The Slaven Belupo Chronicle
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Josip Mitrović was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market3 Aug 2026
Slaven Belupo say no — this time
The offer from Sibenik for Matija Jesenović 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ilija Nestorovski signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilija Nestorovski commits to Slaven Belupo for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ilija Nestorovski 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 Slaven Belupo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jon Mersinaj 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Slaven Belupo come up short against NK Osijek
NK Osijek left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no ink between Slaven Belupo and Ilija Nestorovski
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slaven Belupo, another week without a signature from Ilija Nestorovski.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Josip Mitrović's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Slaven Belupo are still strangers to each other
10 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
- The dugout The view from the dugout
- The dugout Ivan Čović gets it from the manager
- The dugout Karlo Sentić left out for tactical reasons at Slaven Belupo