4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Kauã Elias, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.89
A mark of 9.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mantova keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Kauã Elias 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.
Kauã Elias, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Veres have gone to Chornomorets 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.
Kauã Elias 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Alagie Wally 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aykut Ramadan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Veres who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dmytro Hodia
27Edition
The Veres Herald
1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Kauã Elias, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42
A mark of 8.42 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Rostyslav Liashchuk has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Veres have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Livyi Bereh have kept their man, and Veres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Aykut Ramadan 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Veres have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aykut Ramadan 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Veres pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Kauã Elias, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.84
A mark of 9.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Kauã Elias 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kauã Elias. 3‑1 against Karpaty, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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; Veres are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Fabrício Yan 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.
In brief
SquadAykut Ramadan falls out with a teammate over standards
Shakhtar go through and Veres go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Wesley Pomba 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.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aykut Ramadan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Veres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Fortaleza for Wesley Pomba 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kauã Elias did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Veres will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
SquadAykut Ramadan falls out with a teammate over standards
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kauã Elias did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Veres people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A season average of 7.36 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Veres know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Veres and Rukh in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsMaksym Smiian beats them one at a time
The dugoutIhor Kharatin knocks on the manager’s door
21Edition
The Veres Herald
21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Kauã Elias takes the afternoon — 9.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kauã Elias provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Kauã Elias 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 phone has started ringing about Viacheslav Surkis again, and this time the name on the line is Union Espanola. Veres are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aykut Ramadan 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.
Chances created: 12. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Oleksiy Lunyov on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Kauã Elias 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mykhailo Protasevych and Veres agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aykut Ramadan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Oleksiy Lunyov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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 Bahia is on it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Kauã Elias takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kauã Elias provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Dynamo Kyiv left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Aykut Ramadan 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oleksiy Lunyov after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A season average of 7.09 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Veres know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Wesley Pomba wants continental football; whether Veres can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aykut Ramadan 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 dugout30 Nov 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.” Oleksiy Lunyov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Wesley Pomba 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aykut Ramadan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Viacheslav Surkis, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Aykut Ramadan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Kauã Elias 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ihor Kharatin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Alagie Wally 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Veres told Gonçalves something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Konstantinos Stamoulis and Veres agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Aykut Ramadan 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.
Half the programme played, position 10, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kauã Elias did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Veres and Kudrivka, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aykut Ramadan 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.
Kauã Elias 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Aykut Ramadan 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Veres 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 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Oleksiy Lunyov to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Kauã Elias 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.
0‑1 to Polissia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Aykut Ramadan 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Alagie Wally 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Aykut Ramadan 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 dugout12 Oct 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.” Oleksiy Lunyov, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Two goals and a mark of 9.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aykut Ramadan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Wesley Pomba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mykhailo Protasevych is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Oleksiy Lunyov kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Position 14 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Veres can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Kauã Elias 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aykut Ramadan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Veres 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.
Kauã Elias 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jess Degenaers has, at Veres, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Chances created: 16. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Veres asked and Plaza Colonia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aykut Ramadan 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Veres dressing room in a hurry
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Semen Vovchenko reports back to Veres with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Veres close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 6 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.
The phone has started ringing about Vitalii Boiko again, and this time the name on the line is Dynamo Kyiv. Veres are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Monza keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Veres asked and Deportivo La Guaira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Shakhtar paid $1.8M and Veres took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The name of Semen Vovchenko has come up in conversations Veres were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Veres asked and Javor-Matis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Wesley Pomba 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.
Veres offered $75.0K; Chornomorets 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.
Veres asked and Zamora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Aykut Ramadan has just signed for Veres, and for once the answer mattered.
Wesley Pomba 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 offer went to Chornomorets 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.
Veres asked and Kolos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Dynamo Kyiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Aykut Ramadan 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Veres 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.
Shakhtar have accepted the money. What Veres do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from Metalist for Daniil Checher 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 offer went to Shakhtar 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chase for Maksym Mudryi ended with $79.0K changing hands and Nyva out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Veres and Nyva have settled on $79.0K. 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Porto is saying, and nobody at Veres is enjoying the guessing.
$200.0K on the table at Dynamo Kyiv. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Wesley Pomba 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Veres and Shakhtar, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Veres asked and Sporting Cristal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.