The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Maribor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 The request is on a desk at NK Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Esenler Erokspor for Vid Kurtovic was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Dinamo Zagreb, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Anže Zabukovec is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Kasalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NK Maribor asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bilje waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Maribor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ilirija 1911 had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Niko Grlić was one of the reasons people came, and $4.5M does not replace that by itself.
Everything agreed with Slovan Ljubljana, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Kasalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. NK Maribor will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tio Cipot has his answer from NK Maribor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
György Komáromi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Eric Taylor 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.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lukas Veber is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Tabor Sežana suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to NK Maribor, and the summer will force it.
“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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and NK Maribor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Maribor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Primorje; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Josip Kasalo 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
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 Jan Verbic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mark Španring signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Maribor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Tio Cipot 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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
György Komáromi 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Kasalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. NK Maribor will try not to make too much of it.
7.70, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tio Cipot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zvonimir Šarlija 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.
At 22 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.
A 1‑0 win over Olimpija Ljubljana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
Player ratingsTihomir Maksimović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsJosip Kasalo did the work nobody counts — 6.77
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Niko Grlić
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Maribor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
György Komáromi 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tio Cipot signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now NK Maribor have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
György Komáromi 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.
20 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad25 Sep 2028
7 new faces, and NK Maribor 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Maribor can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Maribor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Luka Zahovič to Mura has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to NK Maribor with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at NK Maribor until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything agreed with Triglav Kranj, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Josip Kasalo 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Maribor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with NK Celje 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.
The paperwork is done: Tijan Vasić joins from Olimpija Ljubljana in a deal worth $440.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tio Cipot 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.
NK Maribor asked and Rudar Velenje said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mark Zabukovnik 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.
“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 NK Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at NK Maribor heard it as anything else.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $191.2K — a club that wants Andreas Šćulac enough to be asked twice.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Tine Čuk reports back to NK Maribor with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
$180.0K on the table at Jadran Dekani. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
Zvonimir Šarlija 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.
NK Maribor asked and Dravinja 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 deal with NK Celje 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $63.0K — a club that wants Andrej Pečar enough to be asked twice.
NK Maribor have gone to Bravo 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
In brief
SquadWords at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $30.0K — a club that wants Xavi Woudstra enough to be asked twice.
Klemen Mihelak 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ilirija 1911 have kept their man, and NK Domzale go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Domen Bijol 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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. NK Domzale know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
7 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.
Tabor Sežana have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kauno Zalgiris waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Maribor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. NK Maribor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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.
Position 4, 29 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at NK Maribor that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Maribor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 May 2028
Josip Kasalo 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.
29 games, 2 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at NK Maribor now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
11 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.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument NK Maribor will have this month.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and György Komáromi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Tio Cipot is on it.
8 clean sheets from 21 appearances at Jesenice. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at NK Maribor the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Maribor they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Kasalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every NK Maribor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zalgiris runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and NK Maribor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at NK Maribor would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Josip Kasalo 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.
“I watch every NK Maribor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Koper runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Orphé Mbina is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tio Cipot signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Maribor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Mark Zabukovnik’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The agreement at Rudar Velenje has 45 days left in it, with 0 appearances to weigh. Three doors: keep him, sell him, lend him again — and none of them stays open long.
Josip Kasalo 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.
Zvonimir Šarlija 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.
“I watch every NK Maribor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Celje runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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.
2 appearances and 2 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at NK Maribor no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
Position 4 on 29 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.
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Maribor, and 0 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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.
8 clean sheets from 21 appearances at Jesenice. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
That is the business done at NK Maribor until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Maribor is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ažbe Jug and NK Maribor agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Josip Kasalo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beltinci have kept their man, and NK Maribor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mark Zabukovnik 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.
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. NK Maribor will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“I watch every NK Maribor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zalgiris runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ilirija 1911 had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: CSKA Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vid Novak has agreed terms with Olimpija Ljubljana for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Koper have kept their man, and NK Maribor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 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.
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
Mark Zabukovnik 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.
“I watch every NK Maribor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at ETO Győr runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Nemanja Motika is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ali Reghba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Marked 8.03 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every NK Maribor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nomme Kalju runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.68, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at NK Maribor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Orphé Mbina
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Orphé Mbina has come out of that comparison in the side, and NK Maribor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Tio Cipot is on it.
