Marked for Vanja Šare
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Sep 2027
Sesvete are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Sesvete
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Žiger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Vanja Šare 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.
Looking ahead27 Sep 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Sesvete
Dugopolje next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout27 Sep 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Gabrijel Šivalec is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Match25 Sep 2027
Point won or two lost for Sesvete?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Cibalia? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sesvete can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Gabrijel Šivalec, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market9 Aug 2027
Sesvete say no — this time
The offer from Imotski for Franco Beljo 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Levski keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karlo Žiger and Sesvete agree another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Leš 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 targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Osasuna have kept their man, and Sesvete go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Vanja Šare 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 Sesvete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
No sign of nerves from Gabrijel Šivalec at 19 — 7.81
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabrijel Šivalec did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The deal with Levski 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Karlo Žiger 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 Sesvete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Lovre Šimić 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 terraces2 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to Vanja Šare
At 23 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
A 2‑0 win over Dugopolje, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
Vanja Šare 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 Sesvete can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sesvete have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market26 Jul 2027
Sesvete say no — this time
The offer from Segesta for Raul Bezeljak 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Sesvete
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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Graduation day at Sesvete
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tin Kulenović 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 targets26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Sesvete
Ilan Pejić 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matej Vrsaljko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
60 days out for Benjamin Budimir after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sesvete will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sesvete people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sesvete may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Jul 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The paperwork begins on Mateo Leš
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sesvete have done the hard part with HNK Gorica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market12 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Sesvete did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Karlo Žiger 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 targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Sesvete go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Sesvete are still strangers to each other
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Petar Antolković is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is saying, and nobody at Sesvete is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sesvete have done the hard part with HNK Gorica, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” João Forelle commits to Sesvete for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Sesvete
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tin Kulenović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Segesta have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kristijan Gojani. The answer from Sesvete has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Benjamin Budimir out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sesvete will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sesvete can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HNK Gorica is saying, and nobody at Sesvete is enjoying the guessing.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2027
Franco Beljo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sesvete they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Vanja Šare is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Žiger 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 targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Sesvete go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Sesvete
Ilan Pejić 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
Hajduk Split arrived with $790.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Benjamin Budimir out for 91 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sesvete will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jun 2027
NK Osijek come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sesvete did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sesvete can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Moses Zambrang Barnabas has gone, the accounts have $790.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Nino Cappon 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Žiger 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Vanja Šare 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 Sesvete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Sesvete have made the call to Rudes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
A fracture rules Benjamin Budimir out for 105 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sesvete will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Sesvete have had the benefit of it.
Market31 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Franco Beljo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Beljo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sesvete the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sesvete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vilim Krušlin 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 dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Vilim Krušlin
“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 dugout31 May 2027
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 Hamza Bouihrouchane has written the date down.
Market31 May 2027
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Sesvete money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Sesvete
Antonio Čolak 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Žiger 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 dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Vanja Šare
“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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Sesvete counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sesvete now.
The dugout24 May 2027
Vilim Krušlin knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sesvete, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Josip Knezevic out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sesvete will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sesvete is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market19 Apr 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sesvete can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Sesvete
Antonio Čolak 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Sesvete
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tin Kulenović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Vanja Šare 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market19 Apr 2027
The Ilan Pejić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ilan Pejić signs something — a contract at Sesvete or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sesvete. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Čolak
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sesvete lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Josip Knezevic out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sesvete will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Antonio Čolak 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Sesvete
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovre Šimić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Belts tighten at Sesvete
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sesvete lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Josip Knezevic out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sesvete will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 Mar 2027
Vilim Krušlin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sesvete they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Sesvete
Antonio Čolak 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Sesvete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karlo Žiger 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Moses Zambrang Barnabas 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Sesvete
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Žiger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
322% of the income goes out in wages at Sesvete
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Match3 Oct 2026
Dugopolje made Sesvete work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Oct 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mario Knezevic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.