October 8, 2022
These diaries last reviewed the Belarus Women’s Premier League after round 11, with Dinamo BGU Minsk in pole position having taken 4 points from their two matches against arch-rivals FK Minsk, with a 3-2 win and a 1-1 draw. In fact, these are still the only goals Dinamo have conceded in the league this season.
Although Dinamo remain unbeaten in league matches since being formed three seasons ago, this year’s title remains in the balance. With just 6 games still to be played, Dinamo sit just one point ahead of FK Minsk, after a catch-up fixture at Dnepr Mogilev finished 0-0 in the Dnepr indoor dome Despite dominating the game, Dinamo created very few chances, although Shlapakova was denied at the death by a fine save to keep out a close range header.
In their previous game, Dinamo only recorded a 1-0 home win over Smorgon, again struggling for goals thanks to a host of missed chances, striking the woodwork three times and being denied by a string of outstanding saves from Smorgon’s 16 year old goal-keeper Marjana Brileva. The only goal came from a first-half penalty.
Dinamo’s leading goal scorers so far are Daria Stezhko and Viktoria Valyuk with 22 goals each, followed by Anastasia Linnik on 14 and Anna Pilipenko on 12 goals.
Dinamo had 6 players involved in the national side’s most recent international, a 0-2 loss to Russia, with keeper Kovalchuk plus Pilipenko, Shuppo, Slesarchik. Valyuk and Shlapakova adding to their caps tally. 18 year old Anastasia Kuntsevich also represented the Belarus Under 19 side this week in their qualifying fixture against North Macedonia.
Dinamo have claimed one trophy so far this season, beating FK Minsk in the Cup Final on penalties after the tie had finished 0-0 after 120 minutes.
In the 2022/23 UEFA Women’s Champions League Dinamo overcame Bulgarian side Lokomotiv Stara Zagora 5-0, before succumbing 0-3 to Austrian side St Polten, who subsequently demonstrated their qualities by going on to reach the group stages, illustrating the increasing strength of women’s football in Austria.
FK Minsk have hung onto Dinamo’s coat-tails, and winning their last 6 league games would see them leap-frog Dinamo to win the title, with the potential title decider against Dinamo is currently scheduled to be played on November 3rd.
Minsk have only conceded 5 goals in the league so far this season, four in the matches against Dinamo plus one in a 6-1 win over Smorgon.
Kenyan striker Wafula Nekesa leads the league scoring charts with 31 goals but has left Minsk to join Slavia Prague for their Champions League campaign. These diaries make no secret of their admiration for 18 year play-maker Anastasia Pobegaylo, who has 29 goals this season, with Melana Surovtseva following on 15 goals and Elizaveta Pinchuk with 12.
In the absence of Nekesa, Minsk have raided the Lokomotiva Moskva squad in their bid to win the title, signing keeper Viktoria Nosenko, defender Elvira Ziyastinova and midfielder Yana Khotyreva joining from the Russian club. More importantly, Minsk have also signed Burkina Faso striker Salimata Simpore from Malabo Kings of Equatorial Guinea, of whom these diaries have previously discussed her controversial career whilst playing for Dinamo two seasons ago. However, the presence of Simpore must make Minsk favourites to win the league.
In the UEFA Women’s Champions League, Minsk won their first tie against Czech side Slovacko 2-1, before being eliminated for the second year running by Rosenborg in Norway, this time 0-1. Rosenborg were then knocked out by Real Madrid.
Dnepr Mogilev current sit in third place, two points ahead of Zorka. Daria Manuyikova has found the net 17 times, with ex-international Anna Denisenko next on 9 goals. Dnepr’s stand out result is their deserved 0-0 draw with Dinamo. They also drew 0-0 with Zorka but lost 2-3 in an earlier fixture. Their success saw a start in the national squad for defender Zarina Kapustina, whilst Valeria Barborenko played for the Under 19 national side.
Zorka have lost four of their last 5 matches, but those were all against Dinamo and FK Minsk ! Instead, they have five potentially winnable matches to finish the season, so have a good chance of ending in third position, with a visit to Dnepr in the last round to possibly be the decider. Teenage talent Yana Artishevskaya has only scored three goals in 19 appearances, but Kristina Kiyanka has 12 goals to her name, and was rewarded with a call-up to the national squad. Zorka also saw international recognition for veteran defender Alina Vasilyeva, and a call-up for goal-keeper Tatiana Chistik .
In their second season in the league, Vitebsk are doing well to be in 5th position, albeit 5 points behind Zorka. Their highlights of the season are probably their 1-1 draw at Zorka and a first cap for Natalia Vasiljeva after 16 goals. Veteran midfielder Elena Buzinova has continued to be impressive, and has 14 goals to her credit.
ABFF U-19 have continued to develop the young talent in the country, with Evzrezova, Yakusk, Tikhormirova, Astreiko, Zaletova all starting in this week’s European U-19 Qualifier with North Macedonia. Interestingly, the Belarus FA chose to have Minsk star Pobegaylo play in their Euro qualifier rather than the full international friendly with Russia.
League wise, ABFF U-19 have recorded notable victories over Vitebsk ( 3-2 ) and Dnepr ( 3-0 ) and Anastasia Evzrezova is their top scorer with 11 goals.
Smorgon have impressed in their first season in the Premier League even if this hasn’t always been reflected in their results. In addition to knocking out Zorka from the Belarus Cup with a 2-1 victory in Minsk, Smorgon have chalked up victories over Dnepr ( 3-0 ), ABFF U-19 ( 3-1 ) as well as drawing 1-1 at home with Zorka and scoring against FK Minsk.
Ex-Zorka striker Liana Miroshnichenko has 12 goals to her credit, whilst 16 year old Daria Korobanko has scored 8 times. Ex-Neman forward Valeria Kharitonchik has 7 goals.
At the bottom of the table, Bobruichanka have had an appalling season, although they were able to draw their last encounter 2-2 with ABFF U-19. Apart from that they have lost every match apart from their matches against the two ranked bottom sides in the division.
Apart from their two matches against Gomel, Dinamo Brest have recorded only one other point ( a 1-1 draw with Smorgon ), and scored just two other goals.
Rank bottom Gomel have just one point, arising from a 0-0 draw with Dinamo Brest, but apart from that, every other game has been lost with a total of 145 goals conceded. Only two goals have been scored, both by Aleksandria Samoylova, who has been rewarded with a transfer to ABFF U-19 and has already scored twice for her new side.
Round 22 is due to be played over the weekend of October 14th, although exact dates and times are still to be published :
Dinamo BGU Minsk vs Dnepr Mogilev
FK Minsk vs FK Smorgon
ABFF U19 vs Zorka BGU
FK Vitebsk vs FK Gomel
Dinamo Brest vs Bobruichanka
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