Marked for Stefan Mazuch
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at FK Senica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Gyomber 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 ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 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.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
“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 FK Senica, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Matej Hamsik has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at FK Senica 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market16 Aug 2027
Kristian Weiss is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at FK Senica has been clear about where Kristian Weiss stands, which is more than many ever get.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FK Senica may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Mikovič and FK Senica agree another 2 years.
Match7 Aug 2027
A 2‑1 win over Spartak Myjava, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
At 20 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Martin Mikovič
“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.
Match7 Aug 2027
FK Senica settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Spartak Myjava spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Milan Bero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tomás Aristizábal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Juraj Valjent is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Gyomber 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the FK Senica academy
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Juraj Valjent keeps appearing in other people's back pages. FK Senica say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
Milan Bero 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stefan Mazuch commits to FK Senica for another 5 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Aristizábal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 May 2027
Juraj Valjent 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Milan Bero 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Vladimir Gyomber 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Jakub Jokl 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FK Senica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Gyomber 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Matej Hamsik was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bamba Diarrassouba 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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“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 FK Senica, and 0 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikita Medvedev
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nizhniy Novgorod lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Stefan Mazuch: 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.” Nizhniy Novgorod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martín Álvarez and Nizhniy Novgorod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 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 Nizhniy Novgorod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Dinamo Makhachkala to sit and watch. I want to come back to Nizhniy Novgorod and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Market8 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Karol Suslov: 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.” FK Senica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martin Mikovič and FK Senica agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Matej Hamsik 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Bamba Diarrassouba 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.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I watch every FK Senica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nizhniy Novgorod runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market1 Feb 2027
FK Senica shop where it costs nothing
Alejandro Morales signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sestak
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FK Senica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Vladimir Gyomber 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.
Squad14 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 watch14 Sep 2026
“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 FK Senica, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Lukas Pekarik to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against MFK Michalovce, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Erik Valjent finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. FK Senica have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Patrik Bero 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 FK Senica had a different afternoon.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 7. 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
Match12 Sep 2026
6 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 Nizhniy Novgorod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Edgardo Fariña 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Sochi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Matvey Urvantsev dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Yury Koledin
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sestak
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FK Senica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 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 FK Senica can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over MFK Skalica, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bamba Diarrassouba 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Zlate Moravce are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. FK Senica will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.66 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, FK Senica had the best player on the pitch.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Stefan Mazuch
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Stefan Mazuch has come out of that comparison in the side, and FK Senica have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Stefan Mazuch
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sestak
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FK Senica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 FK Senica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Matej Hamsik 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Slovan Bratislava, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Bamba Diarrassouba 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The name of Lukas Rusnak has come up in conversations FK Senica were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sestak
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FK Senica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Aug 2026
FK Senica through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Zlate Moravce, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Lukas Rusnak could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.79
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.79, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
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 FK Senica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Stefan Mazuch — 7.52
Marked 7.52. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Market24 Aug 2026
Zlate Moravce pay $570.0K, 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Stefan Mazuch scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to AS Trencin, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sestak
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FK Senica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
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 ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Stefan Mazuch at 19 — 8.07
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Stefan Mazuch did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The game went through Lukas Rusnak — 6.63
Marked 6.63 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matej Hamsik 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: MSK Zilina have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lukas Rusnak. The answer from FK Senica has not changed — yet.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Podbrezova, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Milan Bero
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kristian Duda
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FK Senica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
MSK Zilina 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Erik Valjent and FK Senica agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Milan Bero 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between FK Senica and DAC Dunajska Streda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match8 Aug 2026
DAC Dunajska Streda left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
Lukas Benes is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at FK Senica has been clear about where Lukas Benes stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Milan Bero
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Aug 2026
FK Senica win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Spartak Myjava will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Mazuch and FK Senica agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Milan Bero 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.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 19 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 Kristian Mak again, and this time the name on the line is MSK Zilina. FK Senica are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karol Suslov 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.