Daniel Benko

Defensive Midfielder - Djakovo Croatia
24 Aug 2031
Sunday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 2 Transfers Relations Events 86 Awards Matches History

Marked for Daniel Benko

250 Edition

The Djakovo Croatia Post

12 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market12 May 2031

Medine Ahamadi asks to leave Djakovo Croatia

“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.

Squad12 May 2031

Words exchanged at Djakovo Croatia

Roko Vojvodić 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.

Squad12 May 2031

A row about effort at Djakovo Croatia

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joey Houweling was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad12 May 2031

Sam Van Aerschot is not the player he was

It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.

The dugout12 May 2031

The manager makes an example of Daniel Benko

“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.

Market12 May 2031

The Marko Cukon story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Cukon signs something — a contract at Djakovo Croatia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match12 May 2031

Continental football is in reach for Djakovo Croatia

48 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

Market12 May 2031

Still no signature from Marco Horvat

4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Djakovo Croatia could get for him.

Squad12 May 2031

Antonín Křapka still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Djakovo Croatia would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

In brief

Back issues
220 Edition

The Djakovo Croatia Post

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market14 Oct 2030

Darko Matic 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 Djakovo Croatia, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad14 Oct 2030

Tempers go at Djakovo Croatia

Roko Vojvodić 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.

Squad14 Oct 2030

Joey Houweling 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.

Boardroom14 Oct 2030

Djakovo Croatia are $11.9M in the red

The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.

Squad14 Oct 2030

9 new faces, and Djakovo Croatia are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout14 Oct 2030

Leon Ayinde knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leon Ayinde trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market14 Oct 2030

Djakovo Croatia and Vladislav Konovalov are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad14 Oct 2030

Player of the week: Justin Mathieu

Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.

The dugout14 Oct 2030

The manager makes an example of Daniel Benko

“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.

In brief