Marked for Jakov Miholić
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jul 2027
4 matches without a win for Sibenik
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sibenik are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Toni Španja 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 Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Marko Đira 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 targets2 Aug 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Rudes left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Charles Agada is the division's best young player this month
At 20 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. Sibenik will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jakov Miholić commits to Sibenik for another 4 years.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
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 Horvat left the room before anybody could ask which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Toni Španja 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 Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Sibenik have gone to Dugopolje with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market5 Jul 2027
The fee is $20.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Zadar drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The step up is real for Marin Rebic
At 15 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Rijeka have kept their man, and Sibenik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihael Rebernik 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 targets5 Jul 2027
A loan move for Dino Vrsaljko is in the works
Sibenik have made the call to Zadar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Sibenik academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Marco Russo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Sibenik and Dugopolje have settled on $16.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The deal with Rudes 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Sibenik
Toni Španja 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jakov Miholić is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market21 Jun 2027
Cibalia pay $59.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Đira 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
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
Toni Španja 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 Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mauro Ibarra is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Sibenik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihael Rebernik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Soratto and Sibenik agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Cherno More: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Marco Russo 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
Pius Igwe 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 Pius Igwe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Jakov Miholić
“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.
Market7 Jun 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sibenik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Faton Krasnići out for 131 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibenik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Apr 2027
Franko Knez 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 Sibenik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Sibenik
Toni Španja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Đira 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ivan Bilic 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 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jakov Miholić and Sibenik agree another 4 years.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Marco Russo 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Karlo Špeljak’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Josip Baturina 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 Josip Baturina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sibenik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A move Pius Igwe would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Pius Igwe is living that version at Sibenik, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Mar 2027
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Toni Španja and Sibenik agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Toni Španja 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 Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sibenik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sibenik have done the hard part with Lazio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Toni Španja 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 Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Imširović and Sibenik agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marko Đira 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 targets8 Feb 2027
Sibenik asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robert Juranovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Karlo Špeljak has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sibenik 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.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dugopolje waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sibenik is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Lokomotiva Zagreb; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Niko Ljubić is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Toni Španja 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 Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bruno Modric 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 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 Sibenik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Sibenik
Marino Skelin 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Sibenik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karlo Špeljak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Stanisic 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Russo, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Karlo Špeljak 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 Karlo Špeljak is on it.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I want to play”: Marco Russo speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Josip Baturina 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 Sibenik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for HNK Gorica
5 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The goals have deserted HNK Gorica
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at HNK Gorica can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Bogojević 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Jakov Miholić has left for Sibenik in a $48.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market31 Aug 2026
The Medin Gashi conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gomel will make the call about Medin Gashi this week. HNK Gorica have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at HNK Gorica
9 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Théo Epailly, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
Jakov Miholić 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 HNK Gorica can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. HNK Gorica have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jurica Pršir commits to HNK Gorica for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jurica Pršir 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Lokomotiva Zagreb left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Jakov Filipović’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and HNK Gorica 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.