From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Georgy Gongadze out for 107 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.
Squad15 Nov 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.
Market15 Nov 2027
He is 17, and nobody at Ufa signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Krzysztof Buksa commits to Ufa for another 3 years.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Denis Kutin
“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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ufa told Roman Petrukhin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout15 Nov 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 Nikita Goldobin is on it.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Shinnik next, and one man in the Ufa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Georgy Gongadze out for 114 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.
Squad8 Nov 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
A bad afternoon for Ufa against Volga
0‑1 to Volga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nil Gorshkov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Lev Ushakhin 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
6 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.
The dugout8 Nov 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 ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Lev Ushakhin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ufa 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
Crisis
Market1 Nov 2027
Lev Ushakhin 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Nov 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 106% 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Nil Gorshkov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lev Ushakhin 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Oct 2027
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Danil Lipovoy will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Ufa escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Squad25 Oct 2027
6 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.
Market25 Oct 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Shamil Isaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shamil Isaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A hand in 2 of them from Georgy Gongadze — 7.97
Marked 7.97. 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
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 dugout25 Oct 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Nil Gorshkov to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Oct 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lev Ushakhin obliged against Dinamo Vologda. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Ufa.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
6 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.
Squad18 Oct 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.
The dugout18 Oct 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georgy Gongadze. 1‑0 against Yenisey, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
A long trip to Yenisey worth making
1-0, and a corner of somebody else's ground that made more noise than the rest of it put together. Those coaches leave before dawn and nobody outside them ever mentions it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lev Ushakhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Andrey Mendel 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Matías Ballini has his answer from Ufa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lev Ushakhin 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Denis Kutin 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timofey Shipunov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad11 Oct 2027
No place for Roman Mushulov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ufa are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market11 Oct 2027
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ufa money.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ufa will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Timofey Shipunov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ufa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Mrzljak and Ufa agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Khabalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 106% 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Ufa are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match2 Oct 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Nizhniy Novgorod leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Nazar Terpugov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Mark Pereverzev: 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.
Market27 Sep 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Matías Ballini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets27 Sep 2027
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Ufa come up short against KAMAZ
KAMAZ left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Khabalov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Ivan Lomaev has become a man the manager trusts
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Market
The shop window has Danil Lipovoy in it
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Sep 2027
16 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Serder Serderov decided nobody was going anywhere. Fakel had no time left to answer.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
$2.0M was the most the club would pay and Spartak Moscow were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
No thanks: Roman Izotov rejects the move
Ufa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Arsenal Tula, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad20 Sep 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Ilja Sokolov 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. Ilja Sokolov has, at Ufa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Ufa find a way past Fakel
Fakel made Ufa work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market20 Sep 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
23 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.
Market13 Sep 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ivan Lomaev reports back to Ufa with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
No thanks: Danil Prutsev rejects the move
Ufa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spartak Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad13 Sep 2027
6 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.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
No deal for Lucas Vera at that price
Ufa offered $2.9M; Lokomotiv Moscow said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 17 in, 12 out at Ufa
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Nikita Goldobin 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. Nikita Goldobin has, at Ufa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad13 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evgeny Shlyakov
31 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.
Market6 Sep 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Ufa and Spartak Moscow have settled on $2.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ufa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
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.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Migran Ageyan
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Lev Ushakhin 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2027
Evgeny Shlyakov damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
Ufa say no — this time
The offer from Orenburg for Ivan Lomaev 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.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Denis Kutin: 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.
Market30 Aug 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Shamil Isaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shamil Isaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Matías Ballini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Aug 2027
A bad afternoon for Ufa against Sokol
1‑2 to Sokol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Aug 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
Ufa keep their word to Matías Ballini
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 2027
Ivan Khomukha 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 targets23 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Arsenal Tula is saying, and nobody at Ufa is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
The game went through Danil Lipovoy — 7.48
Marked 7.48 on 17 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Lokomotiv Moscow wanted more than $1.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad23 Aug 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout23 Aug 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 ratings23 Aug 2027
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ufa had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match21 Aug 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Neftekhimik leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Nazar Terpugov's mistake
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Nazar Terpugov: “I am not a substitute”
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ufa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market16 Aug 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Spartak Moscow wanted more than $1.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad16 Aug 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Migran Ageyan. 3‑2 against Chernomorets, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Ufa asked and Dinamo 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes of Danil Lipovoy at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ufa.