0‑3 against Hull City. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nemanja Motika provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Position 3, 28 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tio Cipot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mark Zabukovnik 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.58, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Maribor, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Žan Karničnik is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against NK Celje in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Maribor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at NK Maribor would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Tine Čuk’s exile
MatchContinental football is in reach for NK Maribor
2‑2 against FC Nantes, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Orphé Mbina was at the centre of the description.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 24 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tio Cipot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mark Zabukovnik 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Maribor, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Mark Španring 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.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Olimpija Ljubljana were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tio Cipot 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.
Mark Zabukovnik 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tio Cipot. 2‑1 against Olimpija Ljubljana, 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 NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tio Cipot 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Maribor told Zvonimir Šarlija something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Žan Karničnik is on it.
The dugout18 Oct 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.” Jan Verbic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Maribor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jean Michaël Seri and NK Maribor agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Motika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Josip Kasalo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
“I did not go to ETO Győr to sit and watch. I want to come back to NK Maribor and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Žan Karničnik
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Titanes Guanare wanted more than $710.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
A 3‑2 win over Primorje, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
György Komáromi 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.
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.
“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 NK Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Milton Keynes Dons this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and NK Maribor know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tio Cipot was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NK Maribor asked and AS Roma 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 offer went to ZTE this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Kasalo 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Maribor can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Brinje Grosuplje for Matej Tadič was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Josip Kasalo 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tio Cipot 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: Tio Cipot. 1‑0 against NK Domzale, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 NK Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Josip Kasalo 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.
11 combined actions and 6.84. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Luka Zahovič has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. NK Maribor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from HNK Vukovar 1991 for Joaquín Enrico was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Kasalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kryvbas have kept their man, and NK Maribor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nemanja Motika 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.
Žiga Pečjak is 20, and NK Maribor 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josip Kasalo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutBenjamin Tetteh has become a man the manager trusts
Position 2, 32 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 Maribor have gone to Hajduk Split 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with San Telmo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$3.1M was the most the club would pay and Olimpija Ljubljana were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The chase for Tihomir Maksimović ended with $1.7M changing hands and Triglav Kranj out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Maribor have done the hard part with Krasnodar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tihomir Maksimović is living that version at NK Maribor, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
NK Maribor arrived with $3.2M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
“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 NK Domzale, and it is not being withdrawn.
Josip Kasalo has gone, the accounts have $3.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Everything agreed with Rudar Velenje, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The name of Nejc Cerin has come up in conversations NK Domzale were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Narek Kirakosyan has, at NK Domzale, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Skubic 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slovan Ljubljana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Maribor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Triglav Kranj; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.2M has been paid because Josip Kasalo is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $160.0K — a club that wants Alen Korošec enough to be asked twice.
NK Maribor offered $150.0K; Mura said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
NK Maribor spend $3.2M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.2M for Josip Kasalo, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at NK Maribor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tio Cipot 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.
Mark Zabukovnik 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.
NK Maribor have made the call to Krasnodar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutJan Mlakar has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Domzale people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Domzale can pretend not to have heard.
Rok Handanovic 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.
NK Domzale have gone to NK Maribor 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zan Balkovec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NK Domzale asked and Beltinci said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
NK Domzale have made the call to NK Celje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Luka Balkovec has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: NK Domzale enter the window
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. NK Maribor have done the hard part with NK Domzale, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 NK Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Omar Rekik again, and this time the name on the line is Primorje. NK Maribor are listening politely and promising nothing.
Zvonimir Šarlija 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.
NK Maribor asked and Radomlje said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Jakob Kobal is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mark Zabukovnik is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. NK Domzale lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutLuka Balkovec knocks on the manager’s door
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. NK Domzale lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Josip Kasalo 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zan Balkovec 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rok Handanovic signs something — a contract at NK Domzale or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Domzale can pretend not to have heard.
Josip Kasalo 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
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zan Balkovec 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zan Balkovec signs something — a contract at NK Domzale or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vid Kampl trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Josip Kasalo signs something — a contract at NK Domzale or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Zan Balkovec 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zan Balkovec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Domzale, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Josip Kasalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zan Balkovec 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.
Josip Kasalo 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one NK Domzale will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
At 19 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.
Josip Kasalo 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Zan Balkovec 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.
Something was said to Matic Elsnik and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The loan was meant to give him football. 2 games and 1 goals later he is back at NK Domzale no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomas Kurtovic and NK Domzale agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zan Balkovec 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Vid Kampl returns from a loan that gave him nothing
2 appearances and 1 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Domzale, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Domzale told Domen Birsa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.