From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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 Nov 2027
Meik Karwot 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Zhetysu will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market1 Nov 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexandr Danilov has his answer from Zhetysu; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Zhetysu would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
Meik Karwot was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kayk Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Gabriel Costa 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 Gabriel Costa is on it.
Market25 Oct 2027
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Zhetysu money.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shaxzod Beshimov 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luiz Felipe, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Alan Chochiev asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 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.
The dugout18 Oct 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
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Matvey Fedorov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matvey Fedorov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zhetysu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Gabriel Costa 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A last season at home is what Stefan Sicaci is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Adam Adakhajiev asks for a word with the manager
“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
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Askhat Baltabekov and Zhetysu agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Chochiev, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Oct 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.
The dugout4 Oct 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
Uneasy
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Matvey Fedorov 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladyslav Naumets, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shaxzod Beshimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zhetysu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Gabriel Costa 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 Gabriel Costa is on it.
The dugout27 Sep 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 Zhetysu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Sep 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 Zhetysu can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Matvey Fedorov has agreed terms with Ordabasy for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad20 Sep 2027
At 19 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Matvey Fedorov 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Alexandr Danilov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kayk Almeida, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Sep 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 Zhetysu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout20 Sep 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 Mädi Zhaqypbaev is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Sep 2027
Matvey Fedorov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zhetysu they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 18 in, 4 out at Zhetysu
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Mladen Kovačević, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The deal with Lokomotiv Moscow 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.
Squad13 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Zhetysu are still strangers to each other
5 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 dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Mädi Zhaqypbaev
“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
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zhetysu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
The deal with Shakhter 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Zhetysu asked and Peterborough United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Rauan Orynbasar 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shaxzod Beshimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikita Solomatin and Zhetysu agree another 3 years.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zhetysu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market6 Sep 2027
Andranik Karapetyan is 20, and Zhetysu have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market6 Sep 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Zhetysu signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zhetysu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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 Zhetysu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matvey Fedorov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zhetysu have done the hard part with Rodina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Gabriel Costa
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zhetysu will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Matvey Fedorov
“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
Market23 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 Zhetysu, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Alexandr Danilov: 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.” Zhetysu have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 19 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Jovan Pajović 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 dugout23 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Rodina 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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adam Adakhajiev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
69 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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 targets16 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Kayk Almeida 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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. Zhetysu will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout16 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Shoqan Abzalov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zhetysu has been clear about where Shoqan Abzalov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout16 Aug 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Matvey Fedorov has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Aug 2027
The season ends: position 9 for Zhetysu
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 22 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad9 Aug 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Zhetysu have done the hard part with Omonoia Aradippou, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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 targets9 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Shaxzod Beshimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stefan Sicaci and Zhetysu agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Zhetysu had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Derby County, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market2 Aug 2027
Danil Podymskii has left for Shakhter in a $160.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Meik Karwot 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 targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftekhimik have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Matvey Fedorov 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
A bad afternoon for Zhetysu against Astana
0‑2 to Astana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Yurii Vakulko 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Kairat left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samandarjon Mavlonqulov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Zhetysu asked and Spartak Kostroma 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Meik Karwot
“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.
Squad26 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 Zhetysu know it.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan move for Chizzy Ezenwata is in the works
Zhetysu have made the call to Derby County. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Zhetysu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match17 Jul 2027
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Meik Karwot 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 targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Rauan Orynbasar 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mladen Kovačević’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zhetysu.
Squad19 Jul 2027
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The team sheet said everything about Alan Chochiev
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alan Chochiev.
The dugout19 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Zhetysu's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zhetysu has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cercle Brugge have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Alan Chochiev
“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.
Match10 Jul 2027
Tobol left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Blackpool 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
Uneasy
Match3 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Zhetysu's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zhetysu has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The deal with Ordabasy 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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 targets5 Jul 2027
Zhetysu asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Jovan Pajović 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zhetysu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Spartak Kostroma 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.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Jovan Pajović
7.30, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Zhetysu had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Zhetysu academy
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
In brief
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The dugout
Kayk Almeida gets it from the manager
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Alan Chochiev knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jun 2027
The cup run ends for Zhetysu
1‑2 against Kairat, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match26 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Zhetysu
5 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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Zhetysu — 7.96
1 for Jovan Pajović, marked 7.96, 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Dinmūkhamed Qashken 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Antonić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jun 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Matvey Fedorov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Marko Živanović has left for Irtysh in a $150.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Jun 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.
