Marked for Ivan Krstanović
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amar Zahirović
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Croatia Zmijavci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Anger at Croatia Zmijavci spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Croatia Zmijavci
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Croatia Zmijavci may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Croatia Zmijavci close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ivan Matiazh 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Croatia Zmijavci asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Dominik Babić 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
21 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Amar Zahirović damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tomislav Arković is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jarun Zagreb have kept their man, and Croatia Zmijavci go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tomislav Gudelj 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Croatia Zmijavci training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lev Lenssen 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Duje Stanisic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
18 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amar Zahirović
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Croatia Zmijavci lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Eirik Holmen decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match9 Dec 2026
1‑1 against HNK Gorica, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ivan Matiazh 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 Croatia Zmijavci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Filip Batarelo scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Rudes, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
He is 22 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Eirik Holmen 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lev Lenssen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
16 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Amar Zahirović damages knee ligaments — 86 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match5 Dec 2026
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ivan Matiazh 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lev Lenssen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.13. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Croatia Zmijavci are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Ivan Matiazh had Croatia Zmijavci level again within 2 minutes, and Dubrava never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Ivankić 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Dubrava leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Christian Ilić. Croatia Zmijavci will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Duje Stanisic was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Croatia Zmijavci dressing room was either.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
10 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Domagoj Mamić decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match14 Oct 2026
A 0‑0 win over Solin, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match17 Oct 2026
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Croatia Zmijavci can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ivan Matiazh 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 Croatia Zmijavci this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Denis Čavlek is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ante Pasalic misses from twelve yards
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.