Marked for Wiktor Kowal
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market4 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Puszcza Niepołomice have done the hard part with Shakhtar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Doni Arifi 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Miłosz Kozak 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.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Puszcza Niepołomice asked and Raków Częstochowa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The clock did what Lech would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Market21 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and GKS Tychy waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Puszcza Niepołomice is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Puszcza Niepołomice have done the hard part with Korona, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Miłosz Kozak 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doni Arifi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Puszcza Niepołomice asked and ŁKS Łódź said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Aug 2028
The medical room confirms 50 days on the sidelines for Piotr Mroziński, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The terraces21 Aug 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Aug 2028
Ruch come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Puszcza Niepołomice did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
No thanks: Alaa Ghram rejects the move
Puszcza Niepołomice had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Doni Arifi 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miłosz Kozak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Puszcza Niepołomice asked and Raków Częstochowa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Aug 2028
The name of Michał Perchel has come up in conversations Puszcza Niepołomice were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Filip Karbowy: 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.” Puszcza Niepołomice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market24 Jul 2028
The offer from FF Jaro for Doni Arifi 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.
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Puszcza Niepołomice people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market24 Jul 2028
Tom King 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Puszcza Niepołomice heard it as anything else.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Doni Arifi 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Wrąbel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jul 2028
“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 Puszcza Niepołomice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jul 2028
The bid was some way short and Puszcza Niepołomice did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Doni Arifi 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miłosz Kozak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Doni Arifi knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Doni Arifi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Puszcza Niepołomice. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Jul 2028
Wiktor Kowal has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Puszcza Niepołomice they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Miłosz Kozak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Doni Arifi 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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Raków Częstochowa have kept their man, and Puszcza Niepołomice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Filip Karbowy
“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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Doni Arifi 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Puszcza Niepołomice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
Doni Arifi 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Puszcza Niepołomice people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Puszcza Niepołomice
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces26 Jun 2028
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Amarildo Gjoni was one of the reasons people came, and $1.7M does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Korona, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Doni Arifi 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Miłosz Kozak 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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Puszcza Niepołomice asked and Lech said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
Amarildo Gjoni damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Jun 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Puszcza Niepołomice have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Jun 2028
“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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Neman come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Puszcza Niepołomice did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Miłosz Kozak 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doni Arifi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pogon have kept their man, and Puszcza Niepołomice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Puszcza Niepołomice know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
Amarildo Gjoni damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market12 Jun 2028
The bid was some way short and Puszcza Niepołomice did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Jun 2028
Wiktor Kowal has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Puszcza Niepołomice they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Doni Arifi 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Dominik Skiba 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. Dominik Skiba has, at Puszcza Niepołomice, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market12 Jun 2028
Raphaël Gaudel has left for Motor Lublin in a $140.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Miłosz Kozak 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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Raków Częstochowa have kept their man, and Puszcza Niepołomice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Antoni Klimek 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 Puszcza Niepołomice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amarildo Gjoni
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 May 2028
Steve Kapuadi 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patryk Malamis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 May 2028
Filip Karbowy 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market17 Apr 2028
Doni Arifi 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Puszcza Niepołomice may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Miłosz Kozak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Puszcza Niepołomice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Doni Arifi 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
Amarildo Gjoni knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amarildo Gjoni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Dawid Kogut 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
No place for Ben Radcliffe in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Puszcza Niepołomice are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Mar 2028
“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 Puszcza Niepołomice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Miłosz Kozak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Mar 2028
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve Kapuadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces20 Mar 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Aleksa Damjanović 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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Michał Perchel
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Feb 2028
“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 Puszcza Niepołomice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Jakub Antczak: 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.” Puszcza Niepołomice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Miłosz Kozak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve Kapuadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Feb 2028
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Puszcza Niepołomice can tell you which week it ends in.
Match19 Feb 2028
0‑2 to Raków Częstochowa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Jan 2028
7 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Wiktor Kowal has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Puszcza Niepołomice they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Steve Kapuadi 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 targets24 Jan 2028
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.
Match22 Jan 2028
1‑2 to Widzew Łódź, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Patryk Malamis 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.
Looking ahead24 Jan 2028
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filipe Nascimento, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Miłosz Kozak was unplayable
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The dugout
Jakub Wrąbel knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Dec 2027
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Lechia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market27 Dec 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Market27 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Puszcza Niepołomice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Dominik Hollý 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Puszcza Niepołomice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steve Kapuadi 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamil Zapolnik, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Nov 2027
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market29 Nov 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match27 Nov 2027
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Puszcza Niepołomice has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 Nov 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Puszcza Niepołomice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amarildo Gjoni 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.
