From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Out, 0‑1 to Dnepr Mogilev, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match22 Aug 2026
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Kirill Premudrov will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Torpedo-BelAZ escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Kirill Premudrov delivers — 7.60
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kirill Premudrov scored, was marked 7.60, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Minsk have kept their man, and Torpedo-BelAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Torpedo-BelAZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soslan Takulov 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Vadim Pobudey 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 dugout24 Aug 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Lokomotiv Sofia for Steven Alfred 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Kirill Premudrov, 34, rolls back the years — 7.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Uroš Drezgić delivers — 7.35
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Uroš Drezgić scored, was marked 7.35, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match15 Aug 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Maxim Gaevoy scored one and made one — 6.44
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 6.44, and 2 involvements.
Match12 Aug 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torpedo-BelAZ and Uni-X Labs in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Torpedo-BelAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vadim Pobudey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Alexandr Frantsuzov takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexandr Frantsuzov provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.03, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Torpedo-BelAZ — 7.98
1 for Nikita Korzun, marked 7.98, 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Soslan Takulov 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 targets10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Vadim Pobudey 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexandr Frantsuzov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mikalai Palitsevich 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
Squad3 Aug 2026
Pavel Pampukha arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Pavel Pampukha has, at Torpedo-BelAZ, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergey Ignatovich commits to Torpedo-BelAZ for another 2 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Torpedo-BelAZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 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 Torpedo-BelAZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Zakhar Baranok again, and this time the name on the line is Slonim. Torpedo-BelAZ are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Yevhen Chahovets 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Sergey Ignatovich’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 enquiry to Rubin: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Torpedo-BelAZ, another week without a signature from Pavel Pampukha.