Marked for Emmanuel Okodugha
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FAP Priboj lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 May 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at FAP Priboj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. FAP Priboj had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad31 May 2027
Andrej Vuletić 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 May 2027
Srđan Drašković 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 dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Damjan Knežević, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Francis Antwi 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.
Market31 May 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Damian Tront arrives at FAP Priboj with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
The dugout31 May 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
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Đorđe Glišović
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FAP Priboj lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 May 2027
Srđan Drašković 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Đorđe Glišović 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Josh Kelly 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.
Loan watch24 May 2027
“I did not go to Loznica to sit and watch. I want to come back to FAP Priboj and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 41 matches say the rest.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Srđan Drašković'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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 May 2027
Loznica refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 48 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Loznica
Bojan Brać 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
A row about effort at Loznica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Šušnjar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 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.
Market24 May 2027
He is 15, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market24 May 2027
Sergio Rey is 14, and Loznica 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 dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikola Stevanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad24 May 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Akintomide Ayeni keeps the shirt for now, at Loznica's convenience rather than his own.
Market24 May 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Predrag Ilic leaves Loznica the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Loznica
Đorđe Šušnjar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Stefan Mitrović 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 dugout10 May 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
The dugout10 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 Sava Prodanović has written the date down.
Squad10 May 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
Andrej Vuletić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Srđan Drašković, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Đorđe Glišović 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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FAP Priboj, and 6 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Srđan Drašković is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FAP Priboj. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Veljko Jovanovic: 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.” FAP Priboj have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Srđan Drašković 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Josh Kelly 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.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I watch every FAP Priboj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Loznica runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Srđan Drašković'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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 89% of the FAP Priboj income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 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 FAP Priboj can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Feb 2027
9 matches without defeat, and then Jedinstvo Ub. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FAP Priboj can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 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 FAP Priboj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darko Stojanović, and the manager let it.
Match27 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at FAP Priboj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Lainović 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.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I watch every FAP Priboj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Loznica runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 8.31 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
FAP Priboj had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Partizan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad25 Jan 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Andrej Vuletić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Srđan Drašković 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Stuart Moore
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Muhammed Ismail and FAP Priboj agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I watch every FAP Priboj game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Loznica runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to FAP Priboj's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at FAP Priboj has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at FAP Priboj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Srđan Drašković 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FAP Priboj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Đorđe Glišović 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Srđan Drašković
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FAP Priboj, and 5 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Savo Sušić is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. FAP Priboj lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to FAP Priboj's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at FAP Priboj has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Andrej Vuletić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at FAP Priboj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Glišović 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
Halfway: FAP Priboj sit in position 8
21 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at FAP Priboj, and 5 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Srđan Drašković'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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, FAP Priboj had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Oct 2026
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Martin Anđelković will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at FAP Priboj escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.62, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Emmanuel Dzigbah at 20 — 7.73
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Emmanuel Dzigbah did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match31 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, FAP Priboj do not lose
7 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at FAP Priboj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Srđan Drašković 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Đorđe Glišović 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.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 21 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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Loznica to sit and watch. I want to come back to FAP Priboj and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
Match31 Oct 2026
It needed Martin Anđelković to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Voždovac, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sava Prodanović 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. Sava Prodanović has, at Loznica, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Loznica
Bojan Brać and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Uros Sergej 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Milos Sergej is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bogdan Jovanovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Martin Anđelković at 21 — 7.94
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Martin Anđelković did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market3 Aug 2026
Borac Čačak come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and FAP Priboj did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gastón Gerzel commits to FAP Priboj for another 4 years.
Player ratings3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Miloš Divac 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 FAP Priboj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Cukaricki: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Novi Pazar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at FAP Priboj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Regis Samuel Baha 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
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Loznica against Kabel
1‑3 to Kabel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ljubiša Pecelj commits to Loznica for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Loznica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ljubiša Pecelj 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
Uros Ilic faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Uros Ilic after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Spartak Subotica 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 targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Mateja Radonjić is in the works
Loznica have made the call to Radnicki Nis. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to FAP Priboj: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Looking ahead3 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mačva Šabac in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Loznica, another week without a signature from Nikola Vujičić.