Marked for Leon Bičanić
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ND Gorica waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Krka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at NK Krka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleks Stojaković 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mark Gliha, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at NK Krka
Darko Marjanović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan move for Nino Vukasović is in the works
NK Krka have made the call to NK Celje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
When it matters, Marko Brkić 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The shop window has Mark Gliha in it
NK Krka have let the market know Mark Gliha can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Niko Domjanić asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at NK Krka
Andraž Lipec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at NK Krka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Stojaković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Leon Bičanić 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Leon Bičanić has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and NK Krka will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Marko Brkić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at NK Krka will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes Nik Kapun a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Krka. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Tilen Kovačić: 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.” NK Krka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for NK Krka
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at NK Krka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleks Stojaković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Leon Bičanić
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at NK Krka
Something was said to Aleks Stojaković and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at NK Krka
15 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at NK Krka
Dejan Suhovršnik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vid Ilicic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I want to play”: Leon Bičanić speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Tom Žurga
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Lan Zajc
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Krka have done the hard part with NK Krsko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
NK Krka supporters have found a favourite in Marko Brkić
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marko Brkić 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over NK Krsko, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at NK Krka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leon Bičanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Nik Kapun 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at NK Krka, another week without a signature from Jack McMillan.
In brief
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Squad
Words exchanged at NK Krka
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Squad
14 new faces, and NK Krka are still learning each other
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The dugout
A satisfied Vid Ilicic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
NK Krka through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over NK Krsko, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market24 Aug 2026
NK Krka say no — this time
The offer from Rudar Velenje for Tai Meze was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Edi Midžan, 20, steals the show — 8.19
Marked 8.19 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 saves: Luka Čadež was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krka can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Dinamo Zagreb 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Marko Brkić 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 NK Krka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and NK Krka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.