Adyati Domestic Sports Newswire

[Adyatin]

The Holy Kingdom of Adyatin has only recently decided to open its domestic sports happenings to the world, as well as joining the world of sports for good. Adyati sports are heavily dominated by the local elites, often oligarchs, who are treating clubs as anything between toys, prestige objects, obsessions, and personal ATMs. Expect loads of drama and corruption off the pitch, and a physical straight-forward brand of play on the pitch - almost regardless of the sport in question. Especially in football, some Adyati clubs are filthy rich, although it is questionable whether it is to their best. Attention of the Adyati public is largely divided between ice hockey and football, with the latter ever so slightly more popular. The Army dominates Adyati sports, with ZSKA Adyatyagrad being a serial champion in both major sports.

[Adyatin]

Adyati Vysheyshaya Liga - Season 1 Preview

Adyatin’s premier league is about to launch into another season of hard-fought football, as is typical in the Holy Kingdom. This nation, located just to the Southwest of its bitter enemies of Savojarna, has only recently opened up to the world and is now aiming to attract more international capital and attention to its football system. The Vysheyshaya Liga is a closed league of twelve teams, playing two double-round-robins in a pretty tough 44 game season, although Adyatin does not play a cup competition to somewhat even out the load. The league is historically dominated by ZSKA Adyatyagrad, hailing from the capital of the nation and forming the core of the national side. Recently they have been challenged by the Northeastern side of FK Staraya Vetry, the home town of the Royal Prime Minister and rumoured to be heavily bankrolled. This is typical for most sides in the AVL, which is dominated by the elites of the country holding on to their pet teams. The league has a reputation for being physical, defensive and rough, and also for being somewhat corrupt towards the ZSKA and SKA sides as well as the sides supported by richer and more powerful individuals. In this season, observers again expect the title race to be dominated by two teams.

Adyata Chermin
Town: Chermin (Adyatskaya Oblast)
Home stadium: Stadium Yuri Litman (cap. 19’000)
Kit: Light blue shirt with black trims, white shorts, light blue socks
Manager: Serhiy Nemanov
Key players: Igor Letarenko, Pavol Serhiyev, Yauheni Lutsenko
Prediction: 11.

Adyata Chermin are a defensively oriented side from the old, but small town of Chermin, sitting on the massive Adyata river that gave the country and the club its name. As one of two clubs not to have a massive donor, but instead being led by a local conglomerate, Chermin lack the appeal to stars that other sides have. Nemanov has taken a weathered side and relies on the defensive stability of the veteran goalie Yauheni Lutsenko and centre-back Letarenko, both of them born and grown up in Chermin. The club has relatively few fans, but its loyal supporters have been excited by the prospect of Pavol Serhiyev, a 20 year old striker who has scored many goals in the youth program and now is expected to carry Adyata Chermin. Serhiyev will attempt to score as often as possible in order to get noticed by other clubs - leaving Chermin seems like an improvement to any footballer that does not play in defence. A tall, strong, and slow side, this is not a team anyone likes to see on their schedule, and that’s mainly because they’d expect the game to be boring.

FK Novograd
Town: Novograd (Povnach Oblast)
Home stadium: ZPN Stadium (cap. 37’000)
Kit: Black with white sleeves, black shorts, white socks
Manager: Aljaksander Ryshchenko
Key players: Petro Starov, Barys Zhimenov, Yuri Hleb
Prediction: 10.

This side hails from the industrial centre of Northern Adyatyagrad and is bankrolled by Mikhail Andropov, a third-generation Savojar refugee and industrialist in control of the massive ZPN conglomerate (Mixed Industries Novograd). Like many things in Novograd, the side (and their stadium) is large, but not glamourous in any sense of the word. Its stars are a defensive midfielder in Barys Zhimenov, a workhorse of a winger in Starov, and the 1.95 m tall and around 120 kg heavy Yuri Hleb, nicknamed “the Tank of Novograd”. Andropov and his long-time coach Aljaksander Ryshchenko are famous for fishing around in the talent pool of Savojar teams, which makes the team hated among fans of the often fervently nationalist Army sides, although it is unlikely that anyone crossing the border hasn’t had major discontents with Savojarna anyway. On the pitch, this team plays extremely sober and physical, aiming to score through their lone striker Hleb. Off the pitch, Novograd’s fans are fierce and loud, and have a reputation to get violent, but they are also often a bit lost in their notoriously oversized stadium.

