Marked for Ivan Markovic
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Borac Čačak, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ivan Markovic breaks a bone — 19 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match27 Feb 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad1 Mar 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 Borac Čačak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 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 Borac Čačak know it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikša Vujčić, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Borac Čačak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Živković 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 ratings1 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Ivan Markovic out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borac Čačak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match20 Feb 2027
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Nikola Petrić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismaël Maïga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Feb 2027
Ezequiel scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Dubočica, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ismaël Maïga, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
114% of the income goes out in wages at Borac Čačak
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The team sheet said everything about Nikša Vujčić
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 Nikša Vujčić.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ivan Markovic breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ismaël Maïga 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Zemun left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market15 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marko Gacinovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market15 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Milos Djuricic 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dusan Djuricic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market15 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aleksandar Tadic 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.
The dugout15 Feb 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.
In brief
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Squad
Home is on Dong Chunyu's mind
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Marko Jović has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
41 days out for Ivan Markovic after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borac Čačak will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Luka Subotić 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Ezequiel
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dušan Živković 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nikola Čolić named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nikola Čolić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Ivan Jovanović has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Borac Čačak 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Ivan Jovanović 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Dong Chunyu 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ivan Markovic breaks a bone — 48 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Dong Chunyu: 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.” Borac Čačak have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Borac Čačak close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Borac Čačak have done the hard part with Partizan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Luka Subotić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismaël Maïga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ivan Jovanović will call it something else in private.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Matija Marsenić is in the works
Borac Čačak have made the call to Cukaricki. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ezequiel 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 Borac Čačak will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ivan Markovic breaks a bone — 56 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Justin Hanks pops up at the right end — 7.74
7.74, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nikola Petrić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksa Marković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match23 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Nikola Čolić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Borac Čačak.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 121% of the Borac Čačak income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nikola Petrić 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Živković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miloš Zekić, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
OFK Vršac next, and one man in the Borac Čačak dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Borac Čačak. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.