Squad16 Aug 2027
11 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
When it matters, Ivan Lomaev plays
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
No thanks: Maxim Petrov rejects the move
Ufa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baltika, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
$1.9M on the table at Spartak Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Danil Lipovoy commits to Ufa for another 4 years.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Ufa 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.
Squad9 Aug 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.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
Ufa supporters have found a favourite in Migran Ageyan
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Ufa get the job done against Tyumen
A 2‑0 win over Tyumen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Timofey Shipunov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Ivan Khomukha
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Squad
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2027
10 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.
Market2 Aug 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Fee done, terms next for Maxim Petrov
Ufa and Baltika have settled on $1.8M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Ufa have gone to Lokomotiv Moscow with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market2 Aug 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Georgy Gongadze and Ufa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Sochi take the points off Ufa
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
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.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Matías Ballini
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Denis Kutin slips down the pecking order
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Market26 Jul 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ufa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Ufa offered $1.0M; Lokomotiv Moscow said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad26 Jul 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akron have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lev Ushakhin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market19 Jul 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rostov is saying, and nobody at Ufa is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Baltika wanted more than $1.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad19 Jul 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Ufa
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Ufa asked and Akhmat Grozny said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Oleg Molchanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jul 2027
Ufa say no — this time
The offer from Kosmos for Ivan Khomukha 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 targets12 Jul 2027
$1.5M on the table at Baltika. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Baltika, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Denis Kutin 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market12 Jul 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Ufa will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Ivan Lomaev gets picked when it counts
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 Ivan Lomaev is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jul 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Shamil Isaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shamil Isaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The offer went to Rostov 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Lokomotiv Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Ivan Khomukha has come up in conversations Ufa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“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 Ufa know it.
Market5 Jul 2027
As if he never left: Lev Ushakhin returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Lev Ushakhin is a Ufa player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Khomukha commits to Ufa for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akron have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout28 Jun 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Lokomotiv Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Baltika: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Matías Ballini 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 Matías Ballini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
David Ozmanov gets picked when it counts
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 David Ozmanov is on it.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Ufa have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 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 targets21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Ufa get their man
The chase for Nazar Terpugov ended with $100.0K changing hands and Yenisey out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lev Ushakhin has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ufa have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Konstantin Troyanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Akron: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Ufa are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Shamil Isaev
“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
Squad14 Jun 2027
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market14 Jun 2027
No place for Ivan Lomaev in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ivan Lomaev has his answer from Ufa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Denis Kutin 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
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 Jun 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 Alexey Baranovskiy is on it.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Georgy Gongadze keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ufa say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Matías Ballini keeps the shirt for now, at Ufa's convenience rather than his own.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Baranovskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jun 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Chelyabinsk will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mark Pereverzev has pre-agreed a move to Ufa, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vyacheslav Shataev and Ufa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Ivan Lomaev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ufa 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
Nothing to show for Ivan Lomaev's season away
1 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Ufa will have this month.
Market7 Jun 2027
Ufa have made Ivan Lomaev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Magomed Yakuev
“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
Squad31 May 2027
17 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.
Squad31 May 2027
149 days out for Misael 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.
Squad31 May 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vyacheslav Shataev and Ufa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout31 May 2027
“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.
In brief
-
The dugout
David Ozmanov gets picked when it counts
-
Market
Ufa shop where it costs nothing
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The dugout
The manager makes Shamil Isaev a promise
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ballini
24 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A fracture rules Misael out for 156 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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 dugout24 May 2027
“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 dugout24 May 2027
Danil Akhatov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ufa 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 May 2027
32 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A fracture rules Misael out for 163 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Denis Kutin: 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Kirill Kravtsov 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Khomukha
“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 dugout17 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ballini
40 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.
Squad10 May 2027
170 days out for Misael 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ufa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Shamil Isaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shamil Isaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
Matías Ballini damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Squad3 May 2027
177 days out for Misael 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.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ufa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 May 2027
Viktor Baier 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.
The dugout3 May 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.
Market3 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
55 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Kravtsov 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Danil Akhatov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ufa 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
Matías Ballini damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kirill Kravtsov 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 dugout19 Apr 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georgy Gongadze signs something — a contract at Ufa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
70 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Shamil Isaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shamil Isaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Viktor Baier 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.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
The dugout12 Apr 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 Alexey Baranovskiy is on it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Konstantin Troyanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
Matías Ballini damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Kirill Kravtsov 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Everybody at Ufa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 39 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
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.
