Marked for Marek Pekarik
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Banik Ostrava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mamour N'Diaye is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
David Pavelka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Marek Pekarik
13 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 3‑2 win over Mlada Boleslav, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zbrojovka Brno have kept their man, and Banik Ostrava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matěj Chaluš has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Banik Ostrava.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Pavelka
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Banik Ostrava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Dec 2026
5‑2, and Marek Pekarik took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Banik Ostrava tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Marek Pekarik, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Banik Ostrava and Jablonec in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.70 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Srđan Plavšić
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Michal Frydrych 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Antonin Darida kept it short after the 5‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Banik Ostrava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market7 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 Banik Ostrava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Dec 2026
0‑2 to Sparta Prague, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dennis Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matúš Kmeť commits to Banik Ostrava for another 3 years.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Banik Ostrava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ventspils runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Antonin Darida to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Pavelka
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Banik Ostrava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Marek Pekarik takes the afternoon — 9.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marek Pekarik provided it, and the 9.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Jakub Pira, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad30 Nov 2026
David Pavelka 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jakub Pira and Banik Ostrava agree another 5 years.
Match28 Nov 2026
Three points for Banik Ostrava, 3‑1 the final word against Pribram in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 19 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
No place for Dennis Owusu in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dennis Owusu has his answer from Banik Ostrava; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
David Pavelka damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Matúš Kmeť has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banik Ostrava they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Nov 2026
David Pavelka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Jiří Boula
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dennis Owusu 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Banik Ostrava told Srđan Plavšić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Filip Kubala has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Pavelka
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Banik Ostrava lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 22 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Marek Pekarik’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Banik Ostrava.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dennis Owusu 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matúš Kmeť, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Antonin Darida, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Jakub Pira, 18, steals the show — 7.87
Marked 7.87 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
David Pavelka 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for Banik Ostrava, 2‑1 the final word against Slovacko in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 18 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dennis Owusu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for David Planka
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Planka has come out of that comparison in the side, and Banik Ostrava have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Antonin Darida on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Hamidou Kante, 21, steals the show — 7.65
Marked 7.65 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Frydrych 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Václav Jurečka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Antonin Darida kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Jakubko, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Jiří Boula
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Zbrojovka Brno, and it could have been more.
Market14 Sep 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 Banik Ostrava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Marek Pekarik takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marek Pekarik provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
David Pavelka 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 Sep 2026
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Godspower Akekoromowei is living that version at Banik Ostrava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” David Planka and Banik Ostrava agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Owusu 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 dugout14 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Banik Ostrava 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Taofeek Otaniyi arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Taofeek Otaniyi has, at Banik Ostrava, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad7 Sep 2026
David Pavelka 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Viktoria Plzen wanted more than $47.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Jiří Boula
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Michal Frydrych 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
A 0‑4 beating by Slavia Prague was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market31 Aug 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 Banik Ostrava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Banik Ostrava have paid $5.7M for Marek Pekarik, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from MSK Zilina for Viktor Budinský 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $620.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Teplice drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$160.0K was the most the club would pay and Sparta Prague 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Banik Ostrava paid $5.7M
Marek Pekarik was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $5.7M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
The unthinkable, invoiced: Marek Pekarik sold
Banik Ostrava arrived with $5.7M 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Slovan Bratislava, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$680.0K settles it between the clubs for Roshaun Mathurin
AS Trencin have accepted the money. What FK Senica do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Marek Pekarik has gone, the accounts have $5.7M 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for FK Senica
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$13.0K on the table at AS Trencin. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Milan Duda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
A 3‑2 win over Zbrojovka Brno, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad24 Aug 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$5.7M settles it between the clubs for Marek Pekarik
FK Senica have accepted the money. What Banik Ostrava do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match19 Aug 2026
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Filip Kubala was at the centre of it, Zbrojovka Brno were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Martin Jedlička has gone, the accounts have $3.6M 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Matúš Kmeť has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banik Ostrava they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Aug 2026
Hajduk Split paid $3.6M and Banik Ostrava took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market24 Aug 2026
Michal Kohút has left for Slavia Prague in a $2.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for FK Senica
2‑3 against Zlate Moravce, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 Aug 2026
Jakub Sestak 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 FK Senica can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Both of them Jan Nemec's — 8.84
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 2026
Vorskla come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and FK Senica did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Viktoria Plzen is saying, and nobody at FK Senica is enjoying the guessing.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to FK Senica's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at FK Senica has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Milan Duda 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 FK Senica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Jan Nemec pulls a muscle — 17 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Banik Ostrava have gone to FK Senica 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
David Pavelka 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Jablonec pay $810.0K, 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Tomáš Digaňa at that price
Banik Ostrava offered $420.0K; Sigma Olomouc 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$44.0K on the table at Viktoria Plzen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market17 Aug 2026
Teplice pay $380.0K, 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Stefan Weiss had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Stefan Mak 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 FK Senica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and FK Senica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Andrej Benes 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at FK Senica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Duda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Zlin had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Zbrojovka Brno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Tomáš Horák rejects the move
FK Senica had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mlada Boleslav, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marek Pekarik and FK Senica agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jakub Sestak 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
FK Senica asked and Viktoria Plzen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑2 to DAC Dunajska Streda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Stefan Mak 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.62, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Teodoro Spinelli could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.70
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.70, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Jan Nemec yet — 9.11
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market3 Aug 2026
FK Senica say no — this time
The offer from Oleksandriya for Jan Nemec 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrej Benes and FK Senica agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Stefan Mak and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Samuel Kucka again, and this time the name on the line is MFK Skalica. FK Senica are listening politely and promising nothing.