Marked for Andrej Corluka
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market23 Aug 2027
Tin Tadic 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 Zadar can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Supporters turn on the $2.5M sale of Filip Barisic
He is going to Zbrojovka Brno, the club has $2.5M 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.
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.
Market23 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zadar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Iván Pomba 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Robert Ivanovic
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zadar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Zadar
Andrej Corluka 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Tin Tadic has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
Intake day at the Zadar academy
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Market
Zadar and Ivan Čović are talking past each other
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Market
The clock does Josip Bjelica’s negotiating for him
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Jun 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alan Fernando Gutierrez is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 24 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Iván Pomba 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ivica Kasalo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zadar.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mislav Majer breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Alessio Beaudouin is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Zadar
Andrej Corluka 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 terraces21 Jun 2027
Zadar spend $850.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $850.0K for Josip Mišić, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Market21 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Rudes have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Josip Bjelica. The answer from Zadar has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Pomba 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
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Market
Lucko are about to pick up the phone
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Market
Zadar bring in an old head
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Mislav Majer breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tin Tadic and Zadar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Marko Zebić 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivica Lovren and Zadar agree another 4 years.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Iván Pomba 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
Upbeat
Match25 Jan 2027
Zadar are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 45 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Zadar
Andrej Corluka 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Pomba 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
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zadar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Patryk Nowakowski has just signed for Zadar, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Martin Cop 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Iván Pomba 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 watch18 Jan 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 Zadar, and 0 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
Market18 Jan 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Zadar signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
Zadar say no — this time
The offer from NK Osijek for Andrej Corluka 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Ivica Cop 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 Zadar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The season belongs to Martin Cop
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Zadar have had the benefit of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robert Ćosić, and the manager let it.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I did not go to HNK Vukovar 1991 to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zadar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Dec 2026
$14.6M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
Zadar sell a favourite for $14.6M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Stipe Petkov was one of the reasons people came, and $14.6M does not replace that by itself.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Andrej Corluka 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Pomba 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 watch14 Dec 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 Zadar, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Robert Ćosić 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 Robert Ćosić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
Stipe Majer had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sesvete were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Stipe Petkov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Filip Barisic
13 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Iván Pomba 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 terraces23 Nov 2026
Zadar supporters have found a favourite in Iván Pomba
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Iván Pomba has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Iván Pomba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I did not go to HNK Vukovar 1991 to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zadar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Match21 Nov 2026
Honours even between Zadar and Sesvete
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 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
8‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad9 Nov 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Stipe Petkov 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match7 Nov 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zadar and Imotski in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Stipe Petkov
13 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match7 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Zadar
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Zadar
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Stipe Petkov 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Darijo Vlasic’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zadar.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Iván Pomba 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wins at Zadar
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
One of those days for Iván Pomba
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tin Tadic 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
13 unbeaten for Zadar
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Zadar did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.88, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Stipe Petkov 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zadar and Sibenik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iván Pomba. 4‑2 against Sibenik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to Iván Pomba
At 23 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Stipe Petkov
12 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Oct 2026
Zadar throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Segesta the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Zadar will enjoy reviewing.
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Zadar do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Stipe Petkov takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stipe Petkov provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Stipe Petkov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Iván Pomba 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 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Hajduk Split to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zadar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Duje Budimir and Zadar agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Oct 2026
Zadar are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 28 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match3 Oct 2026
11 unbeaten for Zadar
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Zadar did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Stipe Petkov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Pomba 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mateo Juranovic’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zadar.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Josip Bjelica and Zadar agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Zadar do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Stipe Petkov 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Zadar are at home on the road
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Zadar, 1‑0 the final word against Dugopolje in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Stipe Petkov at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zadar.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A Zadar teenager takes the young player award
Marko Zebić is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Market28 Sep 2026
The name of Stipe Petkov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zadar say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Josip Bjelica 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Zadar
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Stipe Petkov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Zadar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Pomba 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to HNK Vukovar 1991 to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zadar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Sesvete leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Duje Budimir turns it into his own net
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Zadar deserved better, and so did he.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Duje Budimir
“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 Sep 2026
Duje Budimir 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Sep 2026
Zadar make it 8 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zadar have 8 straight wins of it.
Match12 Sep 2026
No mercy from Zadar
Cibalia will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zadar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Andrej Corluka takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrej Corluka provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Stipe Petkov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Iván Pomba 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
Zadar supporters have found a favourite in Iván Pomba
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Iván Pomba has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
One of those days for Iván Pomba
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
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 Zadar, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Stipe Petkov named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Stipe Petkov has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Josip Bjelica obliged against Imotski. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Zadar.
Match19 Aug 2026
Cruel end for Imotski as Zadar pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Zadar scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market24 Aug 2026
Istra 1961 come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zadar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Duje Budimir, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match22 Aug 2026
Zadar cannot stop winning
5 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Josip Bjelica yet — 7.85
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market24 Aug 2026
Petar Corluka 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 Zadar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zadar
Stipe Petkov 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Stipe Petkov scored one and made one — 7.78
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.78, and 2 involvements.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match15 Aug 2026
5‑2, and Filip Barisic took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zadar tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market17 Aug 2026
Istra 1961 come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zadar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Andrej Corluka takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrej Corluka provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match15 Aug 2026
Zadar cannot stop winning
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
Stipe Petkov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
7 goals as Zadar and Sibenik go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Zadar and Sibenik, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 Aug 2026
No hiding place for Tin Tadic
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tin Tadic, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 2026
6‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Zadar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stipe Petkov commits to Zadar for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Stipe Petkov 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A goal and an assist for Andrej Corluka — 7.74
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.74 beside his name.
Match8 Aug 2026
7 goals as Zadar and Segesta go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Zadar and Segesta, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Filip Vukas has come up in conversations Zadar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.