Marked for Abdullahi Yusuf
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Jan 2029
Every point is an argument now for MFK Skalica
Position 12 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market22 Jan 2029
Samuel Suľa 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 MFK Skalica can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Richard Ludha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
MFK Skalica asked and Slovan Bratislava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oliver Podhorín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to MSK Zilina: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
Samuel Suľa 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 MFK Skalica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Jan 2029
Petr Kurka 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 MFK Skalica can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Jan 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Petržalka had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” MFK Skalica may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Richard Ludha 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.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Oliver Podhorín 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 dugout15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullahi Yusuf, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
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.
Market15 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Richard Ludha’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2028
No end in sight to MFK Skalica's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at MFK Skalica has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Michał Grudniewski damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Richard Ludha 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 Nov 2028
Time is catching up with Erik Daniel
Everybody at MFK Skalica 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at MFK Skalica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petr Pudhorocký 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
The goals have deserted MFK Skalica
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at MFK Skalica can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Half-satisfied: Albert Mazuch on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market13 Nov 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Oct 2028
Michał Grudniewski damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Richard Ludha 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 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petr Pudhorocký was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdullahi Yusuf and MFK Skalica agree another 4 years.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Samuel Suľa 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 MFK Skalica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
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 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Emin Eskerov
“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.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
Slovan Bratislava next, and one man in the MFK Skalica dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Oct 2028
The name of Petr Pudhorocký keeps appearing in other people's back pages. MFK Skalica say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces17 Jul 2028
Anger at MFK Skalica spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Artur Chuduk breaks a bone — 103 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The deal with Spartak Trnava 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Richard Ludha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Levan Nonikashvili 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 dugout17 Jul 2028
Samuel Suľa 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 Samuel Suľa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Richard Ludha signs something — a contract at MFK Skalica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
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 Matheis Piskor is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Jun 2028
Anger at MFK Skalica spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Richard Ludha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market19 Jun 2028
DAC Dunajska Streda paid $130.0K and MFK Skalica took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at MFK Skalica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petr Pudhorocký 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 targets19 Jun 2028
MFK Skalica asked and Tatran Prešov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
No hiding place for Rrok Toma
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rrok Toma, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan move for Alen Mustafić is in the works
MFK Skalica have made the call to Slovan Bratislava. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to MSK Zilina: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market19 Jun 2028
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.