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NEW MAN IN THE DUGOUT FOR HAROLD WOOD ATHLETIC

April 20, 2020, 11:17 am
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Essex Olympian League Premier Division side Harold Wood Athletic have announced the appointment of Alex Goldstone as their new first team manager. 

Goldstone was formerly the Assistant Manager of Istmian League side Romford and then manager of Barkingside when they were in the Essex Senior League. He left his post there in April 2019.  

He will be joined by former Harold Wood players Stuart Williams & Joe Benson as his assistants for the 2020/21 campaign. 

Wood have been Premier Division champions recently in 2009, 2010 and 2015. When football was suspended in March Wood were bottom of the Premier Division table with a league record of five wins in eighteen games. 

The Cold End expects to see the team further up the table for next season and wishes Alex and his assistants the very best of luck. 
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STUART MARSHALL THE NEW BOSS OF CATHOLIC UNITED

April 20, 2020, 11:24 am
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Essex Olympian Premier Division side Catholic United have announced the appointment of Stuart Marshall as their new first team manager. 

Club Chairman, James Paviour confirmed "We are delighted to appoint Stuart, we feel his is just the right person to build on the success the club has experienced over the last few years. Stuarts experience, knowledge and passion is exactly what we need and we are all very excited to see what this season brings. Welcome to Stuart, we are delighted to have you on board". 

Marshall joins the club after Dan Trenkel relinquished the caretaker management role in mid-February following their home defeat to Buckhurst Hill. 

He brings a wealth of experience to the club as he has managed Thurrock youth and reserve teams as well as Southend Manor in the Essex Senior Leauge. He was in charge of Manor when they knocked out Braintree Town in the Essex Senior Cup in 2017. He was also been boss of Waltham Abbey Reserves as well as recently scouting for Isthmian Premier Division club Hornchurch.  

Marshall stated "I have been lucky enough to be involved with some very good managers in my time in football. I’ve learnt a lot from these and the big one, regardless of level, is always be professional, give 100% and have the desire to be successful and win. I am buzzing to get started and can't wait for the new season to begin"

The Cold End wishes the best of luck to Stuart. You can follow Catholic United on twitter @CatholicUtdFC. 
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FORGOTTEN FOOTBALL - EDMONTON FC (updated from October 2009)

April 21, 2020, 3:28 am
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SOME OF THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2009. I HAVE NOW WITH UPDATED IT WITH SOME MORE INFORMATION AND PICTURES OF PROGRAMMES FROM PAST MATCHES 


WHEN THE E'S TOOK ON THE E'S IN A VERY LOCAL DERBY


Edmonton FC existed from 1960 when 'Tufnell Park Edmonton' dropped the Tufnell Park from their name to reflect where the club played it's football in N9. The club was formed when Isthmian League side 'Tufnell Park' and 'Edmonton Borough' of the London League merged in 1950.

Tufnell Park had been a giant of the Amatuer game prior to and just after the First World War. They had reached the FA Amatuer Cup Final in 1920 losing to Dulwich Hamlet as well as reaching the semi-final twice in 1912 and 1914. In their last two seasons as Tufnell Park they had finished bottom of the Isthmian League. 

In 1973 Edmonton FC moved the short distance to Coles Park, White Hart Lane and became "Edmonton & Haringey" later becoming the club we all know as Haringey Borough in 1976. 

Edmonton FC known as the E'S played in the Delphian League and later the Athenian League at the Henry Barrass Stadium, Houndsfield Road, N9 just off the Hertford Road where the Cock Tavern Public House used to be. They were known to play in a white shirt with two green hoops and also a orange shirt and black shorts. 

1959 - TUFNELL PARK EDMONTON 0 ENFIELD 2 
London Senior Cup First Round 

"UP THE PARK"

Before they became Edmonton FC it was Tufnell Park Edmonton who welcomed their neighbours from across the border for a London Senior Cup First Round game on Saturday 28th November 1959. The game was played the week before Enfield hosted football league side Bournemouth to Southbury Road for an FA Cup game. It was Enfield's third visit to the Henry Barrass as in 1953/54 season over consecutive weekends Tufnell Park Edmonton won 2-0 in an FA Cup tie and then lost 1-2 an an FA Amateur Cup tie. 

The programme states that all four of Tufnell Park Edmonton's sides have won in the previous week. The first XI team had won 0-3 at Hemel Hempstead with goals from Reg Chatt and Dave Jones. The reserves have beaten Woodford Town 4-1 thanks to Max Bryson (2), Collin Tippett and Johnny Muir goals. The 'A' XI had won 4-1 against St Martins and the youth XI won their Southgate Challenge Cup replay 6-2 against Barnet Exiles. 

The clubs youth XI had also played in the last 32 of the FA Youth Cup on the previous Monday under the floodlights at Headington United (now Oxford United) and lost 5-0. To get to the final 32 of this competition was an amazing achievement. 

The game was won 0-2 by Enfield FC with R.Thomas scoring both goals. The teams are pictured below with the home side in Green and White and the visitors in White Shirts and Blue Shorts. 

The programme also listed a 'Personality Parade' on their Honorary Treasurer Mr. Francis Ryan who was born in Tottenham but a resident of Edmonton for many years. He had had an good playing career with Hertford Town, Walthamstow Avenue and Clacton Town before the Second World War.  He had served during the war in the The Royal Scots Fusiliers and was wounded in the hip at Arnhem in 1944. Due to this injury he had had to give up his job as a Transport Foreman at the Docks and Smithfields Market. He then spent much of his time supporting Tufnell Park Edmonton. 

Pictures from the programme for the game are below which cost two pence on the day. (Clicking on the pictures makes them easier to view if your looking at this on a mobile device)  





EDMONTON LINE UP IN THE PROGRAMME 
Bob Wallace, Norman Sawyer, Jimmy Hinds, Ian Rankin, Arthur Fowler, Brian Ashton, Billy Howard, Alan Ames, George Jaggs, Reg Chatt,  Dave Jones.  





1969 - EDMONTON 1 ENFIELD 4 
FA Cup Third Qualifying Round 






It was this season that by winning games versus Hemel Hempstead and Ilford the E's earnt a home tie versus their close and more illustrious neighbour's Enfield FC.

Enfield had beaten Southall, Kingstonian and Grays Athletic (7-0) to reach the game in the Third Qualifying Round. 

Enfield who were riding high in the Isthmian League and were too strong for Edmonton running out 4-1 winners. 

The programme listed the game as David V Goliath as Enfield had thrashed Edmonton 8-1 in their previous encounter seven years previous. Enfield went on to beat Wealdstone before losing to Brighton & HA 2-1 at the Goldstone Ground in the First Round Proper.


Tony Rocco seems to be the man as he's listed in the programme in 1969 and still played at Coles Park in 1974. Midweek home games at the Barrass were played in the afternoon due to the ground having no floodlights.

Edmonton's best season came in 1969/70 in the Athenian Division Two when a second place was achieved gaining promotion to the top division.

Edmonton moved to Cole's Park in 1973 and became the aforementioned "Edmonton & Haringey". The Barrass Stadium was continues to be used by the Edmonton Sunday League and  was used by Amateur Football Combination side Old Edmontonians who sadly folded a few seasons ago.  



THE MAIN STAND AS IT STOOD IN OCTOBER 2009. THE STAND IS STILL THERE TODAY. 

Many people have commented on the original article (Link - Link Here) since it was published in 2009 which are all copied in below. It's great to see lots of interest and stories about the history of football in Edmonton.  


Paul Harris
5th April 2010 
"I remember being at this FA Cup tie and Enfield, mighty then, took a slender 1-0 win to the interval. The reported 1400 crowd, surely Edmonton's record at the Barrass Stadium, was shocked to see an equlaiser in the first minute of the second half. Enfield were too strong and finished 4-1 winners. I do not remember the green and white quarters, but do remember Edmonton playing in orange shirts and black shorts. The Barrass Stadium is still much as pictured. It was next to the Jubilee Park and a lovely open air lido which is sadly no more. I have relocated to Dunstable and now follow the fortunes of Dunstable Town FC. It's a pity that a town the size of Edmonton does not have a senior team..after all neighbour's Tottenham have one!"

Keith Gardner
28th May 2010 
"As a youth team player at Edmonton FC I was at the game against Enfield, I don't remember much about the game but I think Edmonton made a good show of themselves in the first half, my main memory was the amount of people in the ground. When you start talking about Edmonton FC you must give a big mention to Jim Gates who with his sidekick Eddie ran all the youth teams so successfully, and also to Joe Starkey the reserve team coach who should have been given a chance with the first team. I was in the youth team that won the Middlesex Junior cup and then the reserve team for several seasons and then had a handful of games for the first team. Les Williamson was the first team coach at the time, he came to Edmonton with a good reputation, but he missed a great chance by bringing in players with him instead of using players from the youth and reserve teams, many of whom left to play in higher division teams and cared about Edmonton FC. I visited the ground last year and agree with Paul that it is a shame that a lower league side does not play there now."

Lawrence J Taylor
16th January 2018 (in reply to Keith's comment above) 
"Hi Keith, 
Just seen your comment on here and your mention of Jim Gates. Reason for replying is that I am certain you are referring to my Uncle who lived in Tottenham and worked in grass roots football for very many years I know he worked with an "Eddie" although his surname escapes me. He passed away some years ago but I know he would be pleased to have known his work in the game was noted & appreciated. Thanks for your comment."

Peter Coath
26th January 2014 
"Ah memories! Time plays tricks with the memory of course. I never saw the E's v E's game but was having a kick-around with some mates in Jubilee Park at the time. I remember cheers and distinctly heard 'Well done Enfield' as the final whistle sounded. I followed Edmonton for a couple of seasons after that, seeing them defeat the likes of Aylesbury United 2-1 and Harlow Town 4-3 (big crowd for that one!) and bunked off school early to see them draw 0-0 with Aveley in a midweek 4pm kick-off. It was quite gloomy by the end and goal-line clearances were prevalent. That game still stands as the most exciting 0-0 that I have ever seen. Now for the memory playing tricks bit; I recall that Edmonton played in an all amber kit, although I saw them play a pre-season friendly against Byng (Bing?) Road Old Boys and they played in white shirts with two green hoops and black shorts - away kit perhaps? 
I wasn't a happy boy when they relocated to Coles Park and had to go and watch the snobs at Enfield instead. I still do, having just completed 12 years as Press Officer and then Secretary of Enfield Town FC. I still miss my Edmonton team though."

Peter Gilkes 
From South Adelaide, Autralia 
3rd October 2017 
"Stumbled on this article, I played for Edmonton Youth team from 1962/64 We wore White shirts with 2 green hoops and Green shorts white socks with 2 green hoops .As mentioned above Jim Gates and assistant Eddie ran the Youth teams at that time. We played in the Forest and District League which included teams like West Ham and Leyton Orient. I remember the first team having an overseas tour to Italy, needing fare paying members, my mate Martyn Dowd and I made up the travelling party. (Although too young to take part) Also remember our Youth team playing a German side prior to first team playing the Show Biz XI which included Tommy Steele and Kenny Lynch etc.
Big crowd there that day which was exciting for everyone present. Show Biz XI spent time in the bar afterwards raising funds for the Club. Two sets of brothers I remember from those days include Eason's and Aylett's - Les Eason being a star player from memory. Happy Days!" 

Lawrence J Taylor
16th January 2018 (in reply to Peter Gilkes)
"Just seen your comment on here about Jim Gates. As I have said above, I am certain you are referring to my Uncle who lived in Tottenham and worked in grass roots football for very many years and know he worked with an Eddie. Although he passed away some years ago I know he would be pleased that his hard work over many years was appreciated. Thanks for your comment"

Dave Justice
8th May 2018 (in reply to Peter Gilkes) 
"I was at Edmonton FC as a youth and was playing there when we moved to White hart lane in the 70s. Jim Gates was our manager and his assistant who scouted me was Eddie Lionel I remember them taking us on a Football tour to Holland and Germany - great times! I think either Jim Gates or Eddie Lionel used to work at a company called Acme signs in Ponders End. I hope this helps" 

Lawrence J Taylor
14th November 2018 (in reply to Peter Gilkes) 
"Only just seen your comment on here. I'm certain it is the same, how many other Jim Gates would there be with an assistant called Eddie. And I remember him telling me stories about his football trips into Europe. He was a big man, a cigar smoker. Thanks for your comment."

SOME MORE EDMONTON LINE UPS FROM OTHER GAMES PLAYED 


SATURDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 1964 v LEYTON 
FA AMATEUR CUP (LOST 5-1) 
D.Bussy, D.Rainbird, R.Cooke, T.Taylor, J.Warman, I.Rankin, R.Cude, D.Gigg, W.Moye, A.Ames, R.Cross. 


SATURDAY 6th APRIL 1963 v WINGATE 
DELPHIAN LEAGUE 
D. Bussey, D.Rainbird, J.Hinds, D.Gigg, A.Archer, T.Read, R.King, F.Scales, V.Lucas, L.Eason, A.Ames. 
The goalscorer is listed as V.Lucas. 

SATURDAY 10th APRIL v WARE
ATHENIAN LEAGUE 
A.Dakin, D.Rainbird, R.Cooke. R.Farrow. T.Smith. I.Rankin, T.Orciel. D.Gigg, M.Love, J.Allen, A.Aylett. 

*Ware's number four is Derek Hoddle - The father of Glenn Hoddle. Glenn would of been seven years old at this time and their are stories of him watching his Dad play whilst kicking a ball around on the sidelines. Maybe he learnt some of his skill from watching the famous Edmonton play that day!  


SATURDAY 3rd APRIL 1948 
EDMONTON BOROUGH at CHELMSFORD CITY 
LONDON LEAGUE 
Edmonton played in Blue Shirts and Black Shorts 
R.Beebe, B.Simmons, J.Jones, L.Downes, F.Jones. C.Wade (Capt), D.Edmead, R.Morgan, D.Downes, E.Downes, D.Bygrave. 
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FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO GLENN HODDLE WAS PLAYING IN THE HARLOW SUNDAY LEAGUE

April 25, 2020, 12:00 am
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Here is a real piece of Sunday League Football history as forty-seven years ago today the Harlow and District League Fourth Tier Cup final took place as Longmans took on Pools Reserves on Wednesday 25th April 1973. The game would of taken place at the old Harlow Town Fc ground on Hammarskjold Road. 

As you'll see from the line-ups for Longmans they featured Derek Hoddle and his son Glenn who was at the time only fifteen years old. 

In the line up for Pools Reserves was Micky Southgate and John Reading who both famously won the FA Vase when playing for Stansted in 1984 alongside Dave Hoddle who is the uncle of Glenn. Also Number 6 in the Pools Reserves line up in Peter Young who is the father of Luke Young who played for Tottenham Hotspur, Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers as well getting seven caps for England. Luke was born in 1979 but has a brother born in 1973 - Neil Young came through the ranks at Tottenham Hotspur and went on to play 430 times for AFC Bournemouth between 1994 to 2008. 

The Secretary for Longmans is Joe Jennings who was a famous local bookmaker. "Joe Jennings Bookmakers" still have five premises in the local area as well as an on-line 

The man in the middle for the game was John Moules who went on to become a National List Referee for 15 years officiating in the football league and then Chief Executive for the National League for 8 years after starting as secretary for 6 years. Moules was the referee for an England v Brazil game as well as many top matches including the North London Derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. 

