Marked for Maxim Kalabus
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Mlada Boleslav — 7.62
1 for Samuel Grygar, marked 7.62, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match13 Feb 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Lukáš Letenay and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Maks Ebong 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 terraces15 Feb 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market15 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: TPS have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maxim Kalabus. The answer from Mlada Boleslav has not changed — yet.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Gloria Bistrița to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mlada Boleslav and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. TPS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market15 Feb 2027
KuPS come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and TPS did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at TPS
Albijon Muzaci 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at TPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luke Ivanovic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
TPS asked and AC Oulu 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 targets15 Feb 2027
Ikorodu City 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 targets15 Feb 2027
Mlada Boleslav 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
David Ezeh needs a bigger stage
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and TPS know which stage they are at.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Aly Coulibaly has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at TPS 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maks Ebong 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 watch8 Feb 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 Mlada Boleslav, and 7 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“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 Mlada Boleslav know it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 7.87 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Mlada Boleslav had the best player on the pitch.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Matthias Leitl 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
Crisis
Market7 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mlada Boleslav, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Maks Ebong 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 Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christophe Kabongo 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 watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Mlada Boleslav game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pardubice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match5 Dec 2026
0‑2 to Zlin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Patrik Brabec after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Christophe Kabongo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Christophe Kabongo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mlada Boleslav have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of David Kozel
“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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ondřej Karafiát'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
Squad16 Nov 2026
Maks Ebong 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Martin Králik 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jiří Klíma, and the manager let it.
Loan watch16 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 Mlada Boleslav, and 1 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Solomon John 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 Mlada Boleslav, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Slavia Prague next, and one man in the Mlada Boleslav dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Maks Ebong talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mlada Boleslav know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Oct 2026
Banik Ostrava go through and Mlada Boleslav go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Filip Černý, 17, steals the show — 7.62
Marked 7.62 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Martin Králik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maks Ebong 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 terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Christophe Kabongo 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Slovacko made Mlada Boleslav work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.23 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Sep 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Slovan Liberec was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Maks Ebong 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 Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Martin Králik 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 dugout14 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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Mlada Boleslav are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Mlada Boleslav game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pardubice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Patrik Brabec after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
David Pech runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.