Match3 Apr 2027
A 2‑0 win over Arsenal Tula, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zalimkhan Yusupov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Migran Ageyan
7.71, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ufa had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ballini
85 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Matías Ballini 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Danil Akhatov gets picked when it counts
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 Danil Akhatov is on it.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Danil Lipovoy’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ufa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Ivan Khomukha 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 Ivan Khomukha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes Migran Ageyan a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ufa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ufa will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Matías Ballini damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
6 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Sokol take the points off Ufa
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market22 Mar 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Migran Ageyan has his answer from Ufa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nil Gorshkov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Matías Ballini 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
One booking too many, and Vasily Cherov sits out. Ufa lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Misael
“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
Squad15 Mar 2027
99 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
Ufa sell a favourite for $2.9M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Dilan Ortíz was one of the reasons people came, and $2.9M does not replace that by itself.
Market15 Mar 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Dilan Ortíz has left for Kongsvinger in a $2.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A goal and an assist for Claudio Acosta — 7.51
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.51 beside his name.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Viktor Baier 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 Mar 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ufa and Neftekhimik, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match13 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georgy Gongadze. 4‑2 against Neftekhimik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ballini
107 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.
Market8 Mar 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market8 Mar 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Age has not caught Filip Mrzljak yet — 8.20
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vasily Cherov commits to Ufa for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Kravtsov 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 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Matías Ballini damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Georgy Gongadze takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Georgy Gongadze provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market1 Mar 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ufa have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Ufa until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
No thanks: Yegor Shamov rejects the move
Ufa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Yenisey, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ufa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Georgy Gongadze’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Matías Ballini damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Market22 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Ufa say no — this time
The offer from Kolomna for Zalimkhan Yusupov 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.15, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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 targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Yenisey have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Kirill Kravtsov 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Yenisey made Ufa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ballini
133 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
A hiding for Ufa
Beaten 0‑5 by Rodina, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market15 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
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.
Market15 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Viktor Baier 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
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The dugout
Zalimkhan Yusupov gets it from the manager
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Boardroom
Inquest at Ufa
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ballini
141 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kyzyltash had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market8 Feb 2027
Danil Akhatov 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Matías Ballini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ufa come up short against Ural
Ural left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feirense have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Alexandr Belenov will call it something else in private.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Khomukha
“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
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
148 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.
Market1 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ivan Khomukha 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 targets1 Feb 2027
No thanks: Nüraly Älip rejects the move
Ufa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ufa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kirill Kravtsov 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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Kutin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ballini
155 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.
Market25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
At last: Ufa win one
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Shinnik. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Kirill Kravtsov 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Georgy Gongadze’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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 ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nil Gorshkov on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
162 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Soroksár 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Ufa's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ufa has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Ufa cannot find the net
6 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
73 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Viktor Baier 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Volga take the points off Ufa
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Migran Ageyan
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Boardroom
Inquest at Ufa
-
The dugout
A promise honoured at Ufa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Matías Ballini damages knee ligaments — 171 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 171 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Ufa's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ufa has to find a result from somewhere.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ufa cannot find the net
5 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Everybody at Ufa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 39 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout11 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nil Gorshkov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
6 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Ufa
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ufa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match2 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Ufa
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ufa can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match2 Jan 2027
Chernomorets left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Ballini, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ufa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Ufa
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ufa can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 141% 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.
The dugout28 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
KAMAZ take the points off Ufa
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nil Gorshkov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market28 Dec 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 Adrián Calello.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Kravtsov 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 Dec 2026
Denis Kutin 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 dugout21 Dec 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.30. 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Georgy Gongadze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Nil Gorshkov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ufa draw a blank against Chaika
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Chaika defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Misael says Ufa went back on their word
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Dec 2026
Rotor take the points off Ufa
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Dilan Ortíz 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.
Match14 Dec 2026
Halfway: Ufa sit in position 7
24 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nil Gorshkov after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Matías Ballini 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
A one-man rearguard from Viktor Baier
There were 7 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Filip Mrzljak, 33, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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
Kirill Kravtsov 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dilan Ortíz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
Player ratings7 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.
