From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Sep 2026
Ural march on in the cup
Alania are out and Ural go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Oct 2026
11 unbeaten for Ural
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Ural did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Sekulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 229% of the Ural 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
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match3 Oct 2026
The run is over for Ural
4 matches without defeat, and then SKA Khabarovsk. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
In brief
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Squad
Player of the month: Martin Sekulić
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Ural
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market28 Sep 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ural make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ural have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Martin Sekulić 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Martin Sekulić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Ilja Ishkov 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 51. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ural
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
Ural supporters have found a favourite in Abakar Gadjiev
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Abakar Gadjiev 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Abakar Gadjiev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.45, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Martin Sekulić takes the afternoon — 9.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Sekulić provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.86, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Ural close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 8 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
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rotor is saying, and nobody at Ural is enjoying the guessing.
Match12 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Ural
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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 targets14 Sep 2026
Ural ran out of time with Shinnik. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Sekulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Akhmat Grozny 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 unbeaten for Ural
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Ural did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Sekulić 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 targets7 Sep 2026
NK Maribor 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
Too much change too quickly at Ural
6 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Léo Cordeiro named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Léo Cordeiro is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ural get the job done against Fakel
A 2‑0 win over Fakel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Evgeny Markov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rassambek Akhmatov, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rostislav Garin, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Scherbakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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 Ural can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Léo Cordeiro 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Sekulić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Timur Ayupov
“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 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Arsenal Tula will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Sokol, and it could have been more.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ilja Ishkov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ural
Léo Cordeiro 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Vitaly Bondarev has left for Sochi in a $480.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Ural training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Sekulić 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Ural asked and Boca Juniors 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Ilja Ishkov
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rostislav Garin on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ural
Léo Cordeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ilja Ishkov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bogdan Semak 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vladlen Abdulov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Andrei Galkin joins the Ural first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andrei Galkin is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pavel Kudryashov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
No place for Maxim Kuzmin in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ural are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Ural dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Evgeny Markov takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Evgeny Markov provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Maxim Kuzmin 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. Maxim Kuzmin has, at Ural, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Ural can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Silvije Begić and Ural agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Maxim Kuzmin 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 Ural this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Evgeny Markov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Ural
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Cordeiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.