Marked for Dimitar Velkovski
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Oct 2026
17 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Libor Holík 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitar Velkovski 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Podbrezova left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 48. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Libor Holík 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 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Diego Virrueta
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
99% of the income goes out in wages at Spartak Trnava
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Miloš Kratochvíl is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Libor Holík 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dimitar Velkovski 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 76. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Martin Mikovič yet — 7.87
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Spartak Trnava have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Libor Holík 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Miloš Kratochvíl 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Hilary Gong’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Spartak Trnava.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Hilary Gong
7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Spartak Trnava had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Zlate Moravce for Peter Hamsik 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Libor Holík 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitar Velkovski 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefan Skrbo. 2‑0 against Zlate Moravce, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Spartak Trnava 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market31 Aug 2026
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
The chase for Lukáš Fabiš ended with $430.0K changing hands and MFK Skalica out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Zlate Moravce for Albert Gyomber 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Lukáš Fabiš from MFK Skalica for $430.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Libor Holík 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over MFK Michalovce, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Matej Kochan
“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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from DAC Dunajska Streda for Patrick Karhan 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Libor Holík 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Michal Tomič 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Lazar Stojsavljević has come up in conversations Spartak Trnava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Spartak Trnava know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.38 on the card, and the Spartak Trnava support went home talking about one name.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against MFK Skalica? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michal Tomič commits to Spartak Trnava for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Libor Holík 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 Spartak Trnava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Spartak Trnava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitar Velkovski 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michal Tomič, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Spartak Trnava, another week without a signature from Dimitar Velkovski.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.48 on the card, and the Spartak Trnava support went home talking about one name.
Market10 Aug 2026
He is 14, and nobody at Spartak Trnava signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.