Marked for Oliver Kapsimalis
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Aug 2036
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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Gabriele Canapa damages knee ligaments — 79 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
Market18 Aug 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
The deal with Viborg is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom18 Aug 2036
Magnus Lopez has agreed to leave AGF for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Words exchanged at AGF
Andrei Dorobanţu 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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
A row about effort at AGF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youssouph Badji was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Aug 2036
AGF come up short against Aalborg
Aalborg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings18 Aug 2036
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Aug 2036
90 days out for Tobias Lauritsen after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AGF will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Aug 2036
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AGF lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2036
The clubs have shaken hands with Viborg; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market4 Aug 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexander Selnaes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AGF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match2 Aug 2036
The wait goes on for AGF
4 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 Aug 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Youssouph Badji commits to AGF for another 2 years.
Squad4 Aug 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nordsjaelland have kept their man, and AGF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout4 Aug 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jul 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Jul 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gabriele Canapa
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AGF lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout28 Jul 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market28 Jul 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2036
$46.0K settles it between the clubs for Maxim Zaitsev
Randers have accepted the money. What AGF do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings28 Jul 2036
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.83, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings28 Jul 2036
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad28 Jul 2036
A falling-out at AGF
Andrei Dorobanţu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2036
AGF offered $300.0K; FC Nordsjaelland said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets16 Jun 2036
The clubs have shaken hands with OB; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market16 Jun 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AGF have done the hard part with Brondby, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom16 Jun 2036
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tilen Rajter Krebs has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad16 Jun 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AGF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jun 2036
A row about effort at AGF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Sekulov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Jun 2036
“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.
Market16 Jun 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AGF, another week without a signature from Oliver Kapsimalis.
The dugout16 Jun 2036
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Youssouph Badji trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 May 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AGF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 May 2036
A falling-out at AGF
Andrei Dorobanţu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 May 2036
Nikola Sekulov 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.
The dugout26 May 2036
Mathias Kjaer knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mathias Kjaer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 May 2036
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what AGF could get for him.
The dugout26 May 2036
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alexander Drexel has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Youssouph Badji: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AGF have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market31 Mar 2036
Raf Vullers has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AGF they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at AGF
Youssouph Badji 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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
A row about effort at AGF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Sekulov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonel Eklund, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Mar 2036
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AGF know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Feb 2036
Tempers go at AGF
Andrei Dorobanţu 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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Words at AGF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Sekulov 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.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nordsjaelland have kept their man, and AGF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market18 Feb 2036
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Julius Ødegaard's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
A promise honoured at AGF
Something was said to Mads Cornelius and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market18 Feb 2036
The name of Youssouph Badji keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AGF say nothing, which says plenty.
Market18 Feb 2036
Still no signature from Raf Vullers
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what AGF could get for him.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
When it matters, Miha Trdan plays
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
Steady
Market13 Aug 2035
“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 Koper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Aug 2035
Still nobody has beaten Koper
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market13 Aug 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Koper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market13 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giovanni Barbieri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Tempers go at Koper
Luka Poredoš 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.
Match11 Aug 2035
The run at home goes on for Koper
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad13 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Koper
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Scarpinati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market13 Aug 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Aug 2035
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market6 Aug 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Market6 Aug 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Koper people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings6 Aug 2035
A brace, and Karlo Špeljak takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Karlo Špeljak provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match4 Aug 2035
11 unbeaten for Koper
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Koper did not have in the autumn.
The dugout6 Aug 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Koper may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Koper asked and Olimpija Ljubljana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Koper
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Scarpinati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Match
Koper settle it inside twenty minutes
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Squad
Words exchanged at Koper
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The dugout
No hiding place for Roko Jenjić
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Jul 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Koper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match21 Jul 2035
Whatever happens, Koper do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Koper may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
Koper had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at NK Domzale, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Words exchanged at Koper
Luka Poredoš 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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
8 academy graduates step up at Koper
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Words at Koper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Scarpinati 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market23 Jul 2035
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Veljko Mijailović has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Koper.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jun 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slovan Ljubljana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Koper is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad25 Jun 2035
A move Denis Solaković would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Denis Solaković is living that version at Koper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market25 Jun 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Koper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
The paperwork begins on Jakub Sima
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Koper have done the hard part with Banik Ostrava, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Words exchanged at Koper
Luka Poredoš 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.
Boardroom25 Jun 2035
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Words at Koper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Scarpinati 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mainz 05 have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jun 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and NK Celje waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Koper is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Jun 2035
Jesenice come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Koper did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Tempers go at Koper
Matteo Scarpinati 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 targets18 Jun 2035
Koper asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jun 2035
A row about effort at Koper
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdula Kichukov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
Metalist have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
A loan move for Jakub Sima is in the works
Koper have made the call to Banik Ostrava. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout18 Jun 2035
Luka Poredoš gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luka Poredoš is on it.
Market18 Jun 2035
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Oliver Kapsimalis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jun 2035
Denny Tiganj hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jun 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jun 2035
A falling-out at Koper
Luka Poredoš and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at Koper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Scarpinati 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.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market4 Jun 2035
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Koper has been clear about where Oliver Kapsimalis stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market4 Jun 2035
The phone has started ringing about Basel Gawish again, and this time the name on the line is Tabor Sežana. Koper are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jun 2035
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Abdula Kichukov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Transfer targets4 Jun 2035
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Jakub Sima is in the works
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Squad
6 new faces, and Koper are still learning each other
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The dugout
Giuseppe Agyemang has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Feb 2035
“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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Ivan Šiško breaks a bone — 70 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Feb 2035
Terms done: Stian Lien is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dravinja waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Koper is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Feb 2035
Máté Szolgai has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at Koper
Mario Perisic 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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Axel Alderweireld arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Axel Alderweireld has, at Koper, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Patrik Majdandžić 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.
Market12 Feb 2035
Axel Alderweireld is 20, and Koper have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giuseppe Agyemang is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Nov 2034
No mercy from Koper
Aluminij will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Koper were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
Mario Perisic: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Koper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings6 Nov 2034
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market6 Nov 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Koper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Tempers go at Koper
Mario Perisic 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.
Squad6 Nov 2034
A row about effort at Koper
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mai Kolbl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings6 Nov 2034
Marked 8.37 — 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.
Boardroom6 Nov 2034
Wages eat 121% of everything Koper earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Škaričić, and the manager let it.