Match27 Nov 2027
Dominik Hollý scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Pogon, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamil Zapolnik, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robert Piatek after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kacper Sezonienko
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Nov 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 Puszcza Niepołomice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Puszcza Niepołomice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Nov 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amarildo Gjoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamil Zapolnik, and the manager let it.
Match30 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Jagiellonia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market1 Nov 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Puszcza Niepołomice, another week without a signature from German Barkovskiy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Puszcza Niepołomice will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Miłosz Kozak 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Piotr Mroziński and Puszcza Niepołomice agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Jakub Wrąbel
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patryk Malamis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Something was said to German Barkovskiy and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Match2 Oct 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market6 Sep 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 30 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market6 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kōsei Iwao reports back to Puszcza Niepołomice with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market6 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Puszcza Niepołomice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Sep 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yuki Kobayashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Sep 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.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Patryk Malamis
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Yuki Kobayashi: 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.” Puszcza Niepołomice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Aug 2027
Michał Walski 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Aug 2027
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Puszcza Niepołomice has to find a result from somewhere.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Puszcza Niepołomice is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The deal with Sparta Prague 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mateusz Cholewiak
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Wiktor Kowal
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wiktor Kowal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puszcza Niepołomice the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Puszcza Niepołomice have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad12 Jul 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Argeș have kept their man, and Puszcza Niepołomice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patryk Malamis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Puszcza Niepołomice would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market12 Jul 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
Mateusz Cholewiak damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Puszcza Niepołomice people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zaglebie keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Raphaël Gaudel is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Amarildo Gjoni 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Puszcza Niepołomice asked and Polissia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Piotr Mroziński and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
32 appearances at Piast and the goals keep coming. Puszcza Niepołomice are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mateusz Cholewiak
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Zaglebie; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market21 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 Puszcza Niepołomice can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done: Jakub Wrąbel joins from Miedź Legnica in a deal worth $170.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Miłosz Kozak 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 targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Colón have kept their man, and Puszcza Niepołomice go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Puszcza Niepołomice have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Patryk Malamis 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
9 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
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mateusz Cholewiak
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puszcza Niepołomice lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Jun 2027
SC Freiburg come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Puszcza Niepołomice did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bruno Henrique 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
Kamil Zapolnik 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Puszcza Niepołomice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amarildo Gjoni 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 targets14 Jun 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Robert Jozwiak 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Arkadiusz Moder 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
Match10 May 2027
Position 2, 56 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Rafał Mamla 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 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateusz Cholewiak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Wiktor Kowal: 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.” Puszcza Niepołomice have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Kamil Zapolnik 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Filip Karbowy 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 dugout26 Apr 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Puszcza Niepołomice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 Apr 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 Łukasz Sołowiej has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Miłosz Kozak 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Puszcza Niepołomice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafał Mamla 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 dugout19 Apr 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
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.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kajetan Szmyt signs something — a contract at Puszcza Niepołomice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Jakub Antczak 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 Puszcza Niepołomice will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout19 Apr 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Wiktor Kowal knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Wiktor Kowal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager plants his flag on Kamil Zapolnik
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Kamil Zapolnik’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match6 Mar 2027
9 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.
Squad8 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 Puszcza Niepołomice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafał Mamla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
28 appearances at Piast and the goals keep coming. Puszcza Niepołomice are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Looking ahead8 Mar 2027
The big one: Wisla Krakow come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Puszcza Niepołomice will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Dimitris Rallis is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Puszcza Niepołomice will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Half-satisfied: Robert Piatek on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Dimitris Rallis at 21 — 7.93
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dimitris Rallis did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Miłosz Kozak 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Filip Karbowy 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It is the quietest kind of dressing-room problem and the one that lasts longest, because nobody has done anything anyone can be disciplined for. 3 players sit outside all 4 groups entirely, which is the detail that tends to matter.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Robert Piatek was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Puszcza Niepołomice dressing room was either.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Wiktor Kowal 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kamil Zapolnik 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad12 Oct 2026
10 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateusz Cholewiak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Kamil Zapolnik 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 Puszcza Niepołomice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Wiktor Kowal 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Konrad Kasolik’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Puszcza Niepołomice needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Puszcza Niepołomice. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.