It shows that there was (and still is!!) a pathway for officials to start in the lower levels and work their way up to the very top. 

Thankyou to Phil Tuson (@PhilT0206) for provided the programme. 
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BELRUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, FIRST & SECOND LEAGUE WEEKEND RESULTS & ROUND-UP

April 26, 2020, 10:20 am
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Friday 24th April 

PREMIER LEAGUE 
Smolevichy 1 Dynamo Minsk 3  (172)
Neman Grodno 3 Energetik BGU 0 (265)

SECOND LEAGUE GROUP A 
Stenles Pinsk 15 (FIFTEEN) Chayka Zelva 0 
BGU Minsk 2 Pershiy Regien 1 
Ostrovets 2 Kronon 0 
Meliorator Zhitkovichi 2 Ivatsevichi 0 
Baranovichi 2 Dinamo Malorita 3  

SECOND LEAGUE GROUP B
Zhlobin 1 Polotsk 0 
Dnepr Rogachev 1 Gorki 1 
Shakhtyor Petrikov 5 Viktoriya Maryina Horka 2 
SMI Autotrans 4 Energosbyt-BSATU 2 
Dnepr Mogilev 2 Osipovichy 0 

Saturday 25th April 

PREMIER LEAGUE 
Slavia 1 FC Minsk 3 (685) 
Gorodeya 0 BATE 2 (284)
Dynamo Brest 0 Shakhtyor 2 (1,496)  

FIRST LEAGUE 
Slonim 2 Orsha 1 (200) 
Naftan 1 Lida 1 (170) 
Smorgon 2 Volna 0 (150) 
Oshmyany 0 Sputnik 1 (150) 

Sunday 26th April

PREMIER LEAGUE
Slutsk 3 Belshina 2 (492) 
Torpedo Zhodino 0 Rukh Brest 0 (293) 
Isloch 2 Vitebsk 0 (273)

FIRST LEAGUE
Granit 1 Arsenal 2 (100) 
Khimik Svetlogorsk 0 Krumkachy Minsk 4 (175)
Gomel 2 Lokomotiv Gomel 3 (1,850) 

It was another exciting weekend of games across Belarus with probably the stand out result coming in Slutsk who beat Belshina 3-2 to go top of the Premier League table. Slutsk went in at half time 2-1 up thanks to goals from Umar Bala and Artyom Serdyuk with Leonid Kovel scoring just prior to the break. Belshina equalised on 52 minute via Pavel Bordukov only for Bala to score the winner in the 88th minute. An indication of the crowds being down due to the current situation regarding Covid-19 is highlighted by the 492 attendance for this game compared to the 1,450 who saw Slutsk beat Dynamo Minsk on game week six last season. 

BATE Borisov made it four games unbreaten with a 0-2 win at Gorodeya with Stanislaw Drahun and Anton Saroka (who are both Belerusian Internationals) scoring the goals.

It was no surprise to see the two teams with the best defensive records in Torpedo Zhodino and Rukh Brest ending 0-0. Both have now let in just two goals in their six games played so far. Torpedo have had five clean sheets with their two let in against Dynamo Minsk which they lost 2-0. Rukh have had four clean sheets with 1-0 defeats against Energetyk and BATE Borisov.  

Isloch had a great home win against Vitebsk with Momo Yansane netting once again. The Guinean centre forward who is a real fan's favourite amongst The Wolves loyal supporters after joining the club permanently after a loan spell last season. 

At the bottom of the Premier League table it's Belshina and Smolevichy who currently occupy the drop-zone. They are the only sides left with no wins to their name so far. 

KLENJE SCORES THE WINNER IN THE GOMEL DERBY AGAINST HIS FORMER CLUB

There was a derby game in the First League with Gomel (who were relegated from the top tier last season) hosting Lokomotiv Gomel in front of a 1,850 crowd and it sounded like a really good game. Lokomotiv got their second win in a row with a 2-3 win. It's been a great start for Lokomotiv who finished in fourth place last season. Their scorers were former Dynamo Brest and Torpedo Zhodino player Andrey Solovey (pen 9mins), Andrey Khukarenok (36) and Pavel Klenje just prior to half time - Klenje has only just moved from Gomel to Lokomotiv - He was an unused sub six times last season for them!. Artsyom Vaskov got both of Gomel's goals who was with Gorodeya in the Premier League last season. 

In the Second League Group A Chakya Zelva travelled to Stenles Pinsk. The game was going to be cancelled as the visitors had no bus or transport to get to the game but they managed to get ten men to start the match. They played the second half with just eight men which shows why the end result was 15-0 with three players from Pinsk netting hat-tricks. 

TOP SCORERS 

PREMIER LEAGUE
Yevgeniy Shikavka (Dynamo Minsk) - 4 
Umar Bala (Slutsk) - 3 
Stanslaw Dragun (BATE) - 3 
Genham Kadymyan (Neman Grodno) - 3 
Artyum Serdyuk (Slutsk) - 3 
Jasurbek Yaxshiboev (Energetyk-BGU) -3 

FIRST LEAGUE 
Y.Senkevich (Lida) - 3 
E.Kalinin (Orsha) - 2 
M.Kolyadko (Krumkachy Minsk) - 2 
D.Kozlovskiy (Lokomotiv Gomel) 2 
Y.Ladutko (Oshmyany) - 2 

Former Smolevichy and Neman Grodno midiflder Yan Senkevich, 25, currently leads the top scorer's list in the first league. He currently plays for FC Lida. 

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

Friday 1st May

PREMIER LEAGUE
Energetyk-BGU v Smolevichy 

SECOND LEAGUE 
GROUP AChayka Zelva v Pershiy Regien
Kronon v Meliorator Zhitkovichi
Baranovichi v Ivatsevichi
BGU Minsk v Ostrovets
Molodechno-DYuSSh v Stenles Pinsk 

GROUP B 
Polotsk v Dnepr Rogachev
Bumprom v Zhlobin
Viktoriya Maryina Horka v Energosbyt-BSATU
Gorki v Shakhtyor Petrikov
SMI Autotrans v Dnepr Mogilev 

Saturday 2nd May

PREMIER LEAGUE
FC Minsk v Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 
Rukh Brest v Gorodeya
Dynamo Minsk v Slutsk

FIRST LEAGUE 
Arsenal v Khimik Svetlogorsk
Lokomotiv Gomel v Naftan
Volna v Oshmyany
Orsha v Smorgon

Sunday 3rd May 

PREMIER LEAGUE
Belshina v Dynamo Brest
Vitebsk v Slavia Mozyr 
BATE Borisov v Neman Grodno
Shakhtyor v Isloch 

FIRST LEAGUE 
Sputnik v Granit
Lida v Slonim
Krumkachy Minsk v Gomel


FC SLUTSK ARE CURRENTLY TOP OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE 

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GETTING TO KNOW THE TURKMENISTAN YOKARY LIGA

April 27, 2020, 3:13 pm
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Football in Turkmenistan was suspended towards the end of March like the majority of countries around the world but it has returned with the top tier of football being 'The Yokary Liga' playing matchdays four and five over the past two weekends. So here are some facts and figures for you to get to know the country and it's game - 

Turkmenistan is a sovereign country in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the North West, Uzbekistan to the North and East, Afghanistan to the South East, Iran to the South and South West and the Caspian Sea to the West.

Up until 1991 it was part of the USSR but it became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. 

It has an estimated population of 5.8 million people with just over 1,000,000 people residing in the Captial Ashgabat. 



The flag of Turkmenistan features a white crescent (The symbol of Islam) and five stars which represent the five regions of the country. It replaced the previous Soviet era flag in September 1992. 

The Turkmenistan Yokary Liga (also known at The Turkmenistan Higher League) was founded in 1992 when FK Kopetdag Asgabat won the title with a total of fifteen teams invovled. 



Over the past six seasons FC Altyn Asyr FK have dominated the league winning the title in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. They have also won The Turkmenistan Cup in 2009, 2016, 2016 and 2019. 

The second tier of football in the country is the 'Turkmenistan First League' which is split into four provincial zones. 

FC Ahal have been runner's up in the last three seasons and they have started the 2020 season with four wins scoring eight goals and four clean sheets. Altyn Asyr have had three draws and only one win. 



For the 2020 league there are four teams based in the Capital City being Ahal FK, Altyn Asyr FK and FC Asgabat who all play in the same Ashgabat Stadium complex. The fourth club are FK Kopetdag who play in the Kopetdag Stadium in the city. FC Energetik and Merw KF are from the Mary District with Nebitci FT from Balkanabat and Sagadam FK from Turkmenbasy on the Caspian Sea coast. 

The Champions of the League qualify for the AFC Champions League Group Stage with the runner's up going into the AFC Cup Preliminary Round. These are much like the UEFA Champions League and Europa League in Europe. 

Altyn Asyr FC got to the 2018 final of the AFC Cup where they lost to Iraqi side 'Al-Quwa Al Jawiya' - This was the first time a team from Turkmenistan got to the final of any of the two main AFC competitions.


There was an AFC President's Cup which ran from 2005 to 2014 which was set below the two AFC competitions which are still played for. Two clubs from Turkmenistan won this competition with HTTU Asgabat (now known at Yedigen FC) winning it in 2014 by beating North Korean side Rimyongsu in the final. Balkan Balkanabat (now renamed Nebitci) won the 2013 Cup by beating Pakistani side KRL. 

YOKARY LEAGUE CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
POSTEAMPGDPTSFORM
1. AHAL4+812WWWW
2. ASGABAT5+410WWWLD
3. KOPETDAG5+18LDWWD
4. ALTYN ASYR 4+26DDWD
5. ENERGETIK 5-15DWLLD
6. SAGADAM5-25WLDLD
7. NEBITCI5-63LLLWL
8. MERW5-63LLLLW

FK Kopetdag Asgabat are the oldest team in the division having been formed in 1947. They did win six of the first eight Yorkary titles before being dormant from 2008 to 2015. They did play in the Soviet First League (Second Tier) between 1970 to 1974 and 1976 to 1979 with their best placed finish being 7th in 1976. 

The International team of Turkmenistan played it's first game in June 1992 against Kazakhstan. They have never qualified for the World Cup but are currently top of Group H in Round Two of the AFC qualification tournament - They still have a home game against Lebanon and away games in South Kora and North Korea. 

If they are lucky enough to get through to Round Three there are two groups of six with the top two qualifying for World Cup 2022. The two third placed teams get another chance by playing each other in the third round with the winner going into the International Confederation Play-Offs - the format of which has not yet been announced. Croation Ante Miše was the naitonal coach but his contract expired in March and it wasn't renewed. 

The countries most coveted player is Arslanmyrat Amanow who currently has 44 caps and 13 goals. The 30 year old attacking midfielder recently moved to AGMK who play in the Uzbekistan Super League. He moved Lokomotiv Tashkent who finished as runner's up in the Uzbekistan Super League last season. 

Forthcoming Fixtures

Thursday 30th April 
Altyn Asyr v Ahal 

Monday 4th May
Altyn Asyr v Aşgabat 
Şagadam v Köpetdag Aşgabat
Merw v Nebitçi

Tuesday 5th May
Ahal v Energetik


The next two fixtures for champion's Altyn Asyr are must win games after their start threes draws and just one win. They have two City derby games coming up taking on table topper's Ahal before hosting Asgabat next week. 

  
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BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKEND PREVIEW

April 30, 2020, 3:48 pm
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Friday 1st May
Smolevichy v Energetyk-BGU 
A difficult game to predict. The visitors made a great start to their campaign winning their first three games but have lost their last three without scoring a goal. Smolevichy are one of the two sides without a league win so far but they have two draws in their last three games. The game kicks off at 2pm British time. 

Saturday 2nd May
FC Minsk v Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 
Minsk put an end to a losing run of three games with a good 1-3 win at Slavia Mozyr last weekend. Torpedo have only let in two goals in six games but have only scored four goals in those games too - they have five clean sheets in six games! Torpedo's danger man is Brazilian attacking midfielder Gabriel Ramos two goals so far. This should be an away win but FC Minsk will be more confident on the back of their away win last weekend. 

Rukh Brest v Gorodeya 
The home side are another very good defensive side letting in just two goals in their six games played. Gorodeya have won three games and lost three games but only have scored three goals so far with all their wins ending 1-0. I expect this to be low scoring affair with Rukh may just edge. Under 2.5 goals with skybet.com is rated at 2/5 with under 1.5 goals at 5/4. 

Dynamo Minsk v Slutsk 
Slutsk have made a fantastic start to the season and sit top of the table going into the weekend. They are top scorers with 12 goals scored with Artem Serdyuk on three goals in six games and Nigerian Umar Bala on three in five games - his goals have all come in the last two games. Dynamo have won their last two games and are in good scoring form hitting the net five times in those two games. Former Slutsk player Evegeni Shikavka has scored three times in the last two goals with one of those coming from the penalty spot. My verdict is this is one of the games of the weekend with Dynamo in ninth placed in the table but only four points behind Slutsk. I expect goals to be scored here.  

Sunday 3rd May 
Belshina v Dynamo Brest 
Belshina are bottom of the table but have had two good draws against Neman Grodno and Smolevichy as well are running Slutsk very close last weekend - after going 2-0 down they showed some real spirit and fight to pull it back to 2-2 and it was only Umar Bala's late winner that denied them a point. 

Dynamo Brest were involved in an amazing Belarusian Cup Semi-Final second leg in midweek against Shakhtyor. They were 0-2 up at half time which made the aggregate score 0-4 only for Shakhtyor to score four goals in under 20 minutes in the second half to make the aggregate score 4-4. Dynamo snuck through on the away goal rule! I think this could be Belshina's first win of the season - they are 9/2 with skybet.com for the win with the away side at 8/15.  
Vitebsk v Slavia Mozyr 
Slavia have let in seven goals in their last three games which included two in their cup semi-final defeat against BATE in midweek. Vitebsk have won three of their games (all ended 1-0) but were well beaten at Isloch last weekend. A difficult game to predict which may end all square. 

BATE Borisov v Neman Grodno 
Since BATE lost their Cup semi-final first leg against Slavia 1-0 they have picked three wins in four with no goals conceded. Neman are a topsy turvy side in respect of form with two wins, two draws and two defeats so far. They had a good 3-0 win at home to Energetyk last weekend with Pavel Zabelin scoring twice but their three away games so far have ended L 1-0, D 0-0 and L 2-0 so they have not yet scored on their travels. BATE should win this game by 2-0 or 3-0. The bookmakers agree with skybet.com making the home side 1/3 favourites and Newman a massive 15/2 to record a win. 

Shakhtyor v Isloch
It was so near but yet so far for Shakhtyor in their amazing cup game on Wednesday so the question some fans may ask is that they may suffer a hangover from that game against an in-form Isloch side who are second in the (albeit) early table. Isloch's fan favourite Momo Yansane got his third goal of the season in last weekend's victory at home to Vitebsk. Yansane is rated at 9/1 to score first in this game with an away win at 4/1 and a home win at 6/10. A draw is rated at 12/5. I'll go for the game to end all square at 2-2 and Momo to get the first goal which is currently rated at 115/1! 

Please note I'm not a tipping service and the above is only a guide to help you enjoy the games. Enjoy your weekend and if you are having a bet please gamble responsibly. 
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THE TOP TROPHY IN THE HERTFORD AND DISTRICT LEAGUE

May 1, 2020, 3:00 am
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The top prize in Hertford and District Football League is proudly named TheAlfred Barclay Bishop Trophy which is awarded to winners of the Premier Division each season. 