FK Staraya Vetry
Town: Staraya Vetry (Vetriskaya Oblast)
Home stadium: Svetanov-Stadion (cap: 44’200)
Kit: Dark green with white sash and trims, white shorts, black socks
Manager: Oleg Varchuk
Key players: Ivan Yushchenko, Slavomir Hautarovich, Andrei Maritsyn
Prediction: 2.

FK Staraya Vetry, hailing from a mid-sized Adyati city located in the Northwest of the country, has long been an underwhelming and fitting mid-table side. However, they have been taken over twenty years ago by a young and powerful local oligarch who made his money in the emerging tech market, named Vasily Svetanov. He has by now passed on the empire to his son Pyotr (although he is still considered the man behind the scenes) as he has moved on to become Adyatin’s Royal Prime Minister. Part of the empire is a club that is flushed with money and has attracted a significant part of Adyatin’s stars not engaged in the military. Ivan Yushchenko is considered to be Adyatin’s best playmaker and directs this comparatively technically skilled side, with Slavomir Hautarovich playing the role of deadly striker. Maritsyn, the third part of what is commonly called the Troika of Staraya Vetry, is a winger with excellent passing skill, although lacking in terms of physical attributes. The question mark in their side is the youth of the goalkeeper, 22 year old Denis Kasanov. SV, as they are commonly abbreviated, are ZSKA’s main challenger for the title and have attracted a recent bandwagon following throughout the Northwest. While they pull the second largest amount of people in the country, their fans are often considered quiet and fickle.

FK Vidyansk
Town: Vidyansk (Kharyovsk Oblast)
Home stadium: Haradsky Stadion Vidyansk (cap: 16’900)
Kit: Red-white vertical stripes with white sleeves, black shorts and white socks
Manager: Juraj Khabarov
Key players: Mikhail Samarin, Heorhij Martov, Lew Porek
Prediction: 8.

Vidyansk is another mid-sized town sitting on the hills above the river Kharyov, looking over the rolling hills from which much of the club’s fans hail. The Kharyov region is largely famous for agricultural products and a rich culture, leading to a more conservative and religious population than in much of the rest of the country. Vidyansk represents this with a very traditional fanbase, waving national and religious symbols on flags a lot, and while their fans are numerous, they are typically not very loud. On the pitch, Khabarov has given his team a rather defensive outlook around goalkeeper Heorhij Martov and central defender Mikhail Samarin, who occasionally almost plays as a libero. Up front, they rely largely on the young Lew Porek (23 years old), a pacey and skilled striker who has a reputation for being very emotional. Porek is at the same time associated with aggressive, passionate play as well as having a short fuse and being kicked off the pitch regularly. At the end of the day, this side has potential to go high but is most likely to not make too much of a splash in the pool.

FK Vlatov
Town: Vlatov (Povnach Oblast)
Home stadium: Arena HI Khimiya (cap: 22’000)
Kit: Royal blue and white split vertically, blue shorts, white socks
Manager: Dmitry Yanchev
Key players: Patryk Hronek, Nikolau Karzhinsky, Taras Ivanov
Prediction: 6.

