Marked for Luka Kovačević
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Jesenice
Borna Panić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Jesenice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wim Vanmarsenille 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Brkić, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jesenice told Luka Kovačević something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Erik Milošević 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 Jesenice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tilen Ščernjavič’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jesenice needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tilen Ščernjavič signs something — a contract at Jesenice or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tin Štricelj is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Jesenice's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Jesenice has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Borna Panić 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 Jesenice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Luka Jelić
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Petar Janza was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Jesenice dressing room was either.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Luka Kovačević 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 Jesenice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Bistrica came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Jesenice's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Jesenice has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Rok Kopatin, 20, steals the show — 7.65
Marked 7.65 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Jesenice
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wim Vanmarsenille was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Luka Kovačević
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Timothy Ček beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It needed Rok Kopatin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Jadran Dekani, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 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.” Petar Janza chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A Jesenice teenager takes the young player award
Rok Kopatin is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Aluminij, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Jesenice
Borna Panić 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Jesenice cannot find the net
3 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Ajdin Dergić 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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. Jesenice will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market17 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jesenice are still strangers to each other
20 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.