Mr Bishop was the Chairman of Burnham Green Fooball Club when they became the dominant teams in the league in the late 1940's and early 1950s. They were promoted to the then First Division in 1948 and won the league the next season without dropping a point - they won all twenty-two games played. 

They were again league winners in 1950. In 1950-51, they lost their title, on goal difference but regained the title in 1951-52, when they also won the Premier Division Cup and the Welwyn Hospital Cup.

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GETTING TO KNOW THE BUNDESLIGA AND THE GERMAN FOOTBALL PYRAMID

May 2, 2020, 10:03 am
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The Bundesliga was formed in 1962 and the first season was in 1963/64. 

Prior to it's formation football in Germany was played on a regional basis. In 1949 there were five regional 'Oberligen' formed across the old West Germany. 

In East Germany a separate league was established in 1950 called 'DS Oberliga' which was renamed 'Football Oberliga DFV' in 1958. 

Sixteen teams were selected for the first Bundesliga season from the five regional divisions who were Eintracht Braunschweig, Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV, Borussia Dortmund, FC Köln, Meidericher SV (now renamed MSV Duisburg), Preußen Münster, Schalke, FC Kaiserslautern, FC Saarbrücken, Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruher SC, FC Nürnberg, 1860 Munich, VfB Stuttgart and Hertha BSC.

In 1991 following the re-unification of Germany clubs from the East German system joined the new German football system with the Bundesliga still being the top division. FC Hansa Rostock and FC Dynamo Dresden joined the top tier. 

The Bundesliga is actually comprised of two divisions. "1. Bundesliga" and "2. Bundesliga" are the top and second tier of German football. 

"3. Liga" is the third tier of the game in Germany but is not referred to as the 'Bundesliga' as the divison is run by the German Football Association as opposed to the German Football League who run the top two tiers. 

1.FC Koln (or Cologne in English) were the first champions in 1963/64. They won the title again in 1977/78 and have been runner's up a further five times. 

Since the 1997/1998 season they have been a real yo-yo club with six relegations and six promotions back to the top level. They were in tenth place of the Bundesliga when football was put on hold in early March. 

Eintracht Braunschweig were champions in 1967. In 1985 the club were relegated and suffered a further relegation to step three for the 1987/88 season. The club were in ninth position on the 3.Liga when football was put on hold in early March. 

1.FC Saarbrucken were founder members of the Bundesliga but were demoted with just six wins in thirty games played. The club have a somewhat unique history having played in the European Cup but not representing Germany. After World War II the state of Saarland (where Saarbrucken is located) was occupied by the French. Various efforts were made to become an independent state wnich is sport saw a team representing Saarland in the 1952 Olympics and also the 1954 World Cup Qualifiers. FC Saarbrucken played in the French Second Division as guests for the 1948/49 season under the name of 'FC Sarrebruck' and actually won the division but were refused promotion due to objections made by other clubs. 

1.FC Saarbrucken played in the first European club (1955/56) as Saarland's representative. They were drawn against the giants of AC Milan and actually won the first leg 3-4 but then lost the second leg 4-1 to go out 7-5 on aggregate. 

They made they way back up to the top division in the mid 70s but by the early 80s they had slipped back to level 3. They had two more seasons in the Bundesliga in 85/86 and 92/93 but were relegated back down again. 

Die Molschder, as they are nicknamed, were top of the Regionalliga SudWest (fourth tier) when football was put on hold in March. Kickers Ofenbach were also playing in this division - their highest placed finish in German football was a seventh placed finish in the Bundesliga in 1972/73. 

1.FC Saarbrucken made some more history this season as they became the first fourth tier team to to reach DFB Pokal (German Cup) semi-final stage after beating second tier sides SSV Jahn Regensburg, 1.FC Koln and Karlsruher along with Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf who are managed by Uwe Rosler in the quarter-finals. They are due to play Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-final when or if football gets back underway again. 

Up until the end of the 2017/18 season there was only one team in Bundesliga history that had never been relegated from the top tier since the league was formed in 1963. Hamburger SV were demoted to the 2.Bundesliga for the first time and they have since finished fourth and in third place when football was put on hold in March. 

Legendary goalkeeper Sepp Maier played an incredible 442 games in row for Bayern Munich from 1966 through to the end of the 78/79 season. He was named German footballer of the year in 1975, 1977 and 1978 as well as being part of the iconic Bayern team who won three European cups in the row in 1974, 1975 and 1975. Maier made a total of 473 appearances in the Bundesliga for Bayern. He is not the record holder for most games played though. Defender Karl-Heinz 'Charly' Korbel played for Eintracht Frankfurt from 1972 to 1991 clocking up 602 appearances! 

Bayern Munich are not just one of the giants of German football but of World Football. Their first campaign in the Bundesliga came in the third season 1965/66. Since then they have been champions on 28 occasions and won the German cup 18 times since 1965. They had one previous Cup win in 1957

Their European record is exceptional with only Liverpool, AC Milan and Real Madrid ahead of them on 6, 7 and 13 wins - 

European Cup/Champions League 
Winners: (5) 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 2000–01 and 2012–13.
Runner-Ups: 1981/82, 1986/87, 1998/99, 2009/10, 2011/12. 

In addition to these 10 finals they have also been knocked out at the semi-final stage a further 9 times and at the quarter-final stage 10 times. 

UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup
Winners: (1) 1995–96.
Semi-Finals: 1979/80, 1988/89 and 2007/08.

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 
Winners: (1) 1966–67. 
Semi-Finals: 1967/68, 1971/72 and 1984/85.
Quarter-Finals: 1981/82.

Since their sixth placed Bundesliga finish in 1994/95 they have never been placed than fourth and have won the last seven titles. 

Jadon Sancho is the most famous British player in the league at present. He has scored 14 times for Borussia Dortmund as well as providing 16 assists up until football was halted this season. We all have read that many Premier League sides want to sign him with eye watering transfer fees being mentioned. The £8,000,000 fee Dortmund paid Manchester City for his services in 2017 looks a good bit of business. There are plenty more English players plying their trade in Germany some of whom you may or may not of heard of: 

Jonjoe Kenny, 23, is on loan with Schalke 04 from Everton. The right-back who came through the ranks at Goodison Park has been a firm fixture in the first team at Schalke this season. He has played for England at u21 down to u16 level. 

Kenny's team-mate is Rabbi Matondo (attacking midfielder/winger) who born in the same city as him - Liverpool! Matondo moved to Cardiff with his family when he was very young so is now actually a full Welsh International. He started with Cardiff City before a move to Manchester City in 2016 for a fee of £500,000. He never made a first team appearance for City and moved to Germany in January 2019. Schalke paid a reported fee of £11,000,000 for his services and he signed a contract to take him up until the the 2023/24 season. 

Keanan Bennetts came through the ranks at Tottenham Hotspur and is also an attacking midfielder/winger who usually plays on the left. The 21 year old is currently on the books of Borussia Monchengladbach. He has yet to make a first team appearance but has played for their second team who currently play in the Regionaliga West (Step Four). Unfortunately he was out injured from September 19 to January 20 with a ruptured Thigh Muscle. He has an 18 year old brother Jayden Bennetts who plays for Watford and was part of The Hornets team in their recent FA Cup game away at Tranmere Rovers. 

Anthony Evans is another Liverpudlian playing in Germany. The 21 year old attacking midfielder was with Everton from a very young age but never made a first team appearance spending time on loan with Blackpool and Morecambe. He joined SC Paderborn in late January - they are currently bottom of the 1.Bundesliga. 

Ademola Lookman is currently with RB Leipzig. The winger rose through the ranks at Charlton Athletic before a £7.5m (whch had potential to rise to £11m) move to Everton in 2017. He played 36 times for The Toffees before a loan spell and a permanent move to RB Leipzig. Born in Wandsworth he is now aged 22 and has played for England at u21, u20 and u19 level. He is also eligible to play for Nigeria at International level. 

Many English fans will recall Reece Oxford bursting onto the Premier League scene back in August 2015 when as a 16 year old he became West Ham United's youngest ever player in their 0-2 win at Arsenal. He signed a four and a half year contract with The Hammers on his eighteenth birthday in December 2016 and then spent time on-loan with Reading in the Championship. He had two spells on loan with Borussia Monchengladbach in 2017 and 2018. He then joined FC Augsburg on loan and made the move permanently in August 2019. Born in Edmonton, North London he is a central defender/defensive midfielder and has played 8 times for Augsburg this season.  

Clinton Mola was also born in North London - Camden. The 19 year old midfielder is a product of the ultra successful academy at Chelsea but did not make a first team appearance at Stamford Bridge. He made the move to VFB Stuttgart in January 2020 and has since played six times for his new club who find themselves in 2.Bundesliga following their relegation from the top level at the end of the 2018/19 campaign. Whilst at Chelsea he was part of the squads which were runner's up in the UEFA Youth League in 2018 and 2019, won the U18 Premier League in 2017 and 2018 and won the FA Youth Cup in 2017 and 2018.

Nathaniel Phillips, 23, is currently on loan with VFB Stuttgart from Liverpool. The defender joined at the start of the 2019/20 campaign but was recalled back to play in the Merseyside derby FA Cup victory over Everton in January. He moved back to Stuttgart for the remainder of the season and has made 7 starts in the total for them altogether. He is son of Jimmy Phillips who is most well known in his playing career for his time with Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough. 

Jordi Osei-Tutu, 22, is currently on loan to 2.Bundesliga side VFL Bochum from Arsenal. The full back has made 12 appearances in total this season as well as appearing as an unused substitute 14 times. 

Xavier Amaechi, 19, also came through the academy system with The Gunners. He had played for England at u16, u17 and u19 level. He joined 2.Bundesliga side Hamburger SV in July 2019. He has only made one appearance for the first team and also been an unused substitute a number of times.  He has also featured for their second team who play in the Regionalliga Nord (Step Four) where he has scored 3 goals in 4 games. Two of those goals came in a game against Altona 93 in October. He started for the England u19 game in Bosnia Herzegovina in November but was replaced by another Gunner's academy player Tyreece John-Jules who recently moved on loan to League One side Lincoln City. If your thinking I recognise the surname of 'John-Jule' you'll be right as Tyreece is the nephew of actor Danny who is most famous for playing The Car in Red Dwarf. 

Jake Hirst is a name not many football fans will have heard of. The 23 year old striker is currently with FC Giessen in the Regionalla SudWest (Step Four). He was born in Germany to English parents and came through the academy system of Eintracht Frankfurt and then had spells at FSV Frankfurt and TSG Wieseck before a move to Kickers Offenbach where he scored 9 goals in 22 games in the 2018/19 season. He has scored 5 in 11 games for Giessen this season. 

Ethan Ampadu has 13 full Welsh caps to his name already at the very young age of just 19 years old. He is currently on loan from Chelsea to RB Leipzig where he had made only 3 full appearances so far. The centre-back clearly has a huge future in the game and should be part of the first team set up at Chelsea within the next few seasons I expect. 

James Lawrence, 27, was born in England but has six full Welsh caps to his name. He came though the Arsenal and QPR academy before in 2008 his family moved to Holland and he spent time with the youth systems of HFC Harlem, Ajax, Sparta Rotterdam and RFC Waalwijk. From 2014 to 2018 he played in Slovakia for "FK AS Trencin" who won the top division in both 14/15 and 15/16 as well as the Slovak Cup in 2015 and 2016. He moved to Anderlecht in 2018 and then on loan to 2.Bundesliga side St Pauli for the 2019/20 campaign.

The record attendance for the Bundesliga is 88,075 who saw Hertha Berlin play 1.FC Köln in 1969. The lowest crowd is 827 who saw Tasmania Berlin host Borussia Monchengladback in 1966. Tasmania Berlin's one season stint in the top division for 1965/66 was an eventful one!

SC Tasmania Berlin 1900 to give the club it's full title were promoted to the Bundesliga in 1965 after Berlin's only side at the time Hertha BSC (they had finished 14th just above the drop zone) had it's licence revoked and was demoted for breaking the league's salary rules. The German Football Association wanted keep the City of Berlin for political reasons. Karlsruher SC and FC Shalke (15th and 16th) requested to avoid demotion due to the Hertha BSC situation so relegation was suspended foe the season and increase the number of teams from 16 to 18.  

Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach moved up and Spandauer SV refused an offer of promotion. It was then clear for third-place club Tasmania 1900 to take up the opportunity to represent Berlin in the Bundesliga — this was confirmed just two weeks before the start of the 1965–66 season. The club's name come from the fact the club's founders in 1900 were apparently going to migrate to Australia with the preferred destination being Tasmania hence the name. 

They are to date the worst team in Bundesliga history as they won just two of their thirty four games played and collected only eight points as it was only two points for a win in those days - they scored only fifteen goals and let in one hundred and eight. The club also currently still hold the record for the biggest losing margin in a Bundesliga home game when they lost 0-9 to Meidericher SV in March 1966. This was close to being equaled in 2000 when Bayer Leverkusen won 1-9 at SSV Ulm - Leandro Fonseca's injury time goal for the home side kept the record in tact.

Their lowest crowd figure stated above was despite having 81,500 and 70,000 at their first two games. They never returned to the top tier of the German game and sadly were declared bankrupt in 1973. 

Prior to the club being dissolved the youth and Amateur players had established their own club in the February of 1973 called SC Tasmania 73 Neukölln. Many club officials and players followed suit to support the new team in Neukölln at the end of the season.  The club now known as SV Tasmania Berlin now play in the NOFV Oberliga Nord which is the fifth tier of the German game. 

The highest transfer fee paid by a Bundesliga club was the €80.0 million figure paid by Bayern for Lucas Hernandez from Atletico Madrid in 2019.

The highest transfer fee received is currently €130 million that Barcelona paid Borussia Dortmund for Ousmane Dembélé in 2017. Will this be beaten when or if Jaydon Sancho leaves Dortmund? 

Mario Gotze's €37 million 2013 transfer from Dortmund to Bayern is the current record for two German clubs. 

RB Leipzig or RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V to give them their full title have come from step five when they were formed in 2009 to now being one of the biggest teams in the German game and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. The club were founded when Red Bull purchased the playing rights of fifth-tier side SSV Markranstädt with the intent of advancing the new club to the top-flight Bundesliga within eight years. 

They have gone from having an average crowd of 2,150 in their first season to now around 40,000 in the top league where they have finished 2nd, 6th and 3rd - they were also 3rd in the table in March. 

Leipzig has a history of football with BSG Chemie Leipzig winning the DFB Pokal Cup in 1957 and 1966 as well as the DDR Oberliga (East German Championship) in 1951 and 1964. They were dissolved in 1990 and FC Sachsen Leipzig were formed. They played in the lower divisions and were themselves dissolved in 2011. Another club called LFV Sachsen Leipzig were formed in 2014 and play in the Amateur divisions. 

In 1997 a new club called BSG Chemie Leipzig were formed - they were in tenth place of the Regionalliga Nordust (Step Four) in March. 

1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig are thought by some to be the unofficial successors to the original VFB Leipzig and SC Sportbrüder Leipzig clubs who were established in 1896 and 1893 respectively. In 2018 they announced a merger with the bankrupt and dormant VFB Leipzig in order to be entitled to the forerunner's titles. Due to the significant breaks and turmoils in the club's history many fans identify 1966 as the year of establishment rather than 1893. Lokomotive currently ply their trade in the Regionalla Nordust (Step Four) and were pushing for the top spot when football was put on hold - they were level on points with Energie Cottbus and VSG Altglienicke at the top of the table. 