Located in the centre of chemical industry in Adyatin, FK Vlatov have only recently been put into the centre of attention. It had long been the pride of Northern Adyatin, but fell out of interest around twenty years ago as Novograd received more and more investment. In the recent times, some oligarchs of the Chemical Interest Group HIK have picked up the slack. With the money of the third-richest private person in Adyatin, chemical industrialist Kirill Chernov, FK Vlatov is on track to re-assume supremacy in the North with a young and offensive team. Karzhinsky is a spectacular winger, and has found a good mate in Patryk Hronek up front, both of them under 25. One of the few remaining players from old Vlatov is the defensive midfielder Taras Ivanov, who is a strong distributor of balls and a playmaker from the back. The hope of Vlatov is high, but it is unclear to which extent the Northerners can fulfil those expectations. The fanbase of Vlatov can be extremely loud and fervent, but is often fickle and said to dream of the title after two to three victories, but also expect disaster after two losses. Whether the team can walk this line or not may be a decisive element, although coach Dmitry Yanchev is likely to be safe in his spot as he has the trust of Chernov.

Karalsky Adyatyagrad
Town: Adyatyagrad (Teritarya Stalitsy)
Home stadium: Karalsky Stadion (cap: 40’100)
Kit: Yellow with black trims, blue shorts, blue socks
Manager: Aleksiy Kuryachev
Key players: Arseniy Varchenko, Barys Polavchik, Serhiy Heorhiyev
Prediction: 4.

Having been known as “the best of the rest” for a while by now, Karalsky are loosely affiliated with the royal family. Appropriately located in the royal capital of Adyatyagrad, they are striving to again top all teams outside the juggernauts ZSKA, Staraya Vetry, and Yautarograd. Currently considered the toy of Prince Nikolay, the King’s second-youngest nephew, expectations are high in Adyatyagrad, but so are the financial means. This team is known for elegant football and beautiful plays, but often gets bogged down in the rugged affair that typical Adyati football is - and that harms their results a lot. Aleksiy Kuryachev leads his side into his second full season, and built the team around playmaker Barys Polavchik. Varchenko up front has been one of the top goal scorers of the AVL for the past three years, and the team is backed up by a brilliant young goalkeeper in Serhiy Heorhiyev. Karalsky are well set, with their main weakness being a lack of central midfielders to take defensive load off Polavchik.

Olimpik Yautarograd
Town: Yautarograd (Yautarogradsk Oblast)
Home stadium: Stadion Olimpik (cap. 54’000)
Kit: White, navy blue chest stripe, navy blue shorts and socks.
Manager: Yauheni Krivtsov
Key players: Pavol Lutsenko, Andriy Nemanek, Dmitriy Kolarov
Prediction: 7.

Olimpik, the second team in the second-biggest Adyati city, have always struggled in the shadow of SKA. Their notoriously oversized stadium, a city-owned arena where football is an afterthought, gave Olimpik the image of not having any fans, although their following is on par with many other teams that are in the Adyati mid-field who fill up their stadia half the size of the Olimpik. It doesn’t help that Yautarograd’s money largely comes from being a financial and trading centre, the proponents of which are often not the type of people that invest in football teams. As a consequence, Olimpik have a rather low budget and a young team sparkled with a few veterans such as the defensive midfielder Lutsenko and the wide playmaker Andriy Nemanek on the right wing. Manager Yauheni Krivtsov has been named “most secure manager of the AVL by virtue of the club not caring”, and his play has barely developed away from a straight, no-nonsense defensive play whose offence relies on long balls, the occasional genius of Nemanek, and the young 2.04 m tall focal striker Dmitriy Kolarov.

SKA Varinsk
Town: Varinsk (Varinskaya distrikt)
Home stadium: Stadion Vyacheslav Vronsky (cap. 26’500)
Kit: Dark green with two white chest stripes, white shorts with red trims, and red-white socks
Manager: Taras Markov
Key players: Aleksiy Stefanov, Konstantin Sirietko, Nikolau Zhimansky
Prediction: 5.

