Marked for Nejc Elsnik
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Watford have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Koper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wisdom Sule 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Nejc Elsnik
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Koper
Kevin Mevlja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nejc Oblak after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Maro Vrdoljak dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Nejc Elsnik has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Koper will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
Voluntari come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Koper did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Filip Damjanović
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Koper will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Koper
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levski have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market19 Jul 2027
One of our own: Domen Lovric joins the Koper first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Domen Lovric is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gregor Birsa has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tomas Bijol has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Koper
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wisdom Sule was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Koper
Hossam Abdelmaguid and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market5 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Koper have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market5 Jul 2027
Maro Vrdoljak 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 Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jean-Pierre Longonda commits to Koper for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Leo Štulac 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 Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Koper asked and Mura said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Jul 2027
Sandro Jovanović comes back from a loan that worked
16 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Koper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brown Irabor 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
“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 Koper know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Jun 2027
The mood at Koper has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market28 Jun 2027
Brown Irabor 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 Koper can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Stoke City is saying, and nobody at Koper is enjoying the guessing.
Market28 Jun 2027
The name of Nejc Elsnik has come up in conversations Koper were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Matic Ferk is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OH Leuven have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market28 Jun 2027
Sandro Jovanović comes back from a loan that worked
16 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Koper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wisdom Sule 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Koper
Kevin Mevlja and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
36 days out for Josip Iličič after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Koper will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Mar 2027
The bid was some way short and Koper did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nejc Elsnik commits to Koper for another 4 years.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Koper
Maro Vrdoljak 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Wisdom Sule 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Koper
Something was said to Check Oumar Diakité and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Veljko Mijailović is on it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Nejc Elsnik 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 Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
44 days out for Josip Iličič after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Koper will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market8 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Haris Mujanić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Haris Mujanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Koper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Josip Iličič commits to Koper for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Koper
Josip Iličič and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Koper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wisdom Sule 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Nik Omladič gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nik Omladič is on it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Nejc Elsnik 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 Koper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filip Bačkulja, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
60 days out for Josip Iličič after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Koper will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
This is not rotation. Leo Štulac has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Koper is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Josip Iličič 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 Koper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Koper have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Koper
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wisdom Sule was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Bassirou Ndiaye
“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.
Loan watch22 Feb 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 Koper, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Luka Guček has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Koper 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
Market10 Aug 2026
Koper say no — this time
The offer from Primorje for Isaac Matondo 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Leo Rimac, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Koper have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Koper
Josip Iličič 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Domzale have kept their man, and Koper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
Koper supporters have found a favourite in Leo Rimac
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Leo Rimac 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Nejc Elsnik joins the Koper first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nejc Elsnik is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Timi Bijol has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Marcel Blaj 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.
In brief
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Match
Koper find a way past Mura
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Squad
12 new faces, and Koper are still learning each other
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The dugout
Nejc Oblak: “That is the standard”