From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match20 Feb 2027
The run at home goes on for Ufa
16 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market22 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
16 goals and a season average of 7.44. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ufa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market22 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Ufa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match20 Feb 2027
Ufa make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ufa have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Rodina paid $47.0K and Ufa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ufa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rostov keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.41 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Ufa asked and Krylya Sovetov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ivan Lomaev 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 unbeaten for Ufa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Ufa did not have in the autumn.
Match13 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Migran Ageyan. 2‑0 against Spartak Kostroma, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 8.12 — 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Ufa
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Transfer targets
Ufa ask about Cheveyo Tsawa
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ufa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match6 Feb 2027
The run at home goes on for Ufa
15 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Rostov; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Ozmanov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Krylya Sovetov is saying, and nobody at Ufa is enjoying the guessing.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market8 Feb 2027
Ufa say no — this time
The offer from Rodina for Alexandr Belenov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Feb 2027
The view from the top for Ufa
65 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alexandr Perchenok had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
$1.7M settles it between the clubs for Kirill Pechenin
Krylya Sovetov have accepted the money. What Ufa do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match30 Jan 2027
Nobody wins at Ufa
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market1 Feb 2027
Flora come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ufa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market1 Feb 2027
Shamil Isaev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.35 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Murom have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Dilan Ortíz
12 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Troyanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match23 Jan 2027
Ufa rescue it on 87 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Rodina had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout25 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The team sheet said everything about Konstantin Troyanov
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Match
Ufa share the spoils with Rodina
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Jan 2027
The run at home goes on for Ufa
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ufa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
12 goals and a season average of 7.31. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Armando González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
Looking ahead18 Jan 2027
Ufa and Rodina meet at the summit
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The team sheet said everything about Zalimkhan Yusupov
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 Zalimkhan Yusupov.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Vladimir Ivanov could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Jan 2027
The cup run ends for Ufa
2‑3 against Akhmat, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.79 for the rest of it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
At 21 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Lomaev, and the manager let it.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aleksei Smirnov 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
Triumph
Match2 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Ufa do not lose
25 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad4 Jan 2027
20 days out for Shamil Isaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ufa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match4 Jan 2027
The view from the top for Ufa
59 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Ufa have had the benefit of it.
Match2 Jan 2027
Nobody wins at Ufa
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Andrey Dobrynin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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 terraces4 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Armando González 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ufa
The unbeaten run reaches 24. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Shamil Isaev breaks a bone — 27 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 130% of the Ufa income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 8.29 — 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Dec 2026
The run is over for Ufa
4 matches without defeat, and then Volga. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ufa caught on 90 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Volga scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osman Minatulaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Shamil Isaev out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ufa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Ufa right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ufa make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match19 Dec 2026
Three points for Ufa, 1‑0 the final word against SKA Khabarovsk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Akhmed Davlitgereev 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vladimir Ivanov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konstantin Troyanov, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
6 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Alexandr Belenov has given nobody the chance.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Dec 2026
Shamil Isaev breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Armando González takes the afternoon — 9.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Armando González provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ufa cannot stop winning
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Denis Kutin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Armando González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ilya Chesnokov 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Match12 Dec 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Chernomorets tried to reorganise, Ufa did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Dec 2026
21 unbeaten for Ufa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 21 matches without defeat is a foundation Ufa did not have in the autumn.
Match7 Dec 2026
The view from the top for Ufa
49 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 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.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Armando González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Armando González at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ufa.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Ufa do not lose
20 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Cruel end for Chaika as Ufa pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ufa scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Ilja Khanenko: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match28 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Ufa
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Lomaev
“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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Chaika made Ufa work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 130% of everything Ufa earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
19 unbeaten for Ufa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 19 matches without defeat is a foundation Ufa did not have in the autumn.