Squad21 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Jun 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Jun 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 0‑1 Gafurzhan Logvinenko left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 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 Zhetysu can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zhetysu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samandarjon Mavlonqulov 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Rafkat Aslan 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. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout14 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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market14 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marko Živanović has his answer from Zhetysu; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Yurii Vakulko 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 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gabriel Costa and Zhetysu agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jun 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; Zhetysu are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Kayk Almeida 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Zhetysu dressing room was either.
Match5 Jun 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Okzhetpes defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead7 Jun 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alan Chochiev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Zhetysu needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 May 2027
Zhetysu get the job done against Taraz
A 3‑1 win over Taraz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Rauan Orynbasar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces31 May 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Yurii Vakulko at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zhetysu.
Squad31 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luiz Felipe commits to Zhetysu for another 3 years.
The dugout31 May 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
Askhat Baltabekov 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match22 May 2027
Yurii Vakulko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Aktobe, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad24 May 2027
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 dugout24 May 2027
Meik Karwot 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 ratings24 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Yurii Vakulko at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zhetysu.
Squad24 May 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 Zhetysu know it.
Match24 May 2027
The half-term report on Zhetysu
Position 9, 13 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout24 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 May 2027
There were 8 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match15 May 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zhetysu and Astana in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match15 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Zhetysu against Astana
2‑4 to Astana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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.
Squad17 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Jovan Pajović
“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
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Zhetysu, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad10 May 2027
Meik Karwot 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Dinmūkhamed Qashken 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.
Match8 May 2027
Kairat left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Shoqan Abzalov
“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 dugout10 May 2027
Luiz Felipe dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Astana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout10 May 2027
Nobody at Zhetysu is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samandarjon Mavlonqulov 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 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.
Squad3 May 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; Zhetysu are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.79 on the card, and the Zhetysu support went home talking about one name.
Squad3 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 May 2027
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.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad3 May 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Yurii Vakulko. Zhetysu will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
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
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
Askhat Baltabekov 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 Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Too much change too quickly at Zhetysu
9 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 dugout26 Apr 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 0‑1 Gafurzhan Logvinenko left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Živanović, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The form table has caught Luiz Felipe
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zhetysu may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Apr 2027
Atyrau left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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.
Squad19 Apr 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 Zhetysu know it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raphael Success, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Kayk Almeida 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 Kayk Almeida is on it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match7 Apr 2027
Zhetysu march on in the cup
Ordabasy are out and Zhetysu go through, 5‑4 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Apr 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Zhetysu scored in the 106th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Kayk Almeida goes up and wins it — 7.39
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.39 for the rest of it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nūrbol Anuarbekov and Zhetysu agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yurii Vakulko commits to Zhetysu for another 4 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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
Meik Karwot 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Ordabasy left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout5 Apr 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Gafurzhan Logvinenko to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Petar Antonić'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.
Looking ahead5 Apr 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Akzhaiyk in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Meik Karwot 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Danilov and Zhetysu agree another 3 years.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zhetysu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Zhetysu are still strangers to each other
9 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Kayk Almeida
“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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ordabasy in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dinmūkhamed Qashken has written the date down.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Rafkat Aslan 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 Rafkat Aslan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marko Živanović’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Alan Chochiev, 35, rolls back the years — 8.05
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matvey Fedorov is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samandarjon Mavlonqulov 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Jovan Pajović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Match20 Mar 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Adam Adakhajiev
“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 ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Three points for Zhetysu, 3‑2 the final word against Okzhetpes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Matvey Fedorov 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Petar Antonić
“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 ratings15 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad15 Mar 2027
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Chochiev and Zhetysu agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zhetysu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
4 academy graduates step up at Zhetysu
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Market8 Mar 2027
One of our own: Azat Shomko joins the Zhetysu first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Azat Shomko is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ordabasy Dosmagambetov 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Baurzhan Islamkhan 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
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Zhetysu 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The Irtysh deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marko Živanović reports back to Zhetysu with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Zhetysu had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Unión de Santa Fe, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad1 Mar 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; Zhetysu are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Yurii Vakulko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A last season at home is what Meik Karwot is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
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 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Zhetysu signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meik Karwot 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 targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Navbahor have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Rauan Orynbasar 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 targets22 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Unión de Santa Fe: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Okzhetpes: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad22 Feb 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zhetysu know which stage they are at.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Zhetysu have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Market22 Feb 2027
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Petar Antonić arrives from Navbahor with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The deal with Navbahor 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.
