Marked for Mate Kovac
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Aug 2027
6 matches without a win for Zadar
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Zadar are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“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.
Match21 Aug 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Mate Kovac changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Zadar had a different afternoon.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Jiří Texl brings the grey hairs Zadar lacked
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Mate Kovac finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Zadar have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2027
$970.0K. No player has ever cost Zadar more, and expectation arrives with him.
Match14 Aug 2027
5 matches without a win for Zadar
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Zadar are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Davyd Fesyuk: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Zadar
Bruno Centeno 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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.47 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Tin Karamatić
“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 Aug 2027
Goran Pasalic knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Goran Pasalic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
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
Steady
Match28 Dec 2026
Zadar up to position 1
32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Robert Ćosić 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Fran Majer, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
No hiding place for Josip Cop
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josip Cop, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Nov 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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
Crisis
Match2 Nov 2026
Zadar up to position 1
27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match28 Oct 2026
Zadar out of the cup
NK Osijek ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martin Tadic and Zadar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match31 Oct 2026
Damir Budimir scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Rudes, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
165% of the income goes out in wages at Zadar
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Fran Majer 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Mejía 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Duje Boric, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 6 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.
Market19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Bruno Centeno 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mislav Bogdan, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.41 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Oct 2026
Zadar refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 23 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mate Kovac takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 unbeaten for Zadar
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Zadar did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Bruno Centeno 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 9.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Mate Kovac’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zadar.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 204% of everything Zadar earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
8 unbeaten for Zadar
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Zadar did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Dinamo Zagreb to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zadar and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 7 matches say the rest.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Mislav Bogdan to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dugopolje, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Sep 2026
Zadar make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zadar have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad14 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Zadar get the job done against Cibalia
A 2‑1 win over Cibalia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.83 — 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.11 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Fran Majer 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
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zadar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Zadar, 2‑1 the final word against Rudes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.98, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Damir Budimir and Zadar agree another 3 years.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Josip Cop 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Hrvoje Modric may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Zadar
A 0‑0 win over Imotski, 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
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Bruno Centeno: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Josip Cop runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 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 Zadar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Bruno Centeno 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 4‑2 win over Hrvatski Dragovoljac, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 9.10 — 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.68 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Tadic and Zadar agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 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 Zadar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Sibenik pay $160.0K, 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Segesta left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Goran Pasalic, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bruno Centeno has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Zadar know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Loan watch10 Aug 2026
“I watch every Zadar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hajduk Split runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kristijan Sucic has his answer from Zadar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Robert Ćosić 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Boris Vukovic’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zadar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fran Majer commits to Zadar for another 2 years.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.78, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Sibenik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Petar Grbic. The answer from Zadar has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mislav Bogdan, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
One of those days for Mate Kovac
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.31 — 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.