Varinsk is the central military base in the Southeast of Adyatin, near the border to Savojarna. Known as a city that was a focal point of the Second and Third Adyati-Savojar War, not many people actually live here outside the soldiers, and the city is placed under special government for national security reasons. With Varinsk being more military-focused than the two other army club towns, they are historically the weakest SKA side, but also one of the most fervently supported as the people of Varinsk know what they owe to the Adyati military. Taras Markov has put some attacking DNA into the Varinsk game, and profited off a spectacular player in offensive midfielder Aleksiy Stefanov. The 24 year old is a strong man who poses a strong scoring threat and a good dribbling, although sometimes his emotions are said to get the better of him. Behind him, defensive minister Sirietko and the well-renowned goalkeeper Nikolau Zhimansky control the defence to give their teammates up front room, but there is a certain lack of punch up front to carry Varinsk into the top group.

SKA Yautarograd
Town: Yautarograd (Yautarogradsk Oblast)
Stadium: Stadion Olimpik (cap. 54’000)
Kit: White, the top half of the Adyati Cross arising from the hem in red. White shorts and socks with red trims.
Manager: Hennadiy Mariyenko
Key players: Volodymyr Karpov, Heorhiy Siotsou, Juraj Dmitriyev
Prediction: 3.

The second army team, hailing from the second-biggest city of the nation, and for a long time the only team that could pose a challenge to ZSKA, they are known as an eternal second. While the introduction of professionalised player contracts to the army stopped the constant bleeding of Yautarograd’s players to ZSKA through military pressure, they still struggle to challenge the top level recently. Heorhiy Siotsou is supposed to change that since he broke a record in scoring in his last U21 season three years ago, but he has struggled with the physicality of the league and not managed to make his desired impression yet. Thanks to Volodymyr Karpov being one of the best goalkeepers of the league, Yautarograd still manage to contest, and the signing of winger Juraj Dmitriyev from Karalsky could help to push the side’s offence a bit. Hennadiy Mariyenko symbolises that attempt to attack more, and Yautarograd are expected to delight their fans with an aggressive brand of football. Talking of their fans, having to share the Stadion Olimpik with their less successful local rivals harms SKA notably less, but despite their success the stadium rarely sells out and is often rather quiet.

Uranus Artana
Town: Artana (Kharyovsk Oblast)
Stadium: Stadion Kirilo Shevchenko (cap. 14’700)
Kit: quartered in dark red and white, black shorts, red and white socks
Manager: Teodor Pavlov
Key players: Igor Nemtsov, Karol Yatsenyuk, Petro Varshin
Prediction: 12.

Artana is a small farming town, derided by their rivals from FK Vidyansk as “a place where nothing happens unless we come by”. In the larger scale of things they are surprisingly right, but at some point around thirty years ago, a son of this small farmer town got rich and decided to buy a football club. Constructing a small stadium and naming it after himself, Adyatin’s 16th richest man Kirilo Shevchenko since runs Uranus as a one-man-show. He is a bit of an exception as he is one of the few oligarchs not to have a patrician background, and he has occasionally claimed that this is part of the reason why Artana struggle to find additional sponsors. With Shevchenko being notoriously fickle and his bank account not being endless, the side struggles year after year, although it often has promising squads. This year’s edition includes the 33 year old bone-breaking centre back Igor Nemtsov, two times champion with ZSKA back in the day, the young midfielder Karol Yatsenyuk who has been born and grown in Artana and may leave the club soon, and another old star in Petro Varshin up front. Teodor Pavlov’s football will be defensive and hard-fought, but maybe he manages to win over Uranus’ small but passionate following.

Zenit Rotko
Town: Rotko (Zakhodnaya Oblast)
Home stadium: Stadion Zakhod (cap: 29’700)
Kit: Dark blue with seven white stars on the front, yellow shorts, blue socks with two yellow rings
Manager: Vitaliy Druzd
Key players: Branislau Nikityev, Yegor Rudnicky, Konstantin Harrakhov
Prediction: 9.

