
0‑4 against Molde. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slavia Mozyr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Melnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slavia Mozyr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Olexandr Batischev 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slavia Mozyr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Mozyr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Valeriy Senko is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valeriy Senko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
2‑3 against Benfica. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slavia Mozyr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valeriy Senko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slavia Mozyr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Mozyr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Terentiy Lutsevich and Slavia Mozyr agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valery Balanovich after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Valeriy Senko.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Melnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slavia Mozyr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Derzhinskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Slavia Mozyr 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Slavia Mozyr will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1‑4. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slavia Mozyr can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Ricky Ngatchou 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Valery Balanovich left the room before anybody could ask which.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slavia Mozyr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Andrey Shemruk 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.
Nobody at Slavia Mozyr 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Slavia Mozyr will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slavia Mozyr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Olexandr Batischev 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ruslan Hryshyn 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Derzhinskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Slavia Mozyr 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slavia Mozyr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Olexandr Batischev 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.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
17 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.
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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valery Balanovich after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Slavia Mozyr have no good answer.
1‑2 against Molde. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilya Kukharchik will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slavia Mozyr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Mozyr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Slavia Mozyr asked and Stade Malien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alexey Tkhagalegov.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slavia Mozyr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Slavia Mozyr close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudes have kept their man, and Slavia Mozyr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oleg Petrovskiy has just signed for Slavia Mozyr, and for once the answer mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Melnikov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slavia Mozyr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dynamo Kyiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botev Vratsa have kept their man, and Slavia Mozyr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Slavia Mozyr had all but put away. Dinamo Minsk will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.43 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ilya Verenich did not need any: 7.87, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is going to Smorgon, the club has $100.0K 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.
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.
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Vladislav Shubovich is living that version at Slavia Mozyr, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: APOEL keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Valeriy Senko has agreed terms with Dinamo Brest for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slavia Mozyr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Gomel will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ivan Mazurkevich could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 8.04
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 8.04, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Konstantin Veretynskiy was one of the reasons people came, and $130.0K does not replace that by itself.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Vitaliy Likhtin was one of the reasons people came, and $41.0K does not replace that by itself.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alexey Tkhagalegov is living that version at Slavia Mozyr, and it tends to show in the first month.
7.67, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ravan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andrei Signevich 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ilya Verenich scored in the 87th minute, Arsenal Dzerzhinsk had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Slavia Mozyr took the lot.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Evgeniy Shevchenko and Slavia Mozyr agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Olexandr Batischev 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.
At 18 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.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
13 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Slavia Mozyr training over how hard people work