Marked for Marko Pavić
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 2027
The knee: Adrián Marín out for 55 days
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kisvárda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Kisvárda's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kisvárda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match25 Dec 2027
Kisvárda cannot find the net
8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Kisvárda
Adrián Marín 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 Kisvárda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Laros Duarte 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 watch27 Dec 2027
“I did not go to Mezőkövesd to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kisvárda and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
A promise honoured at Kisvárda
Something was said to Vitalii Dubilei and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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.” Daniel Bese chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Danilo Mitrović falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad24 May 2027
Gábor Molnár 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
Bogdan Melnyk has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kisvárda 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
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Kisvárda
Gábor Molnár 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Kisvárda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bogdan Melnyk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
Gábor Molnár gets picked when it counts
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 Gábor Molnár is on it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Alex Hrabina is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout17 May 2027
Marko Pavić 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.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kisvárda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Kisvárda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danilo Mitrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 May 2027
Tonislav Yordanov 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
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 Danilo Mitrović is on it.
Squad10 May 2027
Márk Engedi wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Kisvárda will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nazar Ponomarenko, and the manager let it.
Market10 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kisvárda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
50 days out for Martin Chlumecký after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kisvárda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Kisvárda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrián Marín 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 targets8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Kisvárda
Gábor Molnár and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Márk Engedi wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Kisvárda will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The Adrián Marín story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Marín signs something — a contract at Kisvárda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match8 Feb 2027
Kisvárda have something to play for
Position 5 on 31 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
ZTE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kisvárda did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market1 Feb 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 Kisvárda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 1 out at Kisvárda
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Adrián Marín 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 targets1 Feb 2027
Kisvárda asked and Lokomotiv Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 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 Kisvárda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I watch every Kisvárda game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Debrecen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Kisvárda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrián Marín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Paksi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marko Matanović 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.71 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Kisvárda had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniel Bese on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The formation has left Marko Pavić behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kisvárda will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Nyíregyháza next, and one man in the Kisvárda dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.