Josip Bjelica

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24 Sep 2026
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Marked for Josip Bjelica

6 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings7 Sep 2026

Mateo Juranovic runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 62. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match7 Sep 2026

Zadar refuse to drop out of the race

Position 1, 18 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.

Match5 Sep 2026

Zadar make it 7 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zadar have 7 straight wins of it.

Squad7 Sep 2026

A day Stipe Petkov will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings7 Sep 2026

Josip Bjelica, 34, rolls back the years — 8.28

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market7 Sep 2026

Petar Bjelica 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 The request is on a desk at Zadar, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad7 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.

Match5 Sep 2026

Zadar see off Imotski

Three points for Zadar, 4‑3 the final word against Imotski in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match5 Sep 2026

Nobody could stop scoring

7 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.

In brief

  • Player ratings A masterclass from Stipe Petkov
  • Match Zadar keep winning on the road
  • Squad Duje Budimir is the division's best young player this month
Back issues
4 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match19 Aug 2026

Josip Bjelica sends Zadar through

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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

Duje Budimir could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 8.31

Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 8.31, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

Filip Barisic scores twice — 8.78

Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad3 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.

Match1 Aug 2026

Filip Barisic among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Filip Barisic on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zadar and Lucko.

Match1 Aug 2026

Zadar see off Lucko

Three points for Zadar, 4‑2 the final word against Lucko in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The terraces3 Aug 2026

The crowd has taken to Duje Budimir

At 18 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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Josip Bjelica signs on for more

“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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

No hiding place for Mislav Tadic

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

Squad3 Aug 2026

Tin Tadic 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.

In brief