Search: ' Eduard Malofeev'

Football in Belarus hit a new low in October, with defeat to Luxembourg, but November 19 is the 25th anniversary of its finest hour: Dinamo Minsk’s sole Soviet title success. Jonathan Wilson looks back

“There were people with flowers and kisses and love,” Mikhail Vergeenko remembers. It is that, rather than anything else, that seems most to affect the former goalkeeper as he looks back on Dinamo Minsk’s title success of 25 years ago, the club’s only trophy in the Soviet era. “Nothing organised, just love.”

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The Tynecastle soap opera becomes more incredible by the minute, as the increasingly erratic Vladimir Romanov takes a chairman’s megalomania into uncharted territory. Neil Forsyth reports

It’s difficult to convey accurately the sheer absurdity of the current state of affairs at Hearts. Journalists have revelled in comparisons with the festive pantomime season, while it’s hard not to read about how late Turkmenistan dictator Saparmurat Niyazov ran the country without your mind wandering down Gorgie Road.

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Life has been tough for the independent countries that grew out of the olf Soviet Union. Kevin O'Flynn  tracks the progress of the smaller republics in the latest qualifiers

In 1988, the soviet union’s football team was more or less at its peak, reaching the final of the European Championships. Unfortunately for them, it was more or less the only part of the country that still functioned as well. When the Union broke up ten years ago no one realised how badly afffected the new republics would be. The lack of decent competition – think what would happen if the Premiership were split into 15 regional leagues – was bad enough, but the economic collapse of most of the republics meant that most decent foot­ballers could not earn a proper wage.

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