Football Season Guide

Dynamo Makhachkala had a tough old season last year in which they never managed to get on a sustained run of form and seemed on the brink of getting dragged into the mire, mostly because of their genuine lack of quality on the ball and the poor performances of the attacking players in and around the box. They ended up in the relegation play-offs against Ural Yekateinburg but were the better side over two legs and a 3:0 aggregate win sealed their spot for next season. Yet they start the campaign as probably one of the two weakest teams in the division on quality alone and it is hard to see this team escaping the shadows of a relegation battle at any point during the season. Coach Vadim Evseev has to work with quite a limited group of players and has not been aided much so far in the transfer market. A couple of tried and trusted players at this level have been brought in Vladimir Khubulov and Daniil Lesovoy but they hardly inspire too much excitement among the locals and at the end of the day this feels like one of the weakest and most shallow squads in the entire division. They will be again relying on Gamid Agalarov for goals and he is notoriously hot and cold, going through long droughts during the season. The only other reliable attacking option is midfielder Mohammadjavad Hosseinnejad and there is a decent chance that he is not around by September amidst foreign interest in him. It says enough that the team scored five goals outside of penalties and own goals during the entire 2026 so far. Evseev will focus on making this team as hard to break down and niggly to play against as possible and hope that they eke out enough points against direct opponents. But it will be almost certainly a slog of a season where the Caspian outfit are fighting tooth and nail for survival.