The dugout7 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.95 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ufa had the best player on the pitch.
In brief
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Squad
Viktor Baier makes the team of the month
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Matías Ballini knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 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 Ufa know it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Kravtsov 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
139% of the income goes out in wages at Ufa
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Three points for Ufa, 1‑0 the final word against Arsenal Tula in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.89 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ufa had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Nov 2026
The cup run ends for Ufa
1‑3 against Nizhniy Novgorod, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Kravtsov 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Viktor Baier
“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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Ufa against Sokol
0‑1 to Sokol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ufa are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nil Gorshkov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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
Kirill Kravtsov 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 dugout16 Nov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ufa told Alexandr Perchenok something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alexandr Perchenok’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ufa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ufa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market16 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ivan Lomaev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kirill Kravtsov 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
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrián Calello, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The spotlight tightens on Viktor Baier
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ufa told Evgeny Kharin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Evgeny Shlyakov
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
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 ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Georgy Gongadze takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Georgy Gongadze provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 139% 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Denis Kutin
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The formation has left Matías Ballini behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ufa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market2 Nov 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 Matías Ballini.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Vladislav Kamilov delivers — 7.66
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Vladislav Kamilov scored, was marked 7.66, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Viktor Baier 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Vladislav Kamilov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Viktor Baier, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Nil Gorshkov could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ufa told Timofey Shipunov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Danil Akhatov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Kravtsov 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Ufa against Yenisey
1‑2 to Yenisey, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timofey Shipunov, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Nil Gorshkov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Chelyabinsk next, and one man in the Ufa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ufa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Misael is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Zalimkhan Yusupov has his answer from Ufa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market12 Oct 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Ufa
Something was said to Igor Andreev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
Match30 Sep 2026
Ufa through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Ryazan, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Dilan Ortíz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ufa.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 175% 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.
The terraces5 Oct 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Rodina blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Rodina tried to reorganise, Ufa did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Misael
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Misael, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Ufa
A 0‑3 beating by Ural was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match26 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Ufa
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ufa are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Sep 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 Ufa know it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Viktor Baier 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Georgy Gongadze
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Konstantin Troyanov 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 Sep 2026
Inquest at Ufa
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ufa
10 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 dugout28 Sep 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 0‑3 Nil Gorshkov left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
9 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Zalimkhan Yusupov delivers — 7.73
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Zalimkhan Yusupov scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Ufa
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ufa are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Viktor Baier 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
1‑2 to Torpedo Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Viktor Baier
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ufa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Andreev 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
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
In brief
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The dugout
Georgy Gongadze asks for a word with the manager
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Looking ahead
The leaders are next for Ufa
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Player ratings
Dilan Ortíz leaves them behind him
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
6 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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Ufa close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The deal with Viktoria Plzen 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Denis Kutin
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Nil Gorshkov on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Match12 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Ufa?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Shinnik? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Georgy Gongadze’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ufa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Misael left out for tactical reasons at Ufa
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ufa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Misael is a square peg at Ufa
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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Viktoria Plzen have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Alexandr Belenov has moved up it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Experience through the door at Ufa
Misael arrives at 39 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Shinnik in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Dinamo Zagreb 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.
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
Ufa refuse to lose to Volga
A point taken on 88 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timofey Shipunov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ufa
7 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Ural have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ufa and Volga take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Ufa sell a favourite for $510.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ilja Agapov was one of the reasons people came, and $510.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market24 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ilja Agapov has left for Baltika in a $510.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑1 to SKA Khabarovsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ufa
Osman Minatulaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zalimkhan Yusupov, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 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 Nil Gorshkov to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Igor Andreev scored in the 88th minute, Chernomorets had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Ufa took the lot.
Market17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Osman Minatulaev 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 targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to PAOK: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.45. 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Nil Gorshkov could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Ufa — 7.78
1 for Vladislav Kamilov, marked 7.78, 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ilja Agapov again, and this time the name on the line is Baltika. Ufa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ufa have done the hard part with Sparta Prague, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 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 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yefim Belov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kirill Shatov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Lev Shestakov joins the Ufa first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lev Shestakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ufa get the job done against KAMAZ
A 1‑0 win over KAMAZ, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 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.
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
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ufa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 Aug 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Ufa asked and NK Domzale said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ufa are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ufa share the spoils with Chaika
A 1‑1 draw with Chaika leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.