Marked for Balša Mrvaljević
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Podbrezova's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podbrezova has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Samuel Štefánik 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Podbrezova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rene Rantuša Lampreht 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.
Squad13 Dec 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Martin Trnovský has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Podbrezova will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Podbrezova
9 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Luka Silagadze 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Filip Mielke, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad6 Dec 2027
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 terraces6 Dec 2027
At 22 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.
Squad6 Dec 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match4 Dec 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Podbrezova's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podbrezova has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The medical room confirms 63 days on the sidelines for Filip Mielke, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Luka Silagadze 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Robbe Quirynen 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Luka Silagadze
“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 ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 8.47 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match6 Nov 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Luka Silagadze
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
No sign of nerves from Ousman Kujabi at 21 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ousman Kujabi did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match30 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Podbrezova
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.
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 Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Podbrezova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rene Rantuša Lampreht 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
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.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ousman Kujabi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 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 Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
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.
Squad25 Oct 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Kevor Palumets at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Podbrezova.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match23 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market25 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Podbrezova know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Oct 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.
Squad18 Oct 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 Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Podbrezova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robbe Quirynen 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 Oct 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christos Ligdas commits to Podbrezova for another 3 years.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Luka Silagadze 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Branislav Niňaj commits to Podbrezova for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 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 Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Podbrezova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robbe Quirynen 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Kevor Palumets was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.74. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 11 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Samuel Štefánik out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podbrezova will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match25 Sep 2027
10 matches without a win for Podbrezova
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Podbrezova are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Sep 2027
28 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Luka Silagadze 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Robbe Quirynen 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 terraces27 Sep 2027
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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.40 on the card, and the Podbrezova support went home talking about one name.
Match25 Sep 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
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Samuel Štefánik out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podbrezova will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Podbrezova's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Podbrezova has to find a result from somewhere.
Market20 Sep 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 Podbrezova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 Sep 2027
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad20 Sep 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.
Squad20 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 Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Šimon Faško commits to Podbrezova for another 5 years.
Match18 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. MFK Skalica will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Samuel Štefánik out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podbrezova will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Podbrezova
8 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Luka Silagadze 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Robbe Quirynen 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Samuel Štefánik out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Podbrezova will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match4 Sep 2027
7 matches without a win for Podbrezova
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Podbrezova are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Štefánik and Podbrezova agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Samuel Štefánik 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jakub Hurny is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.19 on the card, and the Podbrezova support went home talking about one name.
Match4 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market6 Sep 2027
Jakub Luka is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Podbrezova has been clear about where Jakub Luka stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Robbe Quirynen
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Podbrezova lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 58 days on the sidelines for Rene Rantuša Lampreht, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Luka Silagadze 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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
An afternoon Ousman Kujabi will want back
Marked 3.18. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Match14 Aug 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.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Luka Silagadze
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A mark of 5.61 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
Robbe Quirynen damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podbrezova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Aug 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 Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Aug 2027
MSK Zilina left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Robbe Quirynen
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Podbrezova lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Podbrezova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Luka Silagadze 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
1‑2 to Spartak Trnava, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Aug 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market2 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matúš Marcin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Podbrezova.
Market2 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Podbrezova know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Podbrezova
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Podbrezova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balša Mrvaljević 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 Sep 2026
Václav Ondřejka dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Zlate Moravce will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
12 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ridwan Sanusi, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Balša Mrvaljević and Podbrezova agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A month that belonged to Radek Šiler
The young player of the month award goes to a 22-year-old at Podbrezova who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match5 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Slovan Bratislava came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
MFK Michalovce go through and Podbrezova go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Patrik Filippov, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.47
A mark of 8.47 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market24 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Ousman Kujabi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ousman Kujabi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Podbrezova the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Luka Silagadze 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Radek Šiler’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Podbrezova.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
At 18 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
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 22 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Podbrezova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Štefánik, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davit Hakobyan and Podbrezova agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Podbrezova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balša Mrvaljević 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
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Al-Nassr for Radek Šiler 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Balša Mrvaljević, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luka Silagadze and Podbrezova agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Luka Silagadze 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Radek Šiler. 2‑1 against MSK Zilina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Radek Šiler
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Podbrezova has been clear about where Rene Rantuša Lampreht stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Matúš Marcin 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Vincent Chyla
“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.