3.Liga side Spielvereinigung Unterhaching (or SpVgg Unterhaching as they are commonly known) must be the only football team with a bobsleigh on their badge. In Germany the football side is only one part of the sporting club with gymnastics and other sporting activities included. The club's bobsleigh department has helped capture Olympic and World titles. They have always been in the shadow of Munich's bigger clubs Bayern and 1860 although they now play alongside 1860 who were relegated from the top tier in 2004 and slipped down to step four for the 2017/18 season as they were relegated two levels as the club failed to gain a 3.Liga licence.  


Many German clubs have their year of formation in their name like 1860 Munich and SSV Ulm 1846 but the oldest club in the country is in fact BFC Germania 1888 of Berlin. Those clubs did not take up football until after the 1888 year of formation for Germania who now play in the Kreisliga B which is level 10 on the German pyramid. 

Another club from Berlin are FC Union Berlin who acheived promotion to the top division for the first time in their history for the 2019/20 season. They were in eleventh place of the table in March. 

In the 2019/20 2.Bundesliga it is currently Arminia Bielefeld and VFB Stuttgart in the top two promotion places with Hamburger SV in the third place play off spot - the third placed team plays off against the third bottom team in the top division with the winner either gaining promotion or staying up. SC Paderbon and Werder Bremen were in the bottom two of the 1.Bundesliga with Fortuna Dusseldorf in the the relegation play-off spot. 


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BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, FIRST AND SECOND LEAGUE WEEKEND REVIEW

May 4, 2020, 11:06 am
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RESULTS
FRIDAY 1st MAY

PREMIER LEAGUE
Smolevichy 0 Energetyk-BGU 2 (115) 

SATURDAY 2nd MAY
PREMIER LEAGUE
FC Minsk 2 Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 5 (173) 
Rukh Brest 1 Gorodeya 1 (323) 
Dynamo Minsk 1 Slutsk 2 (362) 

FIRST LEAGUE
Arsenal 1 Khimik Svetlogorsk 0 (150)  
Lokomotiv Gomel 3 Naftan 3 (360) 
Volna 3 Oshmyany 2 (320)
Orsha 0 Smorgon 0 (200) 

SECOND LEAGUE
GROUP A
Chayka Zelva 0 Pershiy Regien 1 
Kronon 1 Meliorator Zhitkovichi 2 
Baranovichi 9 Ivatsevichi 1 
BGU Minsk 0 Ostrovets 3
Molodechno-DYuSSh 3 Stenles Pinsk 2 

GROUP B 
Polotsk 8 Dnepr Rogachev 2 
Bumprom 4 Zhlobin 0
Viktoriya Maryina Horka 2 Energosbyt-BSATU 2
Gorki 1 Shakhtyor Petrikov 4 
SMI Autotrans 0 Dnepr Mogilev 7 

SUNDAY 3rd MAY
PREMIER LEAGUE 
Belshina 0 Dynamo Brest 3 (1,374) 
Vitebsk 2 Slavia Mozyr 3 (408) 
BATE Borisov 3 Neman Grodno 1 (1,000)  
Shakhtyor 4 Isloch 0 (480) 

FIRST LEAGUE
Sputnik 2 Granit 0 (150) 
Lida 3 Slonim 0 (350) 
Krumkachy Minsk 1 Gomel 1 (400)

In the Premier League Slutsk continued their great start to the campaign with a 1-2 victory over Dynamo Minsk. The home side opened the game well with the visitors scoring against the run of play via Dramane Salou's goal from way outside the box on 22 minutes. They doubled the lead when fellow Brukino Faso countryman Abdoul Gafar's back heal on the edge of the box on 52 minutes. Dynamo pulled a late goal back via Karlo Brucic who scored his second goal of the season but it wasn't enough and the victory puts Slutsk top of the league over Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. 


 Match action from the Dynamo Minsk v Slutsk game (courtesy of @sfc.slutsk on insta)

Torpedo were top for a few hours after their emphatic 2-5 at FC Minsk earlier in the day. Former Smolevichy centre forward Valeri Gorbachik had a great day as he scored a first half hat-trick for Torpedo. Brazilian midfielder Lipe Veloso (currently on loan from Ukaranian side Lviv) scored Torpedo's fifth goal and his first for the club after four substitute appearances so far. 

BATE Borisov continued their good form with a routine 3-1 home victory against Neman Grodno. They are now five games unbeaten in league and cup scoring ten and letting in just one goal which was scored by Neman's Armenian International Gegam Kadymyan in the 31st minute. 

At the bottom of the table it's still Belshina and Smolevichy-STI who are without a win in their seven games played. Belshina were well beaten at home to reigning Champion's Dynamo Brest 0-3 with Smolveichy going down 0-2 at home to Energetyk. 

Dynamo are under new management for this season following the departure of Marcel Licka with Sergay Kovalchuk now in charge in his fourth spell with the club. The 0-3 win will ease some of the pressure that Kovalchuk was under following their indifferent start to the season - they also have their Belarusian Cup Final against BATE Borisov on Wednesday 20th May to look forward to. 

In the First League several teams started the campaign with points deductions (Gomel: -5 points, Naftan: -15 points, Lida: -3 points, Khimik Svetlogorsk: -9 points and Orsha: -3 points) so it's still very early days in the table with just three games played so far. Krumkachy Minsk and Lokomotiv Gomel are curently top on 7 points - no side has 100% winning records. Krumkachy Minsk drew 1-1 with Gomel (relegated from the Premier League last season) with former Gorodeya player Dmitri Lebedev scoring in the 79th minute (his third goal of the season) to make it 1-1 after Dmitiri Gomza (was with Smolevichy in the Premier League last season) scored for Gomel in the 42nd minute from the penalty spot. 

Volna Pinsk, who have only ever played in the First and Second Leagues since they were formed in 1987 had a good 3-2 home win over Oshmyany (formed in 2012). Denis Kovalevich, Andrey Mikhalchuk and an own goal saw Volna get their first win of the season following a 0-0 draw and 2-0 defeat in their opening two games.  





Match action from Volna Pinsk 3 Oshmyany 2 (courtesy of @fcvolna on Insta) 

In the Second League it was a better weekend for Chakya Zelva following their 15-0 defeat previously. They lost 0-1 at home to Pershiy Regien. In Group A Ostrovets FC, Meliorator Zhitkovichi (both 3 games played) and Molodechano-DyuSSH (two games played) are the only sides left with 100% winning records.  

In Group B there are also three teams with 100% winning records - Shakhtyor Petrikov (3 games) along with Dnepr Mogilev and Bumprom (2 games) have won all of their games so far. Dnepr and Bumprom have done so without letting in a goal so far. 

Dnepr are expected by many fans to do well this season - they were Premier League champions in 1998 and one of the strongest teams in the country in the late 1990s. They were relegated in 2011 but did achieve promotion back at the first attempt but then went down again to the First League for the 2015 and 2016 seasons before promotion back to the Premier League for the 2017 campaign. 

In spring 2019, the club merged with Premier League team Luch Minsk with the united club was named Dnyapro Mogilev. It inherited Luch's Premier League spot and most of the squad while keeping only a few of the Dnepr players and relocating to Mogilev. 

Dnyapro Mogilev ceased to exist following their relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2019 campaign - they lost the play-off to Rukh Brest with Dnepr Mogilev reforming for the 2020 campaign in the Second League - they play in the 7,350 capacity Spartak Stadium. 


THE BADGE OF DNEPR MOGILEV WHO PLAYED IN THE 1999/2000 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AS WELL AS GETTING TO THE PLAY-OFF ROUND OF THE 2010/11 EUROPA LEAGUE WHERE THEY LOST TO SPANISH SIDE VILLAREAL - THEY ARE EXPECTED TO DO VERY WELL IN THE SECOND LEAGUE GROUP B THIS SEASON. 

WEEKEND FIXTURES
Kick Off times UK Time

PREMIER LEAGUE

Friday 8th May 
Slutsk v Energetyk-BGU 3pm 
Gorodeya v FC Minsk 5pm 

Saturday 9th May
Slavia Mozyr v Torpedo BelAZ 1pm 
Neman Grodno v Rukh Brest 3pm 

Sunday 10th May
*Super Sunday with four games kicking off over the space of six hours*
Isloch v Belshina 12pm 
Vitebsk v Shakhtyor 2pm
Smolevichy-STI v BATE Borisov 4pm
Dynamo Brest v Dynamo Minsk 6pm 

FIRST LEAGUE 

Saturday 9th May
Smorgon v Lida 11am 

Sunday 10th May
Khimik Svetlogorsk v Sputnik 12pm
Oshmyany v Orsha 1pm 
Naftan v Slonim 2pm 
Gomel v Arsenal 3pm 
Granit v Volna 4pm 

Monday 11th May
Lokomotiv Gomel v Krumachy Minsk 4pm 

SECOND LEAGUE

GROUP A 
Friday 8th May 
Meliorator Zhitkovichi v BGU Minsk

Saturday 9th May
Baranovichi v Kronon
Dinamo Malorita v Ivatsevichi
Ostrovets FC v Chayka Zelva
Pershiy Regien v Molodechno-DYuSSh 

GROUP B 
Saturday 9th May
Dnepr Mogilev v Viktoriya Maryina Horka
Shakhtyor Petrikov v Polotsk
Dnepr Rogachev v Bumprom
Osipovichy v SMI Autotrans
Energosbyt-BSATU v Gorki

The majority of the Premier League games can be found on 'You Tube' or 'My Cujoo' with a few of the First League and Reserve League games too. Please also give the fantastic @MottysMic a follow on twitter who has been provided some brilliant commentary of the games on cwsportradio.com. 

Current odds for the Premier League title
from bet365.com
BATE Borisov 10/11 
Dyanmo Brest 11/4 
Shakhytor Soligorsk 4/1 
Torpedo Zhodino 16/1 
Dynamo Minsk 25/1 
Slutsk 25/1 
All other 50/1 + 

The above shows the odds bet365.com are offering for the Premier League title - I think some of the Slutsk fans worldwide might be putting a few pounds down on them - You can get 50/1 with skybet.com! It's no surprise to see BATE Borisov at 10/11 favourites - Please gamble responsibly. 
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GETTING TO KNOW......... THE SOUTH KOREAN K LEAGUE

May 6, 2020, 12:39 pm
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The South Korean 'K League' is scheduled to get underway this coming Friday with games played behind closed doors at first due to the covid situation. The league was founded in 1983 as the Korean Super League initially with five member clubs who were Yukong Elephants, POSCO Dolphin, Kookmin Bank and  Daewoo Royals along with Hallelujah FC who won the inaugural title 

In 1998 the league was reformed and renamed as the 'K League' with a two division system introduced in 2013. At first they were called 'K League Classic' and 'K League Challenge' with them renamed 'K League 1' and 'K League 2' for the 2018 season. 

Here is how the K League 1 for the 2020 season lines up with a few facts about the clubs. 

Busan IPark 
Promoted from K-League 2 last season. Formerly named 'Daewoo Royals' so were founder members of the league. Title winners in 1984, 1987, 1991 and 1997. They were relegated in 2015 and pushed hard for promotion over the past few seasons finishing 2nd, 3rd and 2nd. They finally made it back by winning the play-off against Gyeongnam FC 2-0 on aggregate - Brazilian midfielder Romulo scored one of the goals in that tie - he has been with the club since 2017. 

Daegu FC 
Founded in 2002 and have been members of the top division from 2003 to 2013 and from 2017 to date. Their best ever finish was fifth last season - they have won the Korean FA Cup once in 2018. There were managed by Brazilian Andre last season but he left the club in January - Lee Byung Keun (who was assistant coach) will manage the team on a caretaker basis. Brazilian midfielder Cesinha was one of the stand out players in the division last season scoring 15 goals with 10 assists. 

Gangwon FC 
Founded in 2008. They are been in the top league from 2009 to 2013 and 2017 to date. Their sixth placed finish last season equaled their best ever finish in 2017. 

Gwangju FC 
The K-League 2 title winners last season - they have been a yo-yo club since formation in 2010 with two relegations and two promotions.  

Incheon United
Founded in 2003 and have been top league members since 2004 - they were runner's up in 2004. Finished 10th last season and are under new management for the 20202 campaign. Lim Wan-Sup was appointed in February. He has management experience at Ansan Greeners and a number of other clubs in South Korea. 

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 
Seven time champions of the K-League and winners of the last three titles. Currently managed by Portuguese Jose Morais who is most well known for being Assistant to Jose Mourinho when he was at Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea as well as a short spell in charge of Barnsley in 2018 - He was K League manger of the year for the 2019 season. The Warriors won the AFC Champions League in 2006 and 2016. Singed the K League 2019 MVP in pre-season. Kim Bo-Kyung had been on loan to Ulsan Hyundai from Japanese side Kashiwa Reysol for last season - The midfielder/winger will be known to some British fans from his time with Cardiff City and Wigan Athletic. 

Pohang Steelers
Founded in 1973 and are one of the South Korea's most successful sides although they have only finished 9th, 7th, 4th and 4th in the last four seasons. The have five titles and four FA Cup wins to their name along with three AFC Champions League wins (97, 98 and 2009).

Sangju Sangmu
Before a ball is kicked it has been confirmed that the club will be in K League 2 for the 2021 season regardless of it's final position in 2020 as it will move it's franchise city. The club were formed in 1984 as Sangmu FC and as the football side to the Korean Armed Forces Athletic Corps. The club played in Gwangju from 2002 but then moved to Sangju in 2011 following the formation of Gwangju FC. Moon Seon-Min joined the club over the pre-season after his displayed for Jeonbuk Hyundai-Motors got him in the league's best XI for the 2019 season for which he also won the top assists award - He has joined the Armed Forces club as part of his military service. 

Seongnam FC
Seven time title winners with the last coming back in 2006. They have never been out of the top league since formation in 1989. They finished 9th last season after a runner's up spot in 2018. They have recently appointed Kim Nam-Il as manager who is most well known for his defensive displays as a player in South Korea's successful 2002 World Cup Campaign. He joins from K League 2 side Jeonnam Dragons. 

FC Seoul
Six time champions with the last being in 2016. A huge club in South Korea who were founded in 1983 as Lucky Gold-Star FC. 

Suwon Samsung Bluewings
Another side to have previously won the title on a number of occasions - they have achieved this four times in 98, 99, 04 and 08. Australian International striker Adam Taggart will look to build on a successful 2019 season when he was the top scorer in the league netting 20 times. He was with Fulham from 2014 to 2016 but didn't make a first team appearance - He did spend a short spell on loan North of the border with Dundee United. 

Ulsan Hyundai 
Last season's runner's up. Won the 2012 AFC Champions League. Have two previous title wins in 1996 and 2005. The loss of Kim Bo-Kyung to rival's Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors has been offset with the marquee signing of Lee Chung-Yong from German side VFB Bochum - The South Korean International winger is well known in England from his spells with Crystal Palace and Bolton Wanderers. 