Located in the relatively small town of Rotko, in the Western district, this club is supported and owned by the largest Adyati car manufacturer, Zakhod Cars. Despite being small, Rotko is the industrial and economic capital of Western Adyatin, and the club is comparatively rich. However, there are deep troubles with an over-aged squad that Vitaliy Druzd has to solve, thanks to his predecessors having high ambitions despite a limited budget. Having released some overly old players, Druzd tries to rebuild with his own youth, while retaining a core around the shutdown defenceman Branislau Nikityev, who has a young companion in the speedy right wingback Rudnicky. Up front, there has been little hope beyond the 33 year old Kostya Harrakhov, who is going into his sixth season with Rotko. With the city being at the core of an otherwise neglected region, Zenit’s fans are fierce and numerous, often selling out the Stadion Zakhod even against relatively low-ranked opposition. Both Adyatyagrad teams are fervent rivals due to some animosity towards the far richer capital.

ZSKA Adyatyagrad
Town: Adyatyagrad (Teritarya Stalitsy)
Home stadium: Stadion Karalskaya Armiya Adyatin (cap: 57’000)
Kit: White with green trims, green shorts, white socks with one green hoop
Manager: Andriy Ulmayev
Key players: Petro Simunov, Serhiy Makhulin, Lyubomir Andriyev
Prediction: 1.

The other half of the duo that tends to trade the Adyati title, ZSKA are set to make a charge for the top yet again. The army’s prestige project is not going to fail now that they enter international spotlight, and the fans demand no less than victory. This is a defensive side with few true gems, but with an incredible precision, power, and organisation. The team starts at the back with Serhiy Makhulin, the best goalkeeper in Adyatin according to most observers, in goal; ahead of him, Andriyev runs a tightly organised defence that has been near impossible to crack for most opposition. Up front, ZSKA are surprisingly pedestrian this year with the most interesting name being the young Aljaksander Smykov, but they still score plenty thanks to the lynchpin of this operation: Petro Simunov, a central midfielder in his prime who can run for 90 minutes at highest speeds while organising play from deep. Ulmayev has centered his system around this man, but last season showed that ZSKA are not purely depending on him either. The Army side is a juggernaut to be broken, and we are not sure who can deliver this enormous task.

[Adyatin]

Adyati Vysheyshaya Liga Season 1
Part 1 of 4

Matchday 1
Olimpik Yautarograd 1–0 Adyata Chermin
FK Novograd 1–1 Zenit Rotko
FK Staraya Vetry 1–3 ZSKA Adyatyagrad
Karalsky Adyatyagrad 1–0 SKA Yautarograd
FK Vlatov 1–0 Uranus Artana
SKA Varinsk 0–1 FK Vidyansk

The season in Adyatin kicks off with the biggest game of the country: FK Staraya Vetry against ZSKA Adyatyagrad is money vs. state, offence vs. defence, mid-sized town vs. national capital. The game is not only imbued with symbolism, but also a strong indicator as who would finish the Adyati season on top - the duel of Staraya Vetry and ZSKA Adyatyagrad has decided the championship over the last seasons. The start of the season is also worth watching as Staraya Vetry’s offensive power gets caught up in the ZSKA defence, with the capital team countering them out hard. Maritsyn prepares the initial strike for the home team, with Hautarovich getting the honours in the centre, but then ZSKA return swift and harsh. Denis Kasanov in the Staraya Vetry goal gives up a simple shot by Aljaksandar Smykov to give ZSKA the equaliser before the break. In the second half, Smykov gets another goal by a header after a corner, and a distant shot by Simunov off a counter that is again passed by a bad attempt at a parry by Kasanov.

