Christophe Kabongo

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Mlada Boleslav
18 Oct 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Christophe Kabongo

11 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Jiří Bederka out for 121 days

121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mlada Boleslav lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

A brace, and Solomon John takes the afternoon — 8.33

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Solomon John provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

Tomáš Horák keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mlada Boleslav may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Mlada Boleslav

Ondřej Karafiát was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Martin Králik falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Solomon John sends Mlada Boleslav past Pribram

It finished 2‑1, and it was Solomon John’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mlada Boleslav.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Pech

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

14 new faces, and Mlada Boleslav are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

Jan Coufal: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

In brief

Back issues
10 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Jiří Bederka damages knee ligaments — 128 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 128 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

3 goals for Christophe Kabongo

The match ball belongs to Christophe Kabongo, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Marek Havran, 20, steals the show — 7.86

Marked 7.86 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Squad

Words exchanged at Mlada Boleslav

Ondřej Karafiát and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Stefan Jovanoski is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Match

Mlada Boleslav see off Jihlava

Three points for Mlada Boleslav, 4‑3 the final word against Jihlava in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

7 goals as Mlada Boleslav and Jihlava go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Mlada Boleslav and Jihlava, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Christophe Kabongo at his very best

Marked 9.66. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mlada Boleslav.

The terraces

One of their own: Christophe Kabongo

He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

In brief

8 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near David Pech

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Mlada Boleslav end the wait against Dukla Prague

It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Squad

Tempers go at Mlada Boleslav

Martin Králik was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Mlada Boleslav

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Kabongo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Mlada Boleslav find a way past Dukla Prague

Dukla Prague made Mlada Boleslav work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Solomon John

Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

The dugout

A satisfied Jan Coufal

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jan Coufal could afford to be generous.

The dugout

Radim Řezník gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Khalid Muhammed dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

7 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Martin Králik asks to leave Mlada Boleslav

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

8 matches without a win for Mlada Boleslav

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Mlada Boleslav are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

David Pech runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Mlada Boleslav

Christophe Kabongo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Jiří Klíma makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Squad

Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Kadlec is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matej Oravec

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Mlada Boleslav had all but put away. Zlin will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Match

Mlada Boleslav share the spoils with Zlin

A 1‑1 draw with Zlin leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

6 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

7 matches without a win for Mlada Boleslav

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Mlada Boleslav are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 10 in, 3 out at Mlada Boleslav

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Mlada Boleslav walk away from Aziz Kayondo

$500.0K was the most the club would pay and Slovan Liberec were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Squad

Tempers go at Mlada Boleslav

Christophe Kabongo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Mlada Boleslav against Sigma Olomouc

1‑2 to Sigma Olomouc, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jiří Floder

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Matej Oravec falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

David Pech beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Mlada Boleslav are still strangers to each other

12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief

5 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A hiding for Mlada Boleslav

Beaten 1‑4 by Slovan Liberec, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

David Kozel asks to leave Mlada Boleslav

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

The wait goes on for Mlada Boleslav

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Player ratings

Marek Havran, 19, steals the show — 7.99

Marked 7.99 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Transfer targets

Mlada Boleslav baulk at the price for Jakub Klíma

Zbrojovka Brno wanted more than $740.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Alan Marinelli

Mlada Boleslav asked and Slovacko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words exchanged at Mlada Boleslav

Martin Králik and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Market

Kaká is a Mlada Boleslav player

The fee is $76.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Zbrojovka Brno drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Transfer targets

An offer of $20.0K for Aziz Kayondo

Mlada Boleslav have gone to Slovan Liberec with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

In brief

3 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Lukáš Letenay scores twice — 8.66

Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Mlada Boleslav walk away from Sampson Dweh

$2.4M was the most the club would pay and Viktoria Plzen were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Squad

Martin Králik in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Mlada Boleslav against Slovacko

2‑3 to Slovacko, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Denis Donát

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Jan Coufal: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

The formation has left Jiří Bederka behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mlada Boleslav will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Player ratings

Solomon John was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Grigory Emelyanov is in the works

Mlada Boleslav have made the call to Astra. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

1 Edition

The Mlada Boleslav Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Mlada Boleslav

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Teplice kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Mlada Boleslav will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Player ratings

A brace, and Lukáš Letenay takes the afternoon — 8.79

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lukáš Letenay provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Ondřej Karafiát goes up and wins it — 7.90

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.90 for the rest of it.

Squad

David Pech signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Pech commits to Mlada Boleslav for another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Mlada Boleslav

Martin Králik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Christophe Kabongo falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Lukáš Letenay rescues a point for Mlada Boleslav

It needed Lukáš Letenay to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Teplice, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Market

Nobody at Mlada Boleslav has picked up the phone to Martin Králik

36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

Squad

7 new faces, and Mlada Boleslav are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

In brief