Mario Šitum

Right Back - Lokomotiva Zagreb
25 Dec 2026
Friday
Process

Marked for Mario Šitum

17 Edition

The Lokomotiva Zagreb Courier

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Age has not caught Mario Šitum yet — 8.33

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

A falling-out at Lokomotiva Zagreb

Marko Vešović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

Lokomotiva Zagreb supporters have found a favourite in Ibrahim Sabra

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Sabra has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Lokomotiva Zagreb find a way past Hajduk Split

Hajduk Split made Lokomotiva Zagreb work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Jan Vertonghen signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jan Vertonghen and Lokomotiva Zagreb agree another 2 years.

The dugout

The team sheet said everything about Mirko Sušak

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 Mirko Sušak.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dejan Knezevic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

Luka Dajčer 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.

The dugout

The form table has caught Mirko Sušak

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

Back issues
15 Edition

The Lokomotiva Zagreb Courier

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Lokomotiva Zagreb

Marko Vešović 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.

Squad

Words at Lokomotiva Zagreb training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Sabra 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 ratings

Mario Šitum did the work nobody counts — 6.89

10 combined actions and 6.89. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Vešović

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Loan watch

Maroje Kostopeč wants to come home

“I did not go to Dugo Selo to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokomotiva Zagreb and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dejan Knezevic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

Mirko Sušak dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

Match

No goals between Lokomotiva Zagreb and HNK Rijeka

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. HNK Rijeka will be the happier side with the point.

The dugout

When it matters, Aleksandar Trajkovski plays

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.

In brief

8 Edition

The Lokomotiva Zagreb Courier

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Mario Šitum, 34, rolls back the years — 7.98

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

Lokomotiva Zagreb make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Lokomotiva Zagreb have 4 straight wins of it.

Squad

Marko Vešović 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 Lokomotiva Zagreb this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Dimitrije Kamenović signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dimitrije Kamenović commits to Lokomotiva Zagreb for another 4 years.

Match

Oliver Heiðarsson the difference as Lokomotiva Zagreb beat HNK Vukovar 1991

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oliver Heiðarsson. 1‑0 against HNK Vukovar 1991, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Looking ahead

Top-of-the-table clash for Lokomotiva Zagreb

NK Varazdin next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Oliver Heiðarsson at his very best

Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Lokomotiva Zagreb.

Loan watch

Maksim Podliesnyