Niko Kovacevic

Striker - Dinamo Zagreb
10 Nov 2026
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Niko Kovacevic

15 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mateo Boric

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Milan Cop wins it after the whistle should have gone

90 minutes played. Milan Cop found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Imotski went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Milan Cop scores twice — 8.31

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Zadar

Alexandre Coeff 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

Milan Cop is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.25 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Zadar get the job done against Imotski

A 3‑2 win over Imotski, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Words at Zadar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milan Cop 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

The team sheet said everything about Luka Šimunović

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Luka Šimunović.

Loan watch

Niko Kovacevic counts the days

“I watch every Zadar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Zagreb runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

In brief

Back issues
12 Edition

The Dinamo Zagreb Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Bruno Goda

Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A fracture rules Monsef Bakrar out for 56 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Zagreb will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

A brace, and Juan José Córdoba takes the afternoon — 8.53

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan José Córdoba provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Dinamo Zagreb make it 4 in a row

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

Squad

Mislav Oršić 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 Dinamo Zagreb this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Niko Kovacevic at Dinamo Zagreb

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Niko Kovacevic is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Words at Dinamo Zagreb training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Scott McKenna 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.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Fran Topić

At 22 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.

Match

Dinamo Zagreb see off HNK Vukovar 1991

Three points for Dinamo Zagreb, 2‑0 the final word against HNK Vukovar 1991 in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

11 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Boris Vrsaljko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Zadar

Alexandre Coeff 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.

Match

Zadar come up short against Segesta

Segesta left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Luka Šimunović 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.

Squad

Marin Karabatić 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Zadar

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.

In brief

7 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Milan Cop takes the afternoon — 8.22

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Milan Cop provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

No clean sheets in sight for Zadar

7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mateo Boric

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Nikola Corluka asks to leave Zadar

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Tempers go at Zadar

Alexandre Coeff 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.

Match

Milan Cop sends Zadar past Cibalia

It finished 3‑2, and it was Milan Cop’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zadar.

Squad

Words at Zadar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milan Cop 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

The manager makes an example of Elisson

“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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Boris Vrsaljko at his very best

Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zadar.

In brief

2 Edition

The Zadar Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Boris Vrsaljko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 47. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Zadar say no — this time

The offer from Hajduk Split for Milan Cop 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.

Squad

Milan Cop stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Milan Cop and Zadar agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Zadar

Alexandre Coeff 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

No hiding place for Kristijan Vrsaljko

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

Squad

Marin Karabatić 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.

Market

No place for Kristijan Kasalo in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kristijan Kasalo has his answer from Zadar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Player ratings

Milan Cop was the difference for Zadar

Marked 7.83. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Loan watch

Niko Kovacevic has seen enough of Dinamo Zagreb

“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 0 say he has earned the hearing.

In brief