Position 1, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
NK Osijek ended it 1‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Zadar are taken apart by NK Osijek — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tin Kasalo did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guille Donoso 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luka Pjaca. 2‑1 against Rudes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dino Vukovic did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Duje Vrsaljko 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Guille Donoso 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.
At 17 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Position 1, 25 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Dino Vukovic, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.76
A mark of 8.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Damir Kramaric. 3‑1 against Lucko, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guille Donoso 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Dino Vukovic has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The young player of the month award goes to a 17-year-old at Zadar who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
4 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Dugopolje the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Zadar will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Luka Pjaca takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Pjaca provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tin Kasalo did not need any: 9.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Duje Vrsaljko 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Tin Kasalo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Dino Vukovic, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.36
A mark of 8.36 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is 17, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zadar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Dino Vukovic decided otherwise. Cibalia had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It finished 4‑3, and it was Dino Vukovic’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zadar.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Guille Donoso 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.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Duje Vrsaljko 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.
Stipe Erceg has left for Dugopolje in a $140.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Guille Donoso 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.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Duje Vrsaljko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Imotski are out and Zadar go through, 6‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Dejan Corluka, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00
A mark of 10.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zadar and Imotski in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 96th minute. Sibenik will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Dino Vukovic, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Duje Vrsaljko 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.
Pavle Smiljanić is 18, and Zadar have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Damir Kramaric was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
SquadDino Vukovic is the weekend's best young player
Dejan Corluka, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Duje Vrsaljko 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Stipe Erceg has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Damir Kramaric was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The goal that put Segesta ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Zadar equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dejan Tadic 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Damir Kramaric provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bojan Stanisic 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Dino Vukovic has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
Zadar's travelling support get something back at Lucko
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 5-0 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mislav Kovac trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.