Matchday 2
Adyata Chermin 0–1 FK Vidyansk
Uranus Artana 0–0 SKA Varinsk
SKA Yautarograd 5–2 FK Vlatov
ZSKA Adyatyagrad 1–1 Karalsky Adyatyagrad
Zenit Rotko 0–3 FK Staraya Vetry
Olimpik Yautarograd 0–0 FK Novograd

Matchday 3
FK Novograd 0–1 Adyata Chermin
FK Staraya Vetry 0–1 Olimpik Yautarograd
Karalsky Adyatyagrad 1–1 Zenit Rotko
FK Vlatov 0–2 ZSKA Adyatyagrad
SKA Varinsk 2–4 SKA Yautarograd
FK Vidyansk 0–1 Uranus Artana

Matchday 4
Adyata Chermin 0–1 Uranus Artana
SKA Yautarograd 3–1 FK Vidyansk
ZSKA Adyatyagrad 0–0 SKA Varinsk
Zenit Rotko 0–1 FK Vlatov
Olimpik Yautarograd 3–1 Karalsky Adyatyagrad
FK Novograd 0–5 FK Staraya Vetry

SKA Yautarograd stun the nation with three high-octane, high-goal games. Dmitriyev and Siotsou prove to be a deadly duo that blasts a combined seven goals past Vlatov, Varinsk and Novograd, and Karpov manages to control the defence well to avoid falling into a quick exchange of haymakers. On the other hand, ZSKA struggle to pick up steam, as Karalsky manages to almost an early lead by Varchenko across the finish line, but a hotly contested penalty shot equalises the game in injury time. A convincing victory over Vlatov is a step in the right direction, but then they fail to score against SKA Varinsk and don’t get any help from a referee, leading to the first signs of discontent in the capital. The other top side, FK Staraya Vetry, has to succumb to a spirited Olimpik Yautarograd on the third day as none of Vetry’s flashy forwards score, and Kolarov scores the decider in the late minutes of the game off a header. But it seems to be little more than a stumble as they thoroughly decimate Novograd in the next match, to set things right in the Svetanov Empire.

Matchday 5
FK Staraya Vetry 3–1 Adyata Chermin
Karalsky Adyatyagrad 1–1 FK Novograd
FK Vlatov 1–0 Olimpik Yautarograd
SKA Varinsk 0–1 Zenit Rotko
FK Vidyansk 0–2 ZSKA Adyatyagrad
Uranus Artana 0–6 SKA Yautarograd

Matchday 6
Adyata Chermin 0–2 SKA Yautarograd
ZSKA Adyatyagrad 2–0 Uranus Artana
Zenit Rotko 1–0 FK Vidyansk
Olimpik Yautarograd 1–0 SKA Varinsk
FK Novograd 1–0 FK Vlatov
FK Staraya Vetry 3–2 Karalsky Adyatyagrad

Matchday 7
Karalsky Adyatyagrad 4–0 Adyata Chermin
FK Vlatov 3–3 FK Staraya Vetry
SKA Varinsk 1–2 FK Novograd
FK Vidyansk 2–3 Olimpik Yautarograd
Uranus Artana 1–0 Zenit Rotko
SKA Yautarograd 0–0 ZSKA Adyatyagrad

SKA Yautarograd continue their pursuit of the top with an impressive trashing of Uranus Artana, and carry over the good mood to swiftly dispose of a usually difficult and sluggish Adyata Chermin with two goals by the focal striker, Heorhiy Siotsou. However, they run into a stalemate as they square off with their rivals from the Capital. As could be expected with the numbers one and two in the Adyati goal mouth facing off, the game ends in a scoreless draw, a success for the outsiders from Yautarograd. Up north in Staraya Vetry, the turmoil continues as Oleg Varchuk refuses to step before the media after his team’s late draw with FK Vlatov, strongly aided by a team of referees that first denies Vlatov the 3-1 on the basis of an offside and then awards Staraya Vetry a dubious free kick that leads to the equaliser. Journalist Denis Nametov, asking Varchuk about the decisions, has been reported to have attempted to cross the border to Savojarna shortly after the game, rumours that have not been confirmed so far.

