Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Filip Mažar obliged against Cibalia. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Slaven Belupo.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jakov Biljan has just signed for Slaven Belupo, and for once the answer mattered.
Hansel Zapata 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.
The shirt still fits. Ivan Jajalo is back at Slaven Belupo, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The name of Filip Mažar has come up in conversations Slaven Belupo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ljuban Crepulja 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Filip Mažar has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Filip Mažar at his very best
Position 9 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slaven Belupo can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Lovre Lončar again, and this time the name on the line is HNK Vukovar 1991. Slaven Belupo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihail Caimacov 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.
Position 9 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadIvo Kralj falls out with a teammate over standards
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Slaven Belupo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A brace, and Lovre Lončar takes the afternoon — 8.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lovre Lončar provided it, and the 8.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Josip Mitrović 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.
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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slaven Belupo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihail Caimacov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Aug 2027
Owen Hampson 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Lovre Lončar is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slaven Belupo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slaven Belupo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihail Caimacov 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Slaven Belupo, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
155 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slaven Belupo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Slaven Belupo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slaven Belupo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihail Caimacov 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slaven Belupo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Slaven Belupo, and it is not being withdrawn.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Slaven Belupo will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Josip Mitrović 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slaven Belupo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Igor Lepinjica. 1‑0 against HNK Vukovar 1991, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Filip Mažar did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Josip Mitrović 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Hansel Zapata 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.
A 2‑1 win over Lokomotiva Zagreb, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Filip Mažar has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. NK Osijek will replay every second of the added time for a week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Slaven Belupo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihail Caimacov 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slaven Belupo, another week without a signature from Ilija Nestorovski.
Still no offer on the table, and Dominik Kovačić’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.