Match18 Nov 2026
Cup progress for Ufa
A 1‑0 win over Torpedo Moscow, 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
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ivan Lomaev 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Rotor end the Ufa run at 5
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Konstantin Troyanov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match23 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Ufa
Position 1, 43 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Baranovskiy, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
Ufa make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ufa have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wins at Ufa
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
Ufa supporters have found a favourite in Danil Akhatov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Danil Akhatov 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ufa get the job done against Fakel
A 1‑0 win over Fakel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Armando González at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ufa.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Ivan Lomaev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ufa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Nov 2026
6 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match9 Nov 2026
Nobody above Ufa
First, on 39 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ufa are at home on the road
8 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ufa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ufa cannot stop winning
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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 terraces9 Nov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Arsenal Tula made Ufa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vyacheslav Tsyganov 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.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Ufa and Fakel meet at the summit
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 2026
15 unbeaten for Ufa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation Ufa did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.14, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Ufa told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad2 Nov 2026
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 21 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dilan Ortíz. 2‑0 against Sokol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wins at Ufa
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 130% of everything Ufa earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ufa
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ufa are at home on the road
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Ilja Khanenko 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Danil Lipovoy. 1‑0 against Neftekhimik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Danil Lipovoy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vladimir Ivanov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Evgeny Shlyakov, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
13 unbeaten for Ufa
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Ufa did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Lomaev, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
After 5 games, Ufa finally taste it again
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Spartak Kostroma; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match17 Oct 2026
A point taken on 87 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Spartak Kostroma leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market19 Oct 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ufa has been clear about where Alexandr Perchenok stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad12 Oct 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ufa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Oct 2026
Ufa are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 29 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Ufa right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ufa are at home on the road
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Chelyabinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aleksei Lapin 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fedor Savinov 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
Triumph
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Vladislav Kamilov damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match30 Sep 2026
Ufa through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Dinamo Vologda, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match30 Sep 2026
Magomed Yakuev wins it after the whistle should have gone
125 minutes played. Magomed Yakuev found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Dinamo Vologda went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Alexey Baranovskiy, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match3 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Ufa right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ufa keep winning on the road
5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 167% of the Ufa income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
Vladislav Kamilov damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ufa
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ivan Lomaev 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ufa get the job done against Rodina
A 1‑0 win over Rodina, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Dilan Ortíz at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ufa.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Ivan Lomaev dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Vladimir Ivanov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Evgeny Shlyakov
“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
Triumph
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladislav Kamilov
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ufa
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ufa keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Ufa, 1‑0 the final word against Ural in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Dilan Ortíz at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ufa.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ivan Lomaev
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Ivan Khomukha is still paying for one afternoon at Ufa
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The dugout
Ivan Lomaev knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ufa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 2 out at Ufa
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match12 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ufa
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Zakhar Nikiforov 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: Denis Bessonov joins the Ufa first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Denis Bessonov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Migran Ageyan at his very best
Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ufa.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match12 Sep 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Torpedo Moscow leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ufa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ufa make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ufa have 4 straight wins of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Dilan Ortíz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ufa keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Migran Ageyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Dilan Ortíz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Ufa 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Aug 2026
Vladislav Kamilov damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ufa run riot against Volga
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Filip Mrzljak, 33, rolls back the years — 7.81
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A move Ben Thys 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. Ben Thys is living that version at Ufa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ufa make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ufa have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Volga blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Volga tried to reorganise, Ufa did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
Vladislav Kamilov damages knee ligaments — 68 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ufa scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.94, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
David Ozmanov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atletico Venezuela keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Ufa, 2‑1 the final word against SKA Khabarovsk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vladislav Kamilov damages knee ligaments — 76 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PSV is saying, and nobody at Ufa is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Timofey Shipunov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Chernomorets, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Danil Lipovoy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Rapid Wien: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Atletico Venezuela: 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
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladislav Kamilov
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $630.0K sale of Ilja Agapov
He is going to Krasnodar, the club has $630.0K 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PSV is saying, and nobody at Ufa is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ivan Lomaev 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Krasnodar pay $630.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Artyom Blinov 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
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladislav Kamilov
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Lomaev and Ufa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
Ufa supporters have found a favourite in Migran Ageyan
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Migran Ageyan 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Migran Ageyan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Migran Ageyan at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ufa.
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 Ufa, another week without a signature from Filip Mrzljak.
Market3 Aug 2026
Nobody at Ufa has picked up the phone to Dilan Ortíz
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
In brief
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Transfer targets
Ufa ask about Noah Fernandez
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Squad
Ufa are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict