The Opatija Sentinel
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mateo Kocijan arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mateo Kocijan has, at Opatija, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market10 Aug 2026
Bojan Knežević is a Opatija player again
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Opatija
Antonio Perić 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.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Antonio Perić
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Mislav Ivanovic steps up from the Opatija academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mislav Ivanovic 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Ivica Modric joins the Opatija first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivica Modric 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
Opatija promote Andrej Grbic from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrej Grbic 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The formation has left Mateo Kocijan behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Opatija will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Opatija are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
- Player ratings Antonio Perić stands above it all
- Match Honours even between Opatija and Croatia Zmijavci
- The dugout Half-satisfied: Dejan Pasalic on the draw