Squad15 Feb 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Stefan Sicaci wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Zhetysu know now that the thought has arrived.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meik Karwot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Zhetysu asked and Pakhtakor 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Rauan Orynbasar
“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
Market8 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nūrbergen Nūrbol had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Moscow is saying, and nobody at Zhetysu is enjoying the guessing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Meik Karwot 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dinmūkhamed Qashken and Zhetysu agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Zhetysu
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.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Zhetysu were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Aktobe: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zhetysu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Meik Karwot 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.
Squad1 Feb 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 Zhetysu know it.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tobol have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Živanović, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Luka Gagnidze is in the works
Zhetysu have made the call to Dinamo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Sogdiana: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad1 Feb 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
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nūrbergen Nūrbol was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Zhetysu and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafkat Aslan 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 dugout18 Jan 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
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Yurii Vakulko 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zhetysu. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Through a full week of training without a reaction, and already asking for a place. Zhetysu will be careful with him and he will resent every day of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zhetysu can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Rauan Orynbasar 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Živanović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Askhat Baltabekov 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
Rafkat Aslan 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zhetysu. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Zhetysu
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafkat Aslan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marko Živanović has written the date down.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Danil Podymskii is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ädilkhan Dobai commits to Zhetysu for another 3 years.
The dugout14 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Ädilkhan Dobai 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 Zhetysu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Danilov and Zhetysu agree another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Živanović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Adam Adakhajiev out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zhetysu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Askhat Baltabekov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Askhat Baltabekov 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
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Yurii Vakulko 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Questions about Marko Živanović on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Adam Adakhajiev out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zhetysu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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
Rafkat Aslan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Adam Adakhajiev out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zhetysu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov 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
Rafkat Aslan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
43 days out for Adam Adakhajiev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zhetysu will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Zhetysu and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Adam Adakhajiev out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zhetysu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Zhetysu
Samandarjon Mavlonqulov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Zhetysu are still strangers to each other
20 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.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Zhetysu is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafkat Aslan 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
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
68 days out for Adam Adakhajiev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zhetysu will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Time is catching up with Adalberto
Everybody at Zhetysu 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.
Squad12 Oct 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; Zhetysu are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Adam Adakhajiev out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zhetysu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Askhat Baltabekov
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zhetysu will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adalberto and Zhetysu agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
82 days out for Adam Adakhajiev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zhetysu will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Sep 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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
19 new faces, and Zhetysu 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
-
Squad
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Adam Adakhajiev out for 89 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zhetysu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Askhat Baltabekov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Petar Antonić
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. Zhetysu will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Adam Adakhajiev out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zhetysu will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Zhetysu 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 targets14 Sep 2026
Zhetysu had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Pakhtakor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akzhaiyk have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Zhetysu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafkat Aslan 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
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 Samandarjon Mavlonqulov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
104 days out for Adam Adakhajiev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zhetysu will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Yurii Vakulko arrives at Zhetysu in a $420.0K statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Zhetysu have paid $420.0K for Yurii Vakulko, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with Pakhtakor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Navbahor is saying, and nobody at Zhetysu is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Zhetysu
Samandarjon Mavlonqulov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Yurii Vakulko from Ordabasy for $420.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Zhetysu had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bunyodkor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$420.0K on the table at Ordabasy. 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
16 new faces, and Zhetysu are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Taraz have kept their man, and Zhetysu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Federico Botti is in the works
Zhetysu have made the call to Bunyodkor. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
127 days out for Adam Adakhajiev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zhetysu will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Aug 2026
Zhetysu out of the cup
Ordabasy ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zhetysu asked and Neftchi 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 dugout17 Aug 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Zhetysu have made the call to Taraz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Sahob Rashidov is in the works
Zhetysu have made the call to Sogdiana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Alan Chochiev
Nobody at Zhetysu is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The dugout17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Sogdiana, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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 Zhetysu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Zhetysu asked and Astana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Baktiyor Logvinenko 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Baktiyor Murtazaev 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. Maxim Orazov 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Maxim Suyumbayev 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Kairat 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
7.20, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Zhetysu had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑4 to Astana, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Serikzhan Muzhikov and Zhetysu agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Askhat Baltabekov 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Askhat Baltabekov, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Irtysh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nūrbergen Nūrbol. The answer from Zhetysu has not changed — yet.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Zhetysu 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 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
Too much change too quickly at Zhetysu
14 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gafurzhan Logvinenko after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.