Marked for Luka Handanovic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Nov 2027
No end in sight to MFK Ruzomberok's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at MFK Ruzomberok has to find a result from somewhere.
Match6 Nov 2027
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at MFK Ruzomberok can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad8 Nov 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 MFK Ruzomberok this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
“I did not go to FK Senica to sit and watch. I want to come back to MFK Ruzomberok and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at MFK Ruzomberok training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Köstl 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“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 MFK Ruzomberok know it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2027
Marko Kelemen: 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.” MFK Ruzomberok have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The deal that would have taken Marián Chobot to Podbrezova has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to MFK Ruzomberok with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Ignacio Pereira 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.
Loan watch6 Sep 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 MFK Ruzomberok, and 0 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
Match4 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Daniel Köstl 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and MFK Ruzomberok have gone and got theirs early.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 61. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Marko Maučec: 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.” NK Domzale have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Ažbe Jug 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 NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Petar Birsa 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
Koper left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Birsa, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Petar Skubic out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Domzale will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Jul 2027
NK Zavrc come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and NK Domzale did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ažbe Jug 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 NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rokas Pukstas 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
This league is too small for Rokas Pukstas
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 Domzale will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market5 Jul 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
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Petar Skubic out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Domzale will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Market28 Jun 2027
As if he never left: Tilen Letonja returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Tilen Letonja is a NK Domzale player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tilen Letonja is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Luka Vipotnik 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.
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Tilen Letonja from NK Celje for $460.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Robert Pušaver out for 101 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Domzale will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Dec 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. NK Domzale have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Ayala 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gregor Sikosek and NK Domzale agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Deyair Reyes 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tijan Vasić 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 NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Rok Birsa 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 NK Domzale, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 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 NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Gregor Cerin has come up in conversations NK Domzale were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Francisco Ayala 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Antonio Bogdan takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Bogdan provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Luka Vipotnik 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Stanislav Rodionov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 49. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Antonio Bogdan takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Bogdan provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 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 NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
Three points for NK Domzale, 2‑1 the final word against NK Krsko in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Pušaver 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Luka Vipotnik 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Filip Lovric 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.