Marked for Mateo Smodlaka
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zoran Nižić and Dugopolje agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Ivan Ćubelić 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 Dugopolje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ivan Brekalo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Filip Rebic 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
A year in the wrong dressing room for Josip Bartulić
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Dugopolje argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Karlo Bungić 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.
Match8 Mar 2027
Dugopolje in the hunt for Europe
Position 4, 27 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dugopolje may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Dugopolje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Utrobičić 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stipe Mušura commits to Dugopolje for another 4 years.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
HNK Rijeka 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrija Balić, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Dugopolje would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Dugopolje will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market18 Jan 2027
The Josip Balić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Josip Balić signs something — a contract at Dugopolje or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces11 Jan 2027
Bruno Zdunić has gone, the accounts have $1.2M 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.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Dugopolje had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at HNK Vukovar 1991, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market11 Jan 2027
Business is business: Bruno Zdunić goes
Hajduk Split paid $1.2M and Dugopolje took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiva Zagreb have kept their man, and Dugopolje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Milan Sutalo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Josip Budimir has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Duje Biuk 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dijanis Dudić 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.