Milan Brekalo

Left Forward - Sibenik
15 Apr 2028
Saturday
Process

Marked for Milan Brekalo

72 Edition

The Sibenik Post

13 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Marko Mikulić 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.

Squad

Santino Dudar has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Sibenik 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.

Squad

“I want to play”: Jan Paus-Kunšt speaks

“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.

In brief

Back issues
65 Edition

The Sibenik Post

25 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Sibenik refuse to drop out of the race

Position 1, 30 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.

Match

Sibenik make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sibenik have 4 straight wins of it.

Squad

Marko Mikulić 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 Sibenik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Sibenik get the job done against Sesvete

A 2‑0 win over Sesvete, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Nikola Krajinović runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Mihael Rebernik 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 ratings

Leonard Vuk in the eights

A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Milan Brekalo signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Milan Brekalo and Sibenik agree another 3 years.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Bernardo Matić

13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

In brief

50 Edition

The Sibenik Post

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Real improvement from Josip Baturina at Sibenik

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Josip Baturina is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at Sibenik

Matthieu Ezikian 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.

Squad

A late step up for Ante Ćorić

At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

The terraces

Sibenik spend $61.0K on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $61.0K for Milan Brekalo, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Squad

Words at Sibenik training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihael Rebernik 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.

Market

Sibenik sign Milan Brekalo, one for the future

Milan Brekalo is 18, and Sibenik 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.

In brief

50 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Hrvoje Kramaric breaks a bone — 37 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Zadar up to position 2

24 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $61.0K sale of Milan Brekalo

He is going to Sibenik, the club has $61.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Squad

Tempers go at Zadar

Zvonimir Budimir 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.

Market

Zadar sell Milan Brekalo for $61.0K

Milan Brekalo has left for Sibenik in a $61.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

No hiding place for Josip Krznarić

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josip Krznarić, and the manager let it.

In brief

45 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Hrvoje Kramaric breaks a bone — 74 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Josip Krznarić puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Domagoj Antolić 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.

In brief

43 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Hrvoje Kramaric breaks a bone — 90 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Zvonimir Budimir 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.

Squad

Words at Zadar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Domagoj Horvat 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.

In brief

39 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Domagoj Antolić 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.

Squad

Words at Zadar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Domagoj Horvat 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.

Loan watch

Milan Brekalo has seen enough of HNK Rijeka

“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 Zadar, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief

34 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Ante Brekalo damages knee ligaments — 54 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.

Match

Zadar refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 24 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.

Squad

Domagoj Antolić 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.

In brief

29 Edition

The HNK Rijeka Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

HNK Rijeka refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 30 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.

Squad

Alfonso Barco keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HNK Rijeka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Toni Fruk 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 HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at HNK Rijeka

12 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.

Loan watch

Téo Barišić wants to come home

“I did not go to Hrvatski Dragovoljac to sit and watch. I want to come back to HNK Rijeka and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

Squad

Toni Fruk has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at HNK Rijeka 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.

In brief

29 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Zadar

Zvonimir Budimir 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.

Squad

Words at Zadar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lenny Ilečić 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.

Market

The Matej Srna talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zadar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Squad

A season on the outside for Ilya Kurdyumov

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Zadar has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

Squad

Ilya Kurdyumov asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Zadar put Maciej Pietrzyk up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Maciej Pietrzyk may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

27 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Zadar

Domagoj Antolić 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.

Squad

Words at Zadar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Juárez 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Hrvoje Kramaric

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hrvoje Kramaric, and the manager let it.

Market

HNK Rijeka are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Zadar will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Squad

Robert Ćosić knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zadar, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Damir Lovren linked with a move away

The name of Damir Lovren keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zadar say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

26 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Zadar refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 24 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.

Squad

Hrvoje Kramaric: 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.

Squad

Domagoj Antolić 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.

Market

Milan Brekalo attracts admirers

The name of Milan Brekalo has come up in conversations Zadar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Zadar

5 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.

Squad

Joachim Imbrechts has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Zadar 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.

In brief