WEEKEND FIXTURES
Friday 8th May
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors v Suwon Samsung Bluewings (11am) 

Saturday 9th May 
Ulsan Hyundai v Sangju Sangmu (6am) 
Incheon United v Daegu FC (8.30am) 
Gwangju FC v Seongnam FC (11am)

Sunday 10th May
Pohang Steelers v Busan IPark (6am) 
Gangwon v FC Seoul (8.30am)
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BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE - WEEKEND PREVIEW

May 7, 2020, 1:17 pm
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Friday 8th May
Slutsk v Energetyk-BGU - 3pm 
FC Slutsk sit very proudly at the top of the table after winning four, drawing one and losing one of their opening six games - they have never finished higher than 8th (2017 and 2018) so it's looking to be highly memorable season for their fans this season. They are top scorers in the division with twelve goals scored so far - Their trio of Burkino Faso players have impressed so far with Abdoul Gaffar and Dramane Salou scoring last week. Defender Souleymane Koanda has also netted twice this season. Energetyk got back to winning ways last week after three defeats in a row. This is one of the games of the weekend as it's 1st v 4th in the table. 
Verdict - There should be goals in this one. Slutsk will just shade it with the scoreline being 2-1 or 3-1.  

Gorodeya v FC Minsk - 5pm
Minsk currently have the worst defensive record in the division - the five goals they let in at home to Torpedo Zhodino last week means they have let in 2.14 goals per game. Gorodeya have struggled to score goals - only netted four times in their seven games so far. They were 0-1 at Rukh Brest last weekend only to concede a very late equaliser to turn three points into one. 
Verdict - Gorodeya to win against a side lacking in confidence at the back. 

Saturday 9th May
Slavia Mozyr v Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino - 1pm 
Up until last weeks five goals Torpedo had struggled for goals with just four goals in six games but have four wins from their seven games. Slavia narrowly won 2-3 at Vitebsk last time out. 
Verdict - Could go either way but Torpedo with Gabriel Ramos and Valeri Gorbachik in good form may just shade it.

Neman Grodno v Rukh Brest - 3pm 
Rukh along with Shakhtyor have the best defence in the league conceding just three goals in their seven games. Neman were beaten by in-form BATE last weekend. Neman's Armenian midfielder Gegam Kadimyan has four goals from his seven games so is their danger man. Rukh, in their debut season in the top league, need to score more goals - Their forward line has yet to register a goal - Could it be the time for Belarus u21 International Artysom Paytrenka who joined in pre-season from Slavia Mozyr (where he scored 11 goals in 41 games) to step up to the mark? 
Verdict - Another difficult game to predict. Could be low scoring draw. 

Sunday 10th May
Isloch v Belshina - 12pm 
It's been a difficult start to life back in the top tier for the 2019 First League title winner's Belshina Bobruisk. Five defeats and two draws with 13 goals conceded. Their two draws have come at Neman Grodno (1-1) and at home to Smolevichy (1-1) who are also struggling at the bottom of the early league table. Isloch had their worst result of the season losing 4-0 at Shakytor last weekend so will be wanting to get back to winning ways in game one of Super Sunday. The defeat prompted their centre forward Momo Yansane to tweet "yesterday I was very sad that I couldn't sleep. I apologize to the supporters and I prefer collective victory to an individual price. let's look ahead." so expect him to be fired up for this one. 
Verdict - Another defeat for Belshina as Isloch get back to winning ways. 


Vitebsk v Shakhtyor - 2pm 
The visitors have won their last two games 4-0 and 2-0 so are in good form. Vitebsk have lost their last two games although they were very unlucky last time out being 2-1 up until the 86th minute before eventually losing 2-3. The home side's centre-forward Ion Nicolaescu made 12 appearances for Shakytor in 2018 and 2019 before joing Vitebsk for this campaign. As The Moldovan International is on loan from Shakhtyor i'm not sure if he'll be allowed to play but if he does he'll want to score.  
Verdict - Difficult to predict so could end all square. They'll be some goals scored. 

Smolevichy-STI v BATE Borisov - 4pm 
The home side have three goals from their seven games with three draws and four defeats. BATE have four wins and eleven goals from their seven games. Anything other than an away win by more than two goals will be a major surprise. 
Verdict - BATE to be too strong for the home side. 

Dynamo Brest v Dynamo Minsk - 6pm
Both have three wins from seven games with their form being slightly topsy turvy. The home side got back to winning ways with their 0-3 win at Belshina last weekend after a run of three defeats in the league and cup. 
Verdict - A home win. 

FACTS AND FIGURES

UNBEATEN (0) 
NO WINS (2 teams) 
SMOLEVICHY and BELSHINA
UNBEATEN AT HOME (3 teams) 
TORPEDO ZHODINO, BATE and NEMAN GRODNO
UNBEATEN AWAY (2 teams) 
SLUTSK and SHAKHTYOR
NO WINS AT HOME (2 teams) 
SMOLEVICHY and BELSHINA 
NO WINS AWAY (4 teams) 
ISLOCH, NEMAN GRODNO, SMOLEVICHY and BELSHINA 
TOP SCORERS 
SLUTSK - 14 (2 goals per game)
LOWEST SCORERS 
RUKH BREST and SMOLEVICHY - 3 (0.43 goals per game) 
BEST DEFENCE
RUKH BREST and SHAKHTYOR - 3 (0.43 goals per game) 
WORST DEFENCE 
FC MINSK - 15 (2.14 goals per game) 

The great news for the weekend is that @MottysMic will be providing commentary on four of the games including two on Super Sunday. The details are below - Please give him some support and listen in. 

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FAROE ISLANDS PREMIER LEAGUE STARTS TOMORROW

May 8, 2020, 9:30 am
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The 2020 Faroe Islands Premier League (referred to as Betri Deildin Menn for sponsorship reasons) was due to kick off at the beginning of March but was postponed due to the Covid-19 situation. The league season will start tomorrow and now end on Saturday 7th November. It will be the seventy eighth season of top-tier football in the Faroe Isalnds and the sixteenth in the current format. The league is currently ranked 53rd out of 55 in the UEFA coefficient rankings with just "Lliga Nacional de Fútbol" in Andorra and 
"Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio" in San Marino below. 

Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag (commonly known as KÍ) are the defending champions - last season's title win was their eighteenth. They won the title by three points from B36 Tórshavn.

The 2020 league will have ten teams competing as follows

Argja Bóltfelag (Founded 1973) 
B36 Tórshavn (Founded 1936 - 11 times title winners) 
EB/Streymur (Founded 1993+)
Havnar Bóltfelag (Founded 1904 - 23 times title winners) 
Ítróttarfelag Fuglafjarðar (Founded 1946) 
Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag (Founded 1904 - 18 times title winners) 
NSÍ Runavík (Founded 1957 - 1 time title winners) 
Skála ÍF (Founded 1965) 
Tvøroyrar Bóltfelag (Founded 1892* - 7 times title winners)
Víkingur Gøta (Founded 2008# - 2 time title winners)
Key: 
+  Founded as a result of a merger between EB & Streymur
* TB are the oldest club in the Faroe Islands and the only one in the top tier on the Southernmost Island of Suðuroy. For the 2017 it was decided to merge three clubs from the Island who were TB, FC Suðuroy and Royn Hvalba with the new club being called "TB/FC Suðuroy/Royn" - this only lasted two seasons and the merged club was dissolved with TB taking the place in the Premier League with FC Suðuroy and Royn playing in the lower divisions. 
# Founded as a result of a merger between GÍ Gøta (6 time champions) and Leirvík. 

Twenty-Nine year old striker Klæmint Olsen was the top scorer in the league last season scoring 26 goals from his club NSI Runavik. He was born in Runavik and has played for the club throughout his career where he is due to make his 300th appearance for them this season. He is most well known for the hat-trick he scored in the Europa League 2018 first qualifying round game against Scottish club Hibernian - the game was lost 5-12 on aggregate. He has 27 caps for the Faroe Islands International team. 

Since 2013 he has been top scorer in five of the seven seasons played. Jóannes Bjartalíð followed him on 18 goals for champions KI. He has five caps for the national side. 

THE HOME OF EB/STREYMUR 

Champions KI have a real International feel to their squad with Serbia, Denmark, Norway, Albania, Montenegro and Nigeria represented. Abubakar Aliyu Ibrahim has recently joined the club from Norwegian club Ham Kam. 

B36 AND HB SHARE THE SAME GROUND BUT HAVE DIFFERENT STANDS

AB have another Nigerian in their ranks in the form of Adeshina Abayomi Lawal who joined in the pre-season from Vikingur but has also played for Skala IF and B36. 

B36 have an all Faroese squad aside from Norwegian striker Sebastian Pingel who has recently moved from HB. NSI have recently signed Sierra Leone midfielder Alfred Sankoh. The 31 year old is well traveled having played in Norway, Turkey, Azerbaijain, Saudi Arabia and Oman during his career. 

 THE HOME OF NSI RUNAVIK 

TB have a number of interesting players on their books including 37 year old Senegalese defender Ndende Gueye who has represented a number of Faroese clubs. Ghanians Musah Armah (aged 21) and Samudeen Musah (aged 19) have also recently joined the club. 

Vikingur have signed Polish striker Łukasz Cieślewicz from B36 over the pre-season where he had played since 2011. 

THE HOME OF KI

The Faroe Islands International squad now has players playing in Germany, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Their top capped player is Fróði Benjaminsen who made 98 appearances during his career where he played for B68 Toftir, B36 Tórshavn, HB Tórshavn,  Víkingur Gøta,  NSÍ Runavík, Skála IF and Fram Reykjavík in Iceland. 


THE HOME OF VIKINGUR AND THE TEAM IN ACTION FROM A 2011 GAME AGAINST NSI 

Fixtures
Saturday 9th May
3pm
NSÍ v TB
HB v EB/Streymur
4pm
Skála v ÍF
5pm
KÍ v B36
7pm
AB v Víkingur

The 1.Deild (second tier) is due to kick off next weekend and 2.Deild (third tier) at the end of the month with the women's league also starting at the end of the month. 

With thanks to @GrahamYapp for the use of the photos which he took on his trip to the Islands in 2011. Please take a look at his website modushopperrandom which is excellent. 
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JOE CROFT THE NEW MAN IN CHARGE OF LONDON TIGERS

May 9, 2020, 6:41 am
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Spartan South Midlands League Division One side London Tigers have announced that former Welwyn Garden City goalkeeper Joe Croft will be their new manager for the 2020/21 season. 

The Tigers were relegated from the Premier Division in 2019 and former Barnet, Kidderminster Harriers, Maidenhead United and Stevenage Borough player Dwane Lee had taken over only to be replaced by the duo of Jorge Gallardo and Cris Goncalves after only a few games played. 

Croft lead Welwyn Garden City under 25s to promotion in his first season in managmentand then The Citizen's reserve side to promotion in his second season. He has been with Cockfosters Reserves for the last two seasons where they reached the final of the Middlesex FA Premier Cup losing to Harefield United.  

The Tigers were fifteenth of nineteen teams in Division One in March when football was put on hold. They had won seven of their twenty-nine games played. 

I have always liked The Tigers since first watching them play as 'Kingsbury London Tigers' in 2009 and fondly remember their 'Real North London Derby' battles with Kentish Town. 

TheColdEnd wishes Joe the very best of luck in his new job and hopes London Tigers can do well in the 2020/21 season whenever that maybe. 


KINGSBURY LONDON TIGERS v KENTISH TOWN IN 2010
 LONDON TIGERS GAME AT BRIMSDOWN LAST SEPTEMBER 
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BELARUSIAN FOOTBALL - WEEKEND ROUND UP

May 10, 2020, 12:40 pm
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PREMIER LEAGUE

Friday 8th May
Slutsk 1 Energetyk-BGU 2 (650)  
Gorodeya 1 FC Minsk 1 (310) 

On Friday it was The Students who beat the team who were top of the league going into the weekend fixtures. Both Energetyk's goals came from Uzbekistan International Jasurbek Yakhshiboev (both penalty kicks) with Slutsk replying via Umar Bala just before the break. It was the visitor's third victory of five on their travels and their fifth of eigt games played in total. Energetyk were down to the 10 men on 71 minutes when Aik Musahagian was sent off following a second yellow card - there were seven yellows given out in the game (six to Energetyk). Mushahagian was born in Minsk to Armenian parents but moved to France as a youngster before moving back to Belarus to play for Engertyk in 2017.  

Gorodeya and Minsk finished all square. The visitors scored first on 20 minutes via Uladzimir Khvashchynski (currently on loan from Shakhtyor Soligorsk) - it was his fourth goal of the season. Gorodeya made it 1-1 just before the break via Serbian striker Lazar Sajcic with his second in seven games this season. 

Saturday 9th May 
Slavia Mozyr 0 Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 0 (824) 
Neman Grodno 2 Rukh Brest 4  (314) 

The league leader's prior to the weekend games kicking off were Torpedo Belaz Zhodino who came away from Mozyr with a point. It was Slavia Mozyr's second goal-less draw of the season and Torpedo's third. 






MATCH ACTION FROM SLAVIA MOZYR'S GAME WITH TORPEDO BELAZ ZHODINO
(courtesy of Torpedo Morzyr on Instagram) 

It was a great day for Rukh who scored more than one goal for the first time in their debut season in the Belarusian Premier League.  Vladislav Vasiliev (4 mins) and Denis Grechikho (14 mins) made it 0-2 at half time with Pavel Sedko adding another from the penalty spot after a handball in the box on 55 minutes. Neman's right sided attacking midfielder Gegam Kadimyan scored a very good goal goal with a curling strike from outside of the penalty box to make it 1-3 on 68 minutes - Vasiliev was sent off for a second booking on 86 minutes with Moldovan Gheorghe Andronic scoring a fourth for Rukh only moements later with a great strike from just inside the box. Kadimyan made it 2-4 with his six goal of the season. The 27 year old was signed from Armenian Premier League side FC Alashkert in the pre-season and has never been really prolific on the goal scoring front with his best total previously being the 7 in 36 for Ukranian side Olympik Donetsk in 2014/15. 

Up until the last two games Neman had a good defensive record letting in just four in five games but have now let in seven in two games. They will need to improve on this if they want to pull away from the bottom of the division - Their goalkeeper Dmitri Dudar will be wanting a clear sheet in their next game against FC Minsk. 


Sunday 10th May
Isloch 2 Belshina 1 (337) 
Vitebsk 0 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 0 (595) 
Smolevichi-STI 3 BATE Borisov 5 (2,915)
Dynamo Brest 2 Dynamo Minsk 1 (2,354)

In the 12noon kick off it was 1-0 just prior to half time when a header towards goal rebounded off the post onto the unlucky Belshina keeper's Sergey Turanok dive and into the net. 

Momo Yansane scored a great goal to make 0-2 on 52 minutes after Belshina put the pressure on the Isloch back line after the break.  He calmly and deftly lifted the ball past Turanok after beating the off side trap from header onwards. The Guinean forward now has four goals for the season so far. 





IT WAS A GREAT DAY FOR ISLOCH'S LOYAL GROUP OF SUPPORTERS INCLUDING THEIR NOW WORLD FAMOUS ACCORDIAN PLAYER VALERY KOLONTAY (PICTURES COURTESY OF @fcisloch ON TWITTER) 

Belshina played some good football but just didn't get any luck and lacked a real cutting edge in front of goal. Seyarhey Glebko, signed from Gomel who were relegated from the Premier League last season, showed some good touches in an attacking midfield position and it was his pressure on the Isloch defender Oleksander Papush which caused him to put through his own net on   from a cross from the right hand side. 

Another former Gomel player in forward Nivaldo Rodrigues played for the first half - The 31 year old Brazilian who played for Gudja United in the Maltese Premier League in January, February and March of this year has yet to score for Belshina this season.  

It's looking like a long season ahead for the 2019 First League champions. 

The squad at Belsghina is much changed - A comparison of starting XI's from their final first league game of the 2019 season at NFK Minsk to the players who started against Isloch shows Artem Dylevshiy and Andrey Lyashyuk now at First League side Lida. Illya Rutskiy at Sputnik also in the first league with Yuri Pavlyukrovets and Ilya Kulcharicik now at Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. Russian Aleksandr Yushin who made 27 appearances for Belshina last season is now with Neftekhimik in the Russian second tier.

Only five players remained in the starting XI - Sergey Turanok, Samuel Odeyobo, Valdislav Solanovich, Pavel Bordukov and Roman Salimov. Manager Eduard Gradoboyev will be hoping for better luck against Vitebsk next weekend as the new players he has brought in continue to get used to each other. 

Vitebsk welcomed Shakhtyor and the game ended 0-0. The visitors have now been involved in three goal-less draws in their eight games played and have only conceded three goals - two against Slutsk and one against Torpedo Belaz Zhodino in their only two defeats so far. 



MATCH ACTION FROM VITEBESK v SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK 
(courtesy of FC Shakter Sologorsk on Instagram)  

In the third game of the day the end result brought a very familiar feel to the top of the table in Belarus as BATE Borisov won an eventful game 3-5 against Smolevichi-STI who are still without a win in this season. On paper it was a real David v Goliath affair as the home side who finished second in the First League last season lined up with a starting XI with 3 International caps. Eduard Zhevnerov has one full cap for Belarus in 2010 when he came on in the last minute against Lithuania and Jean Poe who has two caps for the Ivory Coast in 2016 and 2017 - He has recently moved on-loan form Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. In contrast BATE had a starting XI with 197 caps for Belarus and 4 for Bosnia.

There was a shock in the first minute when 29 year old striker Evgeni Baruskov scored his second goal of the season for the home side to take a very unexpected 1-0 lead. Normal service was resumed for BATE on 13, 15 and 36 minutes for them to take a 1-3 scoreline in at half-time. Their goal scorers were Skavysh, Stasevich and Baga. Would normal service resume in the second half? 

Huge credit to the home side who came out and made it 2-3 through Dmitri Shchegrikovic who scored his first goal since Sautrday 25th August 2018 when he netted whilst representing Belshina in their 0-5 first league game against UAS Zhitkovichi. It was 3-3 on 63 minutes when Poe struck from the edge of the box to the delight of the home fans who were outnumbered by the away following in the Haradski Stadium in Barysaw. Also known as the 'City Stadium' it was the former home of BATE up until 2014 when they move to the Borisov Arena. I'm not sure why the game was switched from Smolevichi's Ozyorny Stadium which is around a 40 minute car journey away.  

BATE broke the home side's resolve in the 80th minute when subsitute Nemanjo Milic made it 3-4 via a header and then made it five for BATE in added time.  Despite the defeat the home side can take lots of positives into their away game at Rukh Brest next weekend. 

In the final game of the day it was Dynamo Brest v Dynamo Minsk. The home side, in a confident mood following their 0-3 win at Belshina last weekend, took an early lead through an own goal only for Minsk to reply via Belgian player Danillo (he was born in Brazil but played for Belgium at u18, u19, u20 and u21 level) on 24 minutes. Denis Laptev scored the winner for Dynamo Brest in the second half to make it two wins in row for the 2019 champions - It was Laptev's second goal in as many games.     

CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY  
POSTEAMPWGDPTSFORM (5)
1.BATE BORISOV 85+716WDWWW
2.SLUTSK85+416DWWWL
3.TORPEDO ZHODINO 84+515WDDWD
4. ENERGETYK BGU85+215LLLWW


BATE BORISOV ARE TOP OF THE TABLE AFTER THE WEEKEND'S RESULTS. WILL THEY DROP DOWN BELOW THIS POINT? IT'S A TOP OF THE TABLE CLASH NEXT WEEKEND AS THEY ENTERTAIN SLUTSK. 

FIRST LEAGUE

Saturday 9th May
Smorgon 1 Lida 0  (150)

Sunday 10th May 
Sputnik Rechitsa 1 Khimik Svetlogorsk 0 (250)
Oshmyany 0 Orsha 0 (200) 
Naftan Novopolotsk 2 Slonim-2017 1  (189) 
Gomel P Arsenal Dzezzhinsk P 
(called off as one of the Arsenal players had showed symptons of Covid-19 - to be played on a later date)  
Granit Mikashevichi 0 Volna Pinsk 1 (320) 

Monday 11th May
Lokomotiv Gomel v Krumachy Minsk 

In the First League Lokomotiv Gomel and Krumachy Minsk both have the chance to go level on points at the top of the table with Sputnik Rechitsa in tomorrow evening's game which is scheduled to kick off at 4pm English time - I believe their will be youtube footage of the game available but I can't confirm at this time. 


Sputnik won against Khimik Svetlogorsk (who is a former Lokomotiv Gomel player) via a Nikolay Zagvozdin penalty kick in the second half. Smorgon, who finished in fourteenth place last season and last played in the top tier in 2009, are currently second thanks to a 1-0 home win over Lida thanks to a Dmitri Khalimonchikov goal. 

Naftan Novopolotsk got their first win of the season with both goals in their 2-1 victory over Slonim coming from former Gomel player Alexsandr Yanchenko. The club who won the cup in 2009 and 2012  play at the 5,300 capacity Atlant Stadium were relegated from the top division in 2017 after finishing bottom of the table. They have so far finished in 5th place both in 2018 and 2019 so may go closer to returning the Premier League this season? 

CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY  
POSTEAMPWGDPTSFORM (4)
1.SPUTNIK RECHISTA 43+410DWWW
2.SMORGON42+38DWDW
3.KRUMMACHY MINSK 32+77WWD
4. LOKOMOTIVE GOMEL 32+67WWD

SECOND LEAGUE

GROUP A
Saturday 9th May
Meliorator Zhitkovichi 2 BGU Minsk 1 

Sunday 10th May
Baranovichi 3 Kronon 1 
Dinamo Malorita 5 Ivatsevichi 1 
Ostrovets FC 8 Chayka Zelva 0 
Pershiy Regien 3 Molodechno-DYuSSh 0 

In Group A of the second league Ostrovets kept up their brilliant start to the campaign with an 8-0 home win over Chayka Zelva who are rooted the to bottom of the table having lost all four games and let in twenty-eight goals - it won't get any easier for them next weekend as they host  Meltortator Zhitkovichi who are the other side with 100% winning record having won 2-1 at BGU Minsk this weekend. 

CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY  
POSTEAMPWGDPTSFORM (4)
1OSTROVETS  44+1412WWWW
2MELTORTATOR44+612WWWW
3PERSHIY REGIEN 42+37LDWW
4. DYNAMO MALORITA 32+06LWW

GROUP B
Saturday 9th May
Dnepr Rogachev 0 Bumprom 1

Sunday 10th May
Dnepr Mogilev 9 Viktoriya Maryina Horka 1
Shakhtyor Petrikov 6 Polotsk 1 
Osipovichy 2 SMI Autotrans 0 
Energosbyt-BSATU 0 Gorki 2 

In Group B Shakhtoyr Petrikov, DNEPR Mogilev and Bumprom continued their 100% winning starts to the season. DNEPR showed they will be a force to be reckoned with by beating Viktoriya 9-1 with Petrikov putting six past Polotsk. 

It's a top of the table clash next weekend as Bumprom welcome Shakhtyor Petrikov. 


THE BADGE OF DNEPR ROGACHEV WHO HAVE DRAWN ONE AND LOST THREE OF THEIR SECOND LEAGUE GROUP B GAMES SO FAR THIS SEASON



MATCH ACTION FROM THE SECOND LEAGUE GAME BETWEEN DNEPR MOGILEV AND VIKTORIYA MARYINA HORKA (Courtesy of DNEPR Mogilev on Instragram). THE TOP PHOTO IS MAKSIM RYBAKOV WHO WAS WITH FIRST LEAGUE CHAMPION'S BELSHINA LAST SEASON BUT ONLY MADE A HANDFUL OF APPEARANCE - HE SCORED TWO OF DNEPR'S NINE GOALS.

CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY  
POSTEAMPWGDPTSFORM (4)
1SHAKHTYOR PETRIKOV  44+1412WWWW
2.DNEPR MOGILEV33+179WWW
3BUMPROM 33+99WWW
4. GORKI 32+17WDLW

RESERVE LEAGUE

Friday 8th May
Neman Grodno Res 4 Rukh Brest Res 1
Slavia Mozyr Res 0 Torpedo Zhodino Res 1

Saturday 9th May
Dynamo Brest Res 1 Dinamo Minsk Res 2
Isloch Res 5 Belshina Res 2
Smolevichy-STI Res 2 BATE Res 0
Vitebsk Res 3 Shakhtyor Res 0 

Dynamo Minsk Reserves currently lead the reserve division with seven wins and one draw from their eight games played. They are closely followed by Neman Grodno Reserves who have six wins, one draw and one defeat from their eight games played. Dynamo's only dropped points came aginst city rival's FC Minsk (currently third place) in a 2-2 draw. 





MATCH ACTION FROM ISLOCH RESERVES 5-2 VICTORY OVER BELSHINA RES (courtest of FC Isloch on Instagram) 

Fourth placed Isloch lost their first two games but have since won six a row scoring twenty-one goals and letting in just five. 

Gorodeya Reserves are bottom with just one point earned (in a 0-0 draw with Shakhtyor) from their eight games - they now have lost their last six games in row. 

CURRENT TABLE - TOP FOUR ONLY  
POSTEAMPWGDPTSFORM (5)
1DYNAMO MINSK 87+1922WWWWW
2NEMAN GRODNO86+919WLWWW
3FC MINSK 86+819WLWWW
4.ISLOCH 86+18WWWWW


I will update you all with next weekend's fixtures in the week - There has been some doubt if they will take place with unconfirmed reports of players from Neman Grodno and FC Minsk displaying signs and symptoms of COVID-19. If it is true I wish the players and their familes all the best and hope they are okay. Please stay safe at this time and enjoy your week whatever you maybe doing.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BELARUSIAN FIRST LEAGUE 2020

May 12, 2020, 1:03 pm
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GOMEL 
Postition last season - 15th Premier League (relegated) 
The club were founded in 1959 as Lokomotiv Gomel and have undergone a number of name changes - Spartak Gomel, Gomselmash Gomel and Mashinostroitel Gomel before FC Gomel in 1995. The team played in the second level of Soviet football between 1959 to 1968 and then at the third level until 1989 before dropping to the fourth level in 1990. Gomselmash Gomel, as they were known, were founder members of the Belarusian Premier League and were champions in 2003 as well as being cup winners in 2002 and 2011. This is the fourth time they have dropped to the first league since the football pyramid in Belarus was established. 

Liverpool fans will remember them from the Europa League qualifying round game in 2012 which they won 4-0 on aggregate. Stuart Downing scored the only goal in Belarus in the first leg before Fabio Borini, Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson scored in the second leg at Anfield. 

There majority of the staring XI at Anfield are still playing - Goalkeeper Uladzimir Bushma is currently with Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. Syarhey Matsveychyk is with Shakhtyor Soligorsk,  Igor Kuzmenok (Isloch) Nikalay Kashevsky (retired from playing but is currently on the coaching team at Torpedo Belaz Zhodino), Dmitri Klimovich (FC Minsk),  Ihor Voronkov (Arsenal Dzerzhinsk), Syarhey Kazeka (Krumkachy Minsk) Tomasz Nowak (Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała in the Polish Second Division) Illya Aleksiyevich (FC Minsk) and Dzmitry Platonaw (retired from playing - last with Latvian club FK RFS). 

Russian Centre forward Aleksandr Alumona was one of several Isloch players alleged to be involved in match fixing during their match with Dynamo Brest in April 2016. This resulted in the Belarusian Football Federation banning Alumona for 24 months for his involvement in the incident from February 2018.   
The club's current manager is Ivan Bionchik who has been with them since 2019 - He led Luch Minsk to the First League title in 2017. Their Central Stadium has a capacity of 14,307. 

Gomel were one of five clubs to start the 2020 season with five points deducted. 

Artem Vaskov, 31, is one of the most experienced players in their squad having played for Gorodeya, Smolevichy-STI, Neman Grodno, Torpedo Belaz Zhodino and Vitebsk. Russian centre-forward Murat Khotov, 33, has played in the Premier League for Slutsk, Naftan and Dnepr Mogilev. Ukranian duo Dmytro Tereschenko and Oleksandr Batyshchev also have lots of experience in playing for Premier League clubs. 


FK LOKOMOTIV GOMEL
Position last season - 4th 
Unlike their City rivals Lokomotiv are a relatively new team having been formed in 2008. After playing in the lower regional leagues they joined the second league and were promoted to the first league for the 2014 season. Manager Andrey Gorovstsov started his playing career with Gomel in 1999 - He has recently stepped up to from the position of Assistant Manager last season. 

Lokomtiv have made a great start to their season which had included a 3-2 derby victory at Gomel in front of 1,850 people.

25 year old forward Andrey Solvey scored 13 goals in 23 games last season and has started well scoring 4 in 4 so far. He started his career with Dynamo Brest in 2012 and was a first team regular in 2015 when he made 20 appearances - He then moved to Torpedo Belaz Zhodino where he only made 7 games in two seasons before dropping into the first league with Slonim. In 2015 he made two appearances for the Belarus u21 team. Another striker have also started well - Pavel Klenje, 25, who played in the Premier League in 2018 and 2019 for Tarpeda Minsk has scored 3 goals in 4 games including the winner against Gomel which he counts as one of his former clubs. Russian defender Ilya Shabanov started his career with Ruban Kazan in 2015 and then played in the Russian Second Division for Syzran-2003 before playing for Vlasim in the Czech Second Division - He has made a great start to his career in Belarus scoring 3 goal in 4 games. 




FC NAFTAN NOVOPOLOTSK  
Position last season - 5th 
A club with lots of history having been formed in 1963 and regular members of the Premier League from 1996 to 2001 and 2003 to 2017 as well as playing in the Europa League in 09/10 and 12/13 following their Belarusian Cup wins. Their current coach is Ukranian Tara Chopyk who has been with them since April 2019. The furthest Northern side in the First League for 2020 - Novopolotsk is around 50 miles from the Russian border and translated means 'New Polotsk' - the City is close to Polotsk and was built in the late 1950s when many people moved to the area following the establishment of an oil refinery plant and various factories. 

They are also one of the five with points deductions - They started with a massive -15 points taken off. 

They have 27 year old Nigerian defender/midfielder Addulaziz Laval in their ranks who has been with the club since 2015. Denis Trapashko, 29, has Premier League experience with Slavia Mozyr and Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. 19 year old attacker Elvin Aliev has played three games so far - he played 24 games last season.  





FC SPUTNIK RECHITSA 
Position last season - 6th
The club were only founded in 2017 after 'FC DYuSSh-DSK Gomel relocated to the Southern city of Rechytsa. After finishing third in the 2018 Second League they moved up to the first league for 2019 and finished in a creditable sixth place last season. Their manager is Vyacheslav Levchuk who after many years working as an assistant and scout at various clubs was given the job DNEPR Mogilev before moving to Sputnik in 2018. As a player he won the Premier League and Cup double with MPKC Mozyr (now Slavia Mozyr) in 1996. 

Midfielder Vadim Kurlvich has a huge amount of experience in the Premeir League representing Slavia Mozyr, Granit, Slutsk, Dynamo Brest and BATE Borisov where he started his career in 2010. He was part of BATE's 11/12 Champions League squad as well as their Premier League winning squad in 2010, 2011 and 2012  - He came off the bench to face Barcelona in one game. He got 10 caps for the under 21 Belarus side but never a full International cap. Igor Yasinskiy, 29, started his career with Dynamo Minsk and has since played for a number of sides in the Premier League as well as Kauno Zalgris in Lithuania. 


FC LIDA 
Position last season - 7th 
Founded in 1962 the club come from Lida in Western Belarus in the Grodno region. Like many Belarusian clubs they have gone through a number of name changes - they were founded as Krasnoye Znamya Lida and have been called Vympel Lida and Obuvshchik Lida before FC Lida in 1997. They won the Belarusian SSR League 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1989 and did play in the Premier League between 1992 to 1993, 1994 to 1996 and 1999 to 2000. Since 2001 they have been in the first league aside from two drops to the second league in 2007 (2nd and promoted) and 2011 (1st and promoted). A real yo-yo club as since 1992 they have been relegated five times and promoted four times. 

They signed veteran 37 year old Andrey Lysayuk in pre-season - He scrored 12 goals in 25 games for First League champions Belshina last season. He is yet to score for his new team. Their main goalscorer this season has been Yan Senkevich who joined from Smolevichi in the pre-season - He spent most of last season on loan at Sputnik Rechitsa. He has scored four goals in five games so far. Yury Karaty has been manager since July 2019. 

Lida are one of the five teams with points deductions but started with only -3 points. 

Centre-Forward Andrey Lyasuk is probably their most well known player. He has heaps of experience being a 37 year old. He counts Dynamo Brest, Pinsk-900, Neman Grodno, Volna Pinsk, FC Minsk, DNEPR Mogilev, Gomel, Gorodeya and Belshina in Belarus as well as Kauno Zalgris and FK Nevezis in Lithuania. 

In their four games played so far they started in game one with 25 year old Yevgenny Gremza in goal who was replaced 23 year old Andrey Sineko (formerly of Energetyk-BGU) in games two and three - He came off with an injury in game three with 17 year old Nikita Patsenko coming on who started in game four.  


FC KRUMKACHY MINSK 
Position last season - 8th
Only founded in 2011 by a group of fans - the name Krumkachy means 'Ravens'. The co-founders of the team got to know each other on an online forum and made the decision to form a football team. Many of the teams in Belarus are backed by state owned companies such as BATE Borisov and Shakhytor Solgorsk so a fan's formed club was something of a rarety.  

They joined the second league in 2014 after playing in the local leagues and after back-to-back promotions incredibly found themselves in the Premier League rubbing shoulders with the giants of Belarusian football like BATE Borisov and Dynamo Minsk from their home city. They last two seasons in the Premier League finishing 11th and 13th (of 16 teams) before financial issues resulted in their relegation to the second league for the 2018 season with the club restarted as a new legal entity. They reportedly had one of the lowest budgets in the top tier. 

A second placed finish in 2018 saw them promoted to the First League for the 2019 season where they finished 8th - they were renamed NFK Minsk to avoid a clash with the old Krumkachy club. The naming issue was resolved over the pre-season and they have reverted back to the Krumkachy name for the 2020 season. Segey Kuzminch is currently the club's coach/manager - It was Dzianis Shunto who was also general director and shareholder when the club were in the Premier League. 

Krumkachy have a very experienced squad. In goal they have Valery Fomichev who has played in the Premier League for a number of clubs as well as in Turkey for Orduspor as well as in the Uzbekistan and Khazakstan Premier Leagues. They have Christian Intosen in defence - The 20 year old Cameroonian has yet to make a start this season. 35 year old Aleksandr Yatskevich played in the Premier League after staring his career with Dynamo Minsk he moved onto Naftan, Torpedo Belaz Zhodino, Belshina and Slutsk before moving to the club in 2019. 


FC GRANIT MIKASHEVICHI 
Position last season - 9th 
The club were formed in 1978 and joined the Second League in 1994. In 2007 they were promoted to the Premier League after a second place finish where they spent two seasons finshing 10th and 13th. In 2014 they were first league champions and once again moved up to the top tier where the had a impressive 5th placed finish before finishing bottom in 2016 and moving back down to the second tier. Since then they have finished 8th, 8th and 9th. The City of Mikashevichy has a population of around 13,000. Oleg Korol is the manager at the moment - He represented a number teams during his playing career including BATE Borisov, FC Bereza (now defunct) and Dynamo Brest. He also played in Hungary and Greece - He has two caps for the Belarusian International team. He started his managerial career as assistant at Dynamo Brest and Granit between 2014 to 2017. He then moved to Slonim-2017 and Volna Pinsk before moving to Granit for the 2020 season. 


FC KHIMIK SVETLOGORSK 
Position last season - 11th
The club have an amazing record of playing in the first league since 1992 and not being relegated or promoted - they are the only club to do so. This season they have lost all four of their opening games so this record could be in doubt especially when you read they are one of the five clubs with points deductions - they started 2020 on -9 points. Manager Oleg Cherepnev played for Torpedo Zhodino, Dynamo Brest, Gomel and Torpedo Minsk during his playing career. 


FC SMORGON 
Position last season - 14th 
The club must have one of the best badges in Belarusian football. They spent three seasons in the top tier from 2007 to 2010 finishing 10th, 8th and 14th. This was only a decade after they slipped in the regional leagues from the second league in 1994 to 1998. 

Vyacheslav Gerashchenko was made manager in January 2020. He is 47 years old and has managed previously at DNEPR Mogilev, Belshina, Gomel and Lida. He has just returned to Belarus after a very short stint with FK Palanga in Lithuania. He was with the club from July 2019 to September 2019 after leaving Lida where he was for another short spell from April to July 2019. 


ORSHA 
Position last season - 10th 
Formed in 1951 they played in the regional leagues before moving up the Belarusian SSR League top tier from 1971 to 1985. They were founder members of the second league in 1992 and promoted to the first league in 1995 before in 2001 they withdrew back to the regional leagues due to financial problems. In 2004 they rejoined the second league and now find themselves in the First League. They have had a number of name changes - 


1951 - FC Trud Orsha 
1956 - FC ZShM Orsha 
1960 - FC Mashinostroitel Orsha 
1965 - FC Start Orsha 
1992 - FC Legmash Orsha 
1995 - FC Maxim-Orsha 
1996 - FC Maxim-Legmash Orsha 
1997 - FC Orsha 
2006 - FC Orsha-BelAutoService 
2007 - FC Orsha

They most famous achievement was in 1971 when they were runner's up to Torpedo Zhodino in the Belarusian SSR Cup. 

Aleksandr Vopsev is the current manager who moved from Granit where he was boss from June 2019 through to January 2020. 

Orsha started with -3 points. 

FC VOLNA PINSK 
Position last season - 12th 
Established in 1987 Volna have come close to promotion to the top tier on a number of occasions when they finished in the top three of the First League four times during the 1990s. They spent two seasons in the Second League in 2015 and 2016 when they were champions. Since promotion they have finished in 7th, 13th and 12th. Pinsk is on the South-West of Belarus close to the border with Ukraine. 


SLONIM-2017 
Position last season - 13th 
Their name would suggest they were formed in 2017 but the club were actually formed in 2013 as a result of a merger between "Beltransgaz Slonim" and "Kommunalnik Slonim". 

Kommunalnik had been in the Premier League in 1997, 1998 and 2000 as well as being first league champions in 1999. Beltransgaz were formed in 2010 and were in the second league. 

The newly merged club is inherited mostly the Beltransgaz squad as well as thier training facilities.  The club were initially called FC Slonim but renamed Slonim-2017 in 2017. 



FC ARSENAL DZERZHINSK 
Position last season - 1st (Second League) 
The new team on the block having been formed in 2019 where they joined the second league and were champions earning promotion to the first league at the first attempt. They had an impressive squad last season for a second tier side and have aspirations of reaching the Premier League. They include a six veteran players in their squad with heaps of experience. 

37 year old midfielder Vyacheslav Hleb who had 45 Belarus International caps from 2004 to 2011 as well as playing in Germany for VFB Stuttgart, Hamburger and FSV Frankfurt along with a spell at Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua in 09/10.

39 year old defender Pavel Kirylchyk who has played for a number of Belarusian and Russian sides during his career where he got 4 full caps in 2005 and 2006. 

37 year old forward Dmitri Osipenko has played for a number of clubs in the Premier League during his career and is probably best known for his time with Shakhtyor Soligorsk when he played in the Europa League. 

36 year old Russian midfielder Yuri Mamaev has played in Germany, Russia and Lithuania in his career. 

38 year old Igor Rozhkov has played for a number of Premier League clubs as well as in the Ukraine in 2007/08. He has one Belarus International Cap to his name and he scored in the game against Uzbekistan in 2003. 

39 year old Ukrainian Ihor Voronkov was a regular in the Premier League for Slavia Mozyr (21 appearances) last season and was part of their squad which won the First League in 2018. He has also played for Gomel, FC Minsk, Belshina, Dynamo Minsk, Toepedo Zhodino, Dnepr Mogilev and NFK Minsk in the Premier League. 

Also look out for 21 year old midfielder Anton Abramovich who joined from BATE Borisov in the pre-season and Aleksandr Skshinetskiy, 30, who has recent Premier League experience with Smolevichy-STI and NFK Minsk.

At the opposite end of their career to Osipenko, Kirylchyk and Hleb is Dmitri Matyash (aged 19 signed from BATE in the pre-season) and 17 year old Andrey Rylach who has made a number of first team appearances this season already. 

They are currently managed by 48 year old Sergey Yaskovich. 

The town of Dzerzhinsk is in the Minsk District and is around 25 miles from the city of Minsk. 


FC OSHMYANY 
Position last season - 2nd (second league) 
Founded in 2012 as Slavyanin Minsk playing the regional league until 2014 when they joined the second league. In early 2015 the club relocated to the town of Oshmyany which is around 80 miles away in the Grodno district. They had a short stay in the first league before moving back down to the second league and then being promoted again last season. Managed Antuan Mayarov has been in his position since April 2018. 

They have Russian midfielder Arseni Kontsedaylov in their squad who made a handful of apperances for Energetyk-BGU in the Premier League last season. Another midfielder in their squad is Aleksandr Krotov who was a squad player for Rukh Brest (3rd in the second league) last season. 

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FAROE ISLANDS PREMIER LEAGUE WEEK ONE ROUND UP

May 12, 2020, 2:39 pm
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WEEK ONE RESULTS
Saturday 9th May 2020

NSÍ 3-1 TB
(Knudsen 8', Olsen 24', Hansen 86') (Joensen 90') 

HB 1-0 EB/Streymur
(Justinussen 26') 

Skála 1-2 ÍF
(Kallsberg 83') (Stojanov 21' 56') 

KÍ 0-2 B36
(Pingel 81' Olsen 90') 

AB 0-0 Víkingur

The game of the week one came as 2019 Champion's KI host runner's up B36. Sebastian Pingel came off the bench for B36 to score an all important goal in the 81st minute before Meinhard Olsen scored a second on 90 minutes to pick up the all important win. Danish born Pingel signed for B36 from HB over the pre-season. 

IF only managed one win in their twenty-seven league games played last season but started off their 2020 campaign well with a 1-2 with at Skala. Both of their goals were scored by Serbian forward Uros Stojanov who was making his debut for the club having signed from Thail League 2 club MOF Customs United where he scored 22 goals in 49 games in the 18/19 season. 

HB team line up before their game with EB/Streymur (courtesy of the HB instagram page)

Former Hamilton Academical defender Delphin Tshiembe made his debut for HB in their win over EB/Streymur with Adrian Justinussen getting the winner on 26 minutes. Arni Olsen was sent off in the 90th minute for EB/Streymur which was the only red card issued over the five games played.  

Saturday 16th May Fixtures
TB v KÍ
B36 v AB
Víkingur v Skála
ÍF v HB 
EB/Streymur v NSÍ
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NEIL DAY'S TIME TEAM ADVENTRUE VISITS CHINGFORD

May 14, 2020, 9:43 am
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Former Clapton and Wadham Lodge coach Neil Day has been using his time well during lockdown on the hunt for some of the lost grounds of East London. 


You can follow Neil, who is now on the coaching staff at Woodford Town, on twitter @Tull1908 






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BELARUSIAN FOOTBALL - WEEKEND REVIEW

May 17, 2020, 12:07 pm
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PREMIER LEAGUE

Firday 15th May 
FC Minsk v Neman Grodno - Postponed 
Torpedo BelAZ 3 Gorodeya 1 (264)

Saturday 16th May 
Energetyk-BGU 2 Dynamo Brest 1 (525) 
Shakhtyor Soligorsk 2 Slavia Mozyr 0 (355) 
BATE Borisov 3 Slutsk 0 (1,157)

Sunday 17th May 
Belshina 1 Vitebsk 1 (517) 
Dynamo Minsk 1 Isloch 0  (687) 
Rukh Brest 0 Smolevichy-STI 0 (512) 

The game between FC Minsk and Neman Grodno was postponed due to one of the Minsk players having COVID-19 symptons with the squad now self-isolating - I send my best wishes to all at FC Minsk. Neman Grodno did play a game as they as they played their reserve team with the result being 1-1 - the game went to penalties, I presume to give the players practice for future games and it ended 4-3 to the first team. 






PICTURES FROM NEMAN GRODNO v NEMAN GRODNO RESERVES SHOWING THE FANTASTIC NEMAN KIT THAT HAS WON ADMIRERS ALL OVER THE WORLD. NUMBER 7 IS KADYIMAN WHO HAS BEEN ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE SO FAR 
(Courtesy of ФК Нёман Гродна on Facebook)  

In the second game on Friday the first teams of Torpedo Belaz Zhodino and Gorodeya didn't quite match their reserve game played on Thursday which was 7-00at half time and 9-4 at full time with Dmitry Galuza scoring four for Torpedo and Yuri Volovich netting a hat-trick for Gorodeya. Volovich made the bench for the first team game which saw Brazlian Lipe Veloso make his first start for Torpedo alongside his fellow countryman Gabriel Ramos. It was the former Lviv (from Estonia) and FC Toyoko (Japan) midfielder who scored the first goal when he was able to tap home from close range after a cross from the right hand side - It was the 23 year old's first goal for the club he joined in the pre-season. When you read that Veloso spent his youth career with three of the biggest clubs in his homeland being Corinthians, Flamengo and Palmeiras he sure must of had a good football education. 

Gorodeya are now without a win in four games and travel to Slavia Mozyr next weekend. 

The early game on Saturday saw Energetyk-BGU take on Dynamo Brest with Dusan Bakic and Evgeni Yudichts scoring a goal in either half and Dynamo scoring in injury time through Sergey Kislyak with his first goal of the season. Energetyk looked comfortable in the game and deserved their victory against last season's champions who after two wins in row now lose another game. Many of their fans were frustrated to see forward's Artem Milevskiy and Denis Laptev on the bench - they came on in the second half. 

