Marked for Anton Matković
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market24 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Osijek have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at NK Osijek, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Paul Onuachu arrives at NK Osijek in a $1.7M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. NK Osijek have paid $1.7M for Paul Onuachu, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Karlo Muhar goes up and wins it — 7.97
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between NK Osijek and Istra 1961, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against HNK Rijeka, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market10 Aug 2026
NK Osijek say no — this time
The offer from Dugopolje for Ivan Barić 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Karlo Muhar delivers — 7.87
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Karlo Muhar scored, was marked 7.87, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No deal for David Terans at that price
NK Osijek offered $930.0K; Fluminense 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marko Malenica and NK Osijek agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
The fee is $170.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Slaven Belupo drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at NK Osijek
Karlo Muhar 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mohammad Mohebi 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Anton Matković scored in the 86th minute, Slaven Belupo had already begun thinking about the journey home, and NK Osijek took the lot.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A move Mohammad Mohebi 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. Mohammad Mohebi is living that version at NK Osijek, and it tends to show in the first month.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Luka Vrbančić at 21 — 8.09
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luka Vrbančić did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
$750.0K on the table at Fluminense. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roko Jurišić and NK Osijek agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at NK Osijek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Mohebi 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Penarol have kept their man, and NK Osijek go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at NK Osijek
Tonio Teklić 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Anton Matković’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Osijek.