From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
87 days out for Kirill Zaika after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sochi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
No thanks: Faisal Rashid rejects the move
Sochi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Shabab, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Volkov 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcelo Alves, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Sochi have made the call to Talleres. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout15 Feb 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 Alexandr Osipov is on it.
Market15 Feb 2027
Sochi have let the market know Marcelo Alves can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes Michael Lang a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sochi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Kirill Zaika out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sochi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match6 Feb 2027
Nowhere to hide for Sochi
0‑3 against Lokomotiv Moscow, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atlético Tucumán keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Soldatenkov 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 targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flamengo have kept their man, and Sochi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Sochi
Jonathan Ávila and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nikolai Samsonov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stepan Radchenko 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vyacheslav Litvinov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
103 days out for Kirill Zaika after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sochi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Sochi say no — this time
The offer from Spartak Trnava for François Kamano 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The deal with Al Shabab is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Alexandr Soldatenkov 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Sochi asked and Olimpia 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
Michael Lang 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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jan 2027
Sochi come up short against Rubin
Rubin left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Michael Lang
“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
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
Kirill Zaika breaks a bone — 112 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Sochi
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Baltika made Sochi work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of François Kamano at his very best
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sochi.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout25 Jan 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Michael Lang 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 Michael Lang trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
119 days out for Kirill Zaika after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sochi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad18 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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Sochi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Soldatenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. German Ignatov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sochi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match16 Jan 2027
Krasnodar made Sochi work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 7.91. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vsevolod Melnikov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Soldatenkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
127 days out for Kirill Zaika after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sochi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match6 Jan 2027
Cup progress for Sochi
A 1‑0 win over Akhmat, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match6 Jan 2027
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Artem Korneev decided nobody was going anywhere. Akhmat had no time left to answer.
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Artem Korneev, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.02
A mark of 8.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Soldatenkov 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.
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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
137 days out for Kirill Zaika after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sochi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Sochi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Sochi's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sochi has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Vladimir Iljin, 34, rolls back the years — 7.92
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Sochi
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Vladimir Iljin scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Akron, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout4 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gbolagade Adelowo commits to Sochi for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Sochi's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sochi has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Sochi
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ruslan Shagiakhmetov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sochi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match26 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Sochi
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sochi can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad28 Dec 2026
23 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Michael Lang
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.51 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sochi had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vsevolod Melnikov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Sochi
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Sochi are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Sochi
Mikhail Ignatov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 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.
The dugout21 Dec 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 0‑1 Vsevolod Melnikov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad21 Dec 2026
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Sochi will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Sochi
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Volkov 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 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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ruslan Kuznetsov 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Vitaly Bondarev
“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.
Squad14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vsevolod Melnikov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Sochi dressing room was either.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Spartak Moscow came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Ruslan Bart has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sochi 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
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Sochi
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Anton Zinkovskiy
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Sochi share the spoils with Rostov
A 1‑1 draw with Rostov leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Julián Figueroa is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vsevolod Melnikov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Sochi than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
Nowhere to hide for Sochi
1‑5 against Zenit, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match28 Nov 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sochi and Zenit in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Sochi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Soldatenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Soldatenkov, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Sochi
Ilja Svinov 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Doors closed at Sochi
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Nov 2026
Cup progress for Sochi
A 1‑0 win over Volga, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ruslan Bart beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Sochi
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ruslan Bart and Sochi agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.89 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sochi had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.51. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad23 Nov 2026
6 new faces, and Sochi 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vsevolod Melnikov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Sochi dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Sochi
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sochi are no longer polite ones.
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a goal for Sochi
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Sochi
Sergey Volkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Sochi come up short against Akhmat
Akhmat left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout16 Nov 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 0‑1 Vsevolod Melnikov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Zaika, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sochi told Alexandr Osipov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nemanja Stojić commits to Sochi for another 3 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match7 Nov 2026
Sochi cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Sochi
Mikhail Ignatov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
CSKA Moscow left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vladislav Magomedov 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcelo Alves, and the manager let it.
Match9 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Sochi
Position 8, 18 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Sochi
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Sochi
Jonathan Ávila 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout2 Nov 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 Vsevolod Melnikov to a room that had heard them before.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Market2 Nov 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Michael Lang
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sochi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Oct 2026
The run is over for Sochi
8 matches without defeat, and then Lokomotiv Moscow. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Soldatenkov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sochi
15 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vsevolod Melnikov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Camilo Mancilla, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The form table has caught Michael Lang
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Sochi 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sochi know it.
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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Sochi, 1‑0 the final word against Rubin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.00 — 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Kirill Zaika 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Vsevolod Melnikov could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.90, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Vladimir Iljin, 34, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Sochi 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was François Kamano’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sochi.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yefrem Shestakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Volkov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Camilo Mancilla commits to Sochi for another 2 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Sochi
Ilja Svinov 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcelo Alves, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Sochi
A 2‑0 win over Chertanovo, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Artem Korneev, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Nikola Pavlica — 7.87
Marked 7.87. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Sochi 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Soldatenkov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
43 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Soldatenkov 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match26 Sep 2026
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Sochi 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Vladimir Iljin yet — 8.00
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Sochi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ittihad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Sochi asked and Spartak Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Volkov 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Ávila
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match19 Sep 2026
Honours even between Sochi and Akron
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vsevolod Melnikov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 21 in, 2 out at Sochi
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Shabab keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Sochi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Soldatenkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Sep 2026
Nizhniy Novgorod made Sochi work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Nasr have kept their man, and Sochi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Michael Lang 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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Navbahor died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Sochi
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sochi are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Sochi
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Sochi asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Sep 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ruslan Bart again, and this time the name on the line is Akron. Sochi are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk 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 Sep 2026
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Volkov 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 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Kelly Saravanan
“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
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Sochi asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market31 Aug 2026
Sochi say no — this time
The offer from Shinnik for Ruslan Bart 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Sochi
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sochi
Artem Makarchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Spartak Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Sochi
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sochi
12 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.
The dugout31 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Sochi sell a favourite for $3.3M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Pavel Meleshin was one of the reasons people came, and $3.3M does not replace that by itself.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A move Kelly Saravanan 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. Kelly Saravanan is living that version at Sochi, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets24 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Nassr is saying, and nobody at Sochi is enjoying the guessing.
The terraces24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sergey Volkov 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ilja Svinov 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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Roman Yezhov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Sochi
A 0‑6 beating by Zenit was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vitaly Bondarev gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vitaly Bondarev has just signed for Sochi, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets17 Aug 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
6 goals as Sochi and Zenit go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sochi and Zenit, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Sochi
Mikhail Ignatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have kept their man, and Sochi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” KAMAZ had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Ural 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Soldatenkov and Sochi agree another 3 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
The fee is $230.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Rodina drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Sochi
Mikhail Slepov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Zakhar Fedorov has come up in conversations Sochi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” François Kamano commits to Sochi for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sochi
Mikhail Slepov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: KAMAZ have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ruslan Bart. The answer from Sochi has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alexandr Soldatenkov 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Besiktas have kept their man, and Sochi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
He is 22 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match1 Aug 2026
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Sochi had all but put away. Akhmat will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.