It's been a number of months since I have written about Belarusian football - the league which captured many fans imagination back in in March 2020 when the United Kingdom was put into lock down - How long ago does that feel now?
I just haven't had the time to keep up with events in Minsk, Brest, Grodno and Gomel to name a few cities of which many fans worldwide now have a lot more more knowledge of than they did prior to the pandemic. There are only a few more games to go in the 2021 season so I thought I'd take on look at what's been going on. I won't go into the political instability and situation in the country too much as I think that very important subject is best left for other people with expertise and understanding to write about. Firstly we'll look at the Premier League.
BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE - CURRENT TABLE
QUALIFICATION FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
QUALIFICATION FOR UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
RELEGATION/PROMOTION PLAY OFF
RELEGATION
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF-GA | GD | PTS | POS PTS |
| 1. | SHAKHTYOR | 24 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 50-13 | +37 | 62 | 80 |
| 2. | BATE BORISOV | 26 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 51-26 | +25 | 55 | 67 |
| 3. | DYNAMO MINSK | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 49-19 | +30 | 54 | 66 |
| 4. | RUKH BREST | 26 | 14 | 9 | 3 | 44-20 | +24 | 51 | 63 |
| 5. | FC GOMEL | 25 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 48-19 | +29 | 49 | 64 |
| 6. | VITESBSK | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 33-33 | 0 | 34 | 46 |
| 7. | ISLOCH | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 37-39 | -2 | 34 | 46 |
| 8. | DYNAMO BREST | 26 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 28-25 | +3 | 45 | 57 |
| 9. | NEMAN GRODNO | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 32-30 | +2 | 30 | 42 |
| 10. | TORPEDO ZHODINO | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 29-34 | -15 | 29 | 44 |
| 11. | ENERGETIK-BGU | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 28-34 | -14 | 29 | 41 |
| 12. | FC MINSK | 25 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 30-41 | -11 | 29 | 44 |
| 13. | SLUTSK | 26 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 27-42 | -15 | 25 | 37 |
| 14. | SLAVIA MOZYR | 25 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 32-45 | -13 | 24 | 39 |
| 15. | SMORGON | 26 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 23-63 | -40 | 16 | 34 |
| 16. | SPUTNIK RECHITSA | 26 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 12-70 | -58 | 7 | 7 |
The top of the table has a very familiar look to it with Shakhtyor Soligorsk now odd's for the title for the second year in a row - they are seven points ahead of BATE and have two games in hand. Dynamo Minsk, Rukh Brest and Gomel look set to fight it out for the remaining European place.
You can add 3 points onto Dynamo's points total as they were scheduled to play Sputnik Rechitsa this weekend. Sputnik folded after their 3-2 defeat to at Slutsk in July with the rest of their games now awarded 3-0 wins to their opponents.
As well as Dynamo their remaining opponents are Torpedo Belaz-Zhodino, Vitebsk and Slutsk so you can add three points onto their total too.
Smorgon who were promoted to the top level after finishing in sixth position of the First League last season have struggled and are looking at relegation back down to that level - their form would have to dramatically improve if they are to avoid the drop.
The most exciting fight looks to be the race to stay out of 14th position between Slavia Mozyr and Slutsk with Slavia having a game in hand but Slutsk having those all important three points in the bank with their 'game' against Sputnik on the final weekend of the season. Unofficially the table looks like this taking into account the Slutsk v Sputnik game. Slutsk's other games come against Shakhtyor and Rukh which look very difficult to gain anything from them.
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF-GA | GD | PTS | POS PTS |
| 13. | SLUTSK | 27 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 30-42 | -12 | 28 | 37 |
| 14. | SLAVIA MOZYR | 25 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 32-45 | -13 | 24 | 39 |
REAMINING FIXTURES EXLUDING THE SPUTNIK v SLUTSK "GAME"
| DATE | SLUTSK | SLAVIA MOZYR |
| 23/10/21 | SMORGON | - |
| 24/10/21 | - | FC Minsk |
| 30/10/21 | - | Torpedo Minsk |
| 6/11/21 | Shakhtyor | - |
| 7/11/21 | - | NEMAN GRODNO |
| 19/11/21 | RUKH BREST | - |
| 20/11/21 | - | Energetik-BGU |
| 28/11/21 | - | DYNAMO MINSK |
The unfortunate demise of Sputnik Rechitsa shows how fragile some of the clubs participation and existence in the top divisions are in Belarus. There are rumours (I must stress unconfirmed and not verified) that Rukh Brest and Energetik-BGU will not be playing in the top division next season and another that Arsenal Dzerzhinsk (who are top of the First League) will not be able to pay the nearly $1.2m bond/licence required to play in the Premier League - All will become clear over the next few months I'm sure.
Please give the guys over at @BELPOD2 a follow and a listen - their podcast on Belarusian Football is essential listening.