112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Voždovac lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Voždovac game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Vranje runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marko Vranješ 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Voždovac can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
It needed Ognjen Dimitrić to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Trayal Kruševac, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Voždovac are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Filip Ivelja delivers — 7.49
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Filip Ivelja scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beryly Lubala 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.
Position 13, 14 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Nikola Janković 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivan Krsticic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Nobody at Voždovac is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Voždovac know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Voždovac was different afterwards.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Bojan Matić has let it be known that he does not like the way Voždovac are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
In brief
SquadBan served, and Filip Ivelja returns to the reckoning
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Voždovac, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Novak Radonjic 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Beryly Lubala 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vukašin Braunović is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo Vranje in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Voždovac have no good answer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Voždovac, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Everybody at Voždovac saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Marko Vranješ 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.
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beryly Lubala 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It needed Ognjen Dimitrić to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Borac Čačak, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ivan Krsticic chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Luka Nedović
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Beryly Lubala 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.
Ognjen Dimitrić 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uroš Mojsilović, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ivan Krsticic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Miloš Mijić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Voždovac needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A brace, and Beryly Lubala takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Beryly Lubala provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OFK Beograd have kept their man, and Voždovac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nenad Ilic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Voždovac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Vranješ 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Voždovac game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Vranje runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ivan Krsticic, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Voždovac will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Voždovac close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 21 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. OFK Vršac moved on, Nikola Čejović reports back to Voždovac, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Beryly Lubala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Voždovac have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Filip Ivelja has just signed for Voždovac, and for once the answer mattered.
Voždovac had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Farul Constanța, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mladost Lucani have kept their man, and Voždovac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Uroš Mojsilović 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Beryly Lubala 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Auckland City had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 114th minute. Javor-Matis will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Voždovac can pretend not to have heard.
16 combined actions and 7.09. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Uroš Mojsilović is a Voždovac player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radnik Surdulica have kept their man, and Voždovac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Uroš Mojsilović 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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Ušće, and it could have been more.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Marko Vranješ takes the afternoon — 8.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Vranješ provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Involvement in 3 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.96 beside his name.
The phone has started ringing about Marko Vranješ again, and this time the name on the line is Auckland City. Voždovac are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with IMT 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Voždovac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andrija Dimeski had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at IMT is saying, and nobody at Voždovac is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Radnik Surdulica have kept their man, and Voždovac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Milos Bogdanovic 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Miroslav Bogdanovic 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marko Vranješ 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Voždovac will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Nikola Janković 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.