Matchday 8
Adyata Chermin 1–0 ZSKA Adyatyagrad
Zenit Rotko 0–1 SKA Yautarograd
Olimpik Yautarograd 0–0 Uranus Artana
FK Novograd 0–0 FK Vidyansk
FK Staraya Vetry 5–4 SKA Varinsk
Karalsky Adyatyagrad 1–4 FK Vlatov

Matchday 9
FK Vlatov 1–1 Adyata Chermin
SKA Varinsk 2–2 Karalsky Adyatyagrad
FK Vidyansk 0–0 FK Staraya Vetry
Uranus Artana 0–1 FK Novograd
SKA Yautarograd 4–0 Olimpik Yautarograd
ZSKA Adyatyagrad 1–0 Zenit Rotko

The fairytale of Olimpik slowly starts fading after a draw against a highly uninspired Uranus Artana and a thorough defeat in the Yautarograder derby against SKA. Heorhiy Siotsou cements his image as the rising star of the AVL by scoring twice in the derby, one week after he also scores the golden goal in Rotko. But the true star behind this team is Juraj Dmitriyev, with the winger orchestrating the game from the sideline. Behind the leading SKA side, ZSKA follow despite another surprising loss to Adyata Chermin, who defend superbly and pick up a goal thanks to Serhiyev scoring late in the first period. Rotko give them even more trouble, with Nikityev shutting down the box with aggressive play, but eventually the veteran gives up a penalty that Petro Simunov uses to score the decisive goal. The fans, pushed up by the tight game, whistle for minutes on end after the match ends and display a furious firework barrage, but security forces escort out the small away fan contingent without further trouble.

Matchday 10
Adyata Chermin 0–0 Zenit Rotko
Olimpik Yautarograd 0–1 ZSKA Adyatyagrad
FK Novograd 2–3 SKA Yautarograd
FK Staraya Vetry 1–0 Uranus Artana
Karalsky Adyatyagrad 1–0 FK Vidyansk
FK Vlatov 2–1 SKA Varinsk

Matchday 11
SKA Varinsk 1–0 Adyata Chermin
FK Vidyansk 0–0 FK Vlatov
Uranus Artana 0–2 Karalsky Adyatyagrad
SKA Yautarograd 3–4 FK Staraya Vetry
ZSKA Adyatyagrad 4–2 FK Novograd
Zenit Rotko 0–1 Olimpik Yautarograd

SKA Varinsk have not had an easy season, and things get even harder as they lose their defensive minister, Konstantin Sirietko, after a collision with a striker early in the game against Vlatov. With Varinsk’s defence now weakened, Karzhinsky and Hronek score once each and Vlatov beat their opposition further into last place. But even without Sirietko, they manage to contain Adyata Chermin and win their first game of the season as Pavel Zigulin scores in a one-on-one after a very narrow on-side decision. In Yautarograd, Staraya Vetry shine as they out-score SKA. Two goals by Hautarovich and one by the young joker Oleg Rakutin put the Prime Minister’s favourite club third in the standings and keep the top tight, with just two points separating first and third. Behind, Olimpik get distanced a bit as ZSKA profit from a goalie mistake to score a late 1-0 in Yautarograd, but the season’s surprise team keeps touch as they edge out Zenit a week later.

Adyati Vysheyshaya Liga  Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 SKA Yautarograd           11    8   1   2    31   12  +19    25
 2 ZSKA Adyatyagrad          11    7   3   1    16    5  +11    24
 3 FK Staraya Vetry          11    7   2   2    28   17  +11    23
 4 Olimpik Yautarograd       11    6   2   3    10    9   +1    20
 5 FK Vlatov                 11    5   3   3    15   14   +1    18
 6 Karalsky Adyatyagrad      11    4   4   3    17   15   +2    16
 7 FK Novograd               11    3   4   4    10   16   −6    13
 8 Uranus Artana             11    3   2   6     3   13  −10    11
 9 FK Vidyansk               11    2   3   6     5   11   −6     9
10 Zenit Rotko               11    2   3   6     4   10   −6     9
11 Adyata Chermin            11    2   2   7     4   14  −10     8
12 SKA Varinsk               11    1   3   7    11   18   −7     6