Shakhtyor Soligorsk's 2-0 victory against Slavia Mozyr means that Slavia after winning two of their opening three games now have only one win in five. Shakhtyor are unbeaten in five league and cup games with four wins and one draw. Vitali Lisakovich (30 mins) and Syarhey Balanovich (87 mins) scored the all important goal for the home side. Slavia's case wasn't helped in the second half when former BATE Borisov player Vladislav Malkevich was sent off for a second bookable offence.

On Saturday evening it was the game all of Europe (and the World) were talking about as top of the table BATE Borisov welcomed second placed Slutsk to the BATE arena. Many people were discussing the return of the Bundesliga and the apparent 'return of football' but this was the game of the weekend for many fans around the world! 

The bookmakers made BATE hot favourites to win at 3/10 with Slutsk at 17/2 - As often is the case it was the bookies who were right and it was BATE who recorded an impressive 3-0 with goal from Nemanja Millic (who followed up his two goals after coming off from the bench last weekend) and a fantastic free kick from Ihar Stasevich in the first half and a third from Pavel Nekhajchik in the second half. Slutsk, after a great start to the season, have now lost two games in a row.  

Belshina are still without a win at the bottom of the table after their 1-1 draw with Vitebsk - Sergey Glebko scored a penalty for the home side in the second half before Julio Cesar was able to equalise for the visitors after Sergey Turanok in the Belshina goal had parried a low free kick into his path. The main talking point of this game was referee Sergey Gorayutin handing out 11 yellow and 1 red card - More about that below. 




MATCH ACTION FORM THE DYMANO MINSK v ISLOCH GAME 
(courtesy of FC Isloch on Instagram) 



In the Minsk derby between Dynamo and Isloch was won by the home side. One goal was scored via Ivan Bakhar on 60 minutes. Dynamo played the the final 20 minutes with 10 men following Edgar Olekhnovich's red card in the second half. 


The final game of the day saw Rukh Brest return to their form of not scoring and not conceding after last weekend's 2-4 victory over Neman Grodno. Rukh's results now read (their score first) 1-0, 0-1, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 1-1, 2-4 0-0. Excluding the Neman game they have goals for 3 and goal against 3 in eight games played. Coach Alexsandr Sednev will be very pleased at the defensive record but will want to see more goals! 

Smolevichy are still without a win but coach Alexsandr Brazevich will be happy with the clean sheet going into next week's game with FC Minsk which may well be called off due the player at Minsk having covid symptons.   

FIRST LEAGUE

Saturday 16th May 
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk v Lokomotiv Gomel - Postponed 
Orsha 2 Granit 1 (350) 
Volna 4 Khimik Svetlogorsk 2 (340) 
Lida 3 Oshmyany 1 (180) 

Sunday 17th May 
Krumkachy Minsk 1 Naftan 0 (275) 
Slonim 0 Smorgon 1 (235) 
Sputnik 0 Gomel 4 (550) 

In the first league the Arsenal v Lokomotiv Gomel game was postponed due to one of the Arsenal players displaying symptons of covid-19 - It will be played at a later date. As with FC Minsk I send best wishes to all at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. 

Smorgon took advantage of Lokomotiv's inactivity in the first league to go top with a 0-1 victory over Slonim. Smorgon's goal came from Russian Alan Mistulov who joined the club for the 2020 season from his homeland and a club called Khimik Arsenal.

Gomel, relegated from the top tier last season, finally got their first win of the season with a 0-4 victory at Sputnik who were reduced to 10 men just prior to half-time when Stanislav Izhakovskiy was sent off. The score was then 0-0 and it was four second half goals from Gomel which got them the three points - twenty year old Nikolay Ivanov scored his first goal for Gomel  - He is currently on loan from Premier League side Dynamo Minsk. 

At the bottom it's Naftan and Khimik on -9. Khimik have now lost five in a row and let in fifteen goals. 

BELARUSIAN CUP 1st QUALIFYING ROUND
BOLD denotes non-league sides 

Saturday 16th May
OsipovichY 3 Alfa Minsk 1 
Montazhniik Mozyr 1 Stenles Pinsk 1 (4-5 pens) 
Stroitel Kopyl 2 Ivatsevichi 1
Novaya Pripyat Olyshsany 4 Dnepr Rogachev 2 
Spartak Shklov 2 Viktoria Mayina Gorka 0
Sparta Krasnoselsky 1 Baranovichi 4 (AET) 
Chakya Zelva 0 SMI Autotrans 4 
Polotsk 2 Molodechno 2 (10-9 pens) 
BGU Minsk 3 Zhlobin 0 

A quirk of the Belarusian football season saw the 2020/21 Cup start before the final of the 2019/20 competition takes place which is due to played next weekend as BATE Borisov take on Dynamo Brest. 

The Second League sides were involved at this stage alongside the teams from the amateur regional leagues which are not playing at the moment and are due to start at the end of June. 

It was celebration time for three non-league sides - Stroitel Kopyl, Novaya Pripyat Olyshany and Spartak Shklov all beat league sides and will move into the second qualifying round - In 2019 it was only two non-league sides who did this. 



Chakya Zelva (nicknamed The Seagulls) continued their disappointing start to the season - so far they have lost 2-4, 0-15, 0-1 and 0-8 in the league and now 0-4 in the cup. They held out against Second League Group B side SMA Autotrans until the 49th minute - SMA then added further goals in the 62nd, 63rd and 70th minutes to go through to the second qualifying round. 




PHOTOS OF SLAVIA MOZYR RESERVES MATCH SHAKTYOR SOLIGORSK RESERVES - NUMBER 70 IS DENNIS TETTEH THE 23 YEAR OLD GHANIAN PLAYER WHO JOINED THE CLUB FROM EGYPTIAN SIDE TANTA OVER THE PRE-SEASON - HE WAS ON THE BENCH FOR THE FIRST TEAM GAME ON SATURDAY. 
(courtesy of Slavia Mozyr on Instagram)  

RESERVE LEAGUE
Thursday 14th May 
Torepdo Belaz Zhodino 9 Gorodeya 4 
FC Minsk v Neman Grodno - Postponed

Friday 15th May
BATE Res 3  Slutsk Res 0 
Shakhtyor Res 4 Slavia Res 1  
Energetyk-BGU Res 2 Dynamo Brest Res 1

Saturday 16th May 
Dynamo Minsk Res 0 Isloch Res 0 
Belshina Res 3 Vitebsk Res 3
Rukh Brest Res 0 Smolevichy-STI Res 1 

RED AND YELLOW CARDS GALORE!!

The talking point of the Belshina v Vitebsk match was the fact eleven yellow and one red card was issued in a game which was never really bad tempered. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the referees who officiated in the Premier League for the weekend fixtures to see who issues the most cautions and sending offs - A full league table will follow when I get time. Sergey Gorayutin was the man in the middle - looking at his games this season he gives out a lot. From three Premier League games and one First League game this season he has issued thirty yellow cards and three red cards.


NAMEGAMESYELLOWSREDSAVG YTOTAL#
SERGEY GORAYUTIN43037.59.00
EVGENIY NAUMOV52625.26.00
PAVEL KORONETS73535.05.86
VITALI SEVOSTSJYANK85256.57.75
SERGEY STETSURIN 106026.06.40
ANDREY VASILEVICH64046.678.00
SERGEY CHISTOV63365.507.50
# Total worked out by adding one point for a yellow and two points for a red and then dividing with number of games. 
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BELARUSIAN CUP FINAL 2020 PREVIEW

May 19, 2020, 6:11 am
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ROAD TO THE FINAL 

BATE BORISOV 
THIRD ROUND - Sputnik Rechista W 5-2 (3,000) 
FOURTH ROUND - TORPEDO MINSK W 8-1 (3,085) 
QUARTER FINAL 1st LEG - Dynamo Minsk W 2-1 (9,805) 
QUARTER FINAL 2nd Leg - DYNAMO MINSK W 3-2 (7,113) 
SEMI FINAL 1st Leg - Slavia Mozyr L 0-1 (1,350) 
SEMIFINAL 2nd Leg - SLAVIA MOZYR W 2-0  (761) 

DYNAMO BREST 
THIRD ROUND - Rukh Brest W 1-0 (5,600) 
FOURTH ROUND - FC MINSK W 3-1 (6,203) 
QUARTER FINAL 1st LEG - ISLOCH D 0-0 (5,127)
QUARTER FINAL 2nd LEG - Isloch D 0-0 (Penalties 5-3) 
SEMI FINAL 1st LEG - SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK W 2-0 (813) 
SEMI FINAL 2nd LEG - Shakhtyor Soligorsk L 2-4 (349) (Won on Away Goals)

GOALSCORERS

BATE BORISOV (20)  
*Jasse Tuominen - 3 
*Amir Nathko - 1 
Anton Saroko - 1 
*Slobodan Simovic - 1 
Willum Willumsson - 1 
#Valdislav Mukhamdeov - 1 
Hervaine Moukam - 3 
Bojan Dubajic - 1 
~ Maksim Myakish - 1 
Maksim Skavysh - 2 
Pavel Nyakhaychyk - 1 
Dzmitry Baha - 1 
Egor Filipenko - 1 
Zakhar Volkov - 1 
Own Goal - 1 
* denotes no longer with club
# currently on loan at Smolevichy
~ currently on loan at Slavia Mozyr 

DYNAMO BREST (8) 
+ Vladislav Vasiliev - 1 
Oleksandr Noyok - 2 
* Pavel Nyakhaychyk - 1 
Roman Yuzepchuk - 1 
Pavel Savitski - 2 
Mikhail Gordeichuk - 1 
* denotes no longer with the club 
+ currently on loan with Rukh Brest

LAST FIVE FINALS
2019 - SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK 2 VITEBSK 0 (7,954) 
2018 - DYNAMO BREST 3 BATE BORISOV 2 (7,200)
2017 - DYNAMO BREST 1 SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK 1 (8,479) (10-0 PENS) 
2016 - TORPEDO ZHODINO 1 BATE BORISOV 1 (4,500) (3-2 PENS) 
2015 - BATE BORISOV 4 SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK 1 (9,100) 

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
Wed 25th Sep 19 - Dynamo Brest 1 BATE Borisov 1 (10,169) (PL) 
(H - M.Gordeychuk 46') (A - S.Dragan 53') 
(5 yellow cards issued)

Sun 14th April 19 - BATE Borisov 0 Dynamo Brest 1 (11,269) (PL) 
(A - P.Nyakhaychyk 48') 
(2 yellow cards and 1 red card issued) 

Sat 2nd March 19 - BATE Borisov 1 Dynamo Brest 3 (3,000) (Super Cup) 
@ FC Minsk Stadium 
(Bate - H.Moukam 49') (DB - D.Laptev 40', OG 74', P.Savitskiy 80') 
(10 yellow cards issued) 

Wed 31st Oct 18 - Dynamo Brest 1 BATE Borisov 3 (8,700) (PL) 
(H - P.Savitskiy 14') (A - E.Filipenko 49', M.Skavysh 87', I.Stasevich 90+5)
(7 yellow cards issued) 

Sat 19th May 18 - Dyamo Brest 3 BATE Borisov 2 (7,200) (Cup Final) 
(DB - A.Milevskiy 33', J.Fameyeh 75', P.Nyakhaychyk 88) 
(Bate - M.Ivanic 13', 49') 
(4 yellow card issued) 

LAST FIVE GAMES

BATE BORISOV 
Sat 25th April - Gorodeya W 2-0 
Wed 29th April - SLAVIA MOZYR W 2-0 (CUP SF 2nd Leg) 
Sun 3rd May - NEMAN GRODNO W 3-1 
Sun 10th May - Smolevichy-STI  W 5-3 
Sat 16th May - SLUTSK W 3-0 

DYNAMO BREST Sat 25th April - SHAKHTYOR L 0-2 
Wed 29th April -  Shakhtyor  L 2-4 
Sun 3rd May - Belshina  W 3-0 
Sun 10th May - DYNAMO MINSK W 2-1 
Sat 16th May - Energetyk-BGU  L 1-2 
 

FACTS AND STATS ABOUT THE COMPETITION

The First Round involves some clubs from the Second League and six non-league clubs paired with lower league clubs having a home advantage in a single-legged tie. Six non-league clubs entered the competition - They are the winners of the six regional (Grodno, Minsk, Brest, Gomel, Vitebsk and Mogilev) cups - Montazhink Mozyr and PK Kremo Kvasovka both got through the the second round by beating Stanles Pinsk and Engertyk BGATU-Minsk of the then Second League. They were both drawn at home to teams from the First League in the second round - Motazhink lost to Naftan (0-1) in front of 240 people and PK Kremo lost to Slonim-2017 (0-2) in front of 50 people. 

In the second round the rest of the second league sides join along with the first league sides with the lower ranked side gaining home advantage in ties still played over one leg. The Premier League sides join in Round three with the games still played over one leg with the lower ranked team still gaining home advantage.

From the fourth round onwards there is no seedings or home advantage with games played over two legs.  

Oshmyany, Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and Kletsk had the best run of the Second League sides before being knocked out at the third round stage by Engertyk-BGU, Isloch and Torpedo Minsk.   

Lokomotiv Gomel and Naftan had the best run of the first league sides reaching the third round only to be knocked out by Torpedo Belaz-Zhodino and Shakhtyor Solirgorsk. 

Vladislav Vasiliev scored Dynamo Brest's first goal of the competition in their local derby win against Rukh Brest (then in the first league) on Saturday 27th July. He now plays for Rukh Brest having transferred to the promoted team in the pre-season. 

COULD PAVEL NYAKHAYCHYK COME BACK TO SCORE AGAINST HIS OLD SIDE WHO HE HAS ALREADY SCORED FOR IN THE 2019/20 CUP?

The most interesting fact of the 2019/200 Belarusian Cup concerns BATE Borisov's 31 year old midiflder Pavel Nyakhaychyk who joined them during the Belarusian transfer winter transfer window  from Dynamo Brest. He played for Dynamo in the early rounds and scored in their victory over FC Minsk before playing for BATE in their games against Dynamo Minsk and Slavia Mozyr - He scored against Dynamo Minsk.  It seems the 'cup-tied' ruling is not used in Belarus and he will be eligible to play in the final. He started his career with BATE and this is his third spell with them - He was with Dynamo between 2017 to 2019 and scored in the 2018 Cup Final against BATE which Dynamo won 3-2. 

Both teams are in the final despite losing games in their semi-final ties. BATE lost 1-0 away to Slavia Mozyr in their first leg before winning 2-0 in the second leg to go through 2-1 on aggregate. 

Dynamo were cruising their semi-final winning the home 1st leg 2-0 and were a further two goals in front in the away 2nd leg at half time only for Shakhtyor to go goal crazy in the second half scoring four times from 58 minutes to 74 minutes - Dynamo held on for the final score to be 4-4 and went through on away goals. 

The final is scheduled for a 3pm UK time kick off on Sunday at Dynamo Stadium in Minsk. If you can't wait that long there is a dress rehearsal tomorrow evening (Wednesday) as Dynamo Brest host BATE in a Premier League game with the kick off being 5pm. 

If you fancy a bet on the Cup Final bet365.com currently make BATE favourites at 10/11 with Dynamo rated at 16/5 - If you think it'll be all square that's currently rated at 9/4. 

In tomorrow's league game Dynamo are 5/2 with BATE at 21/20 and a draw at 12/5. 

The form book indicates BATE should win both games but you just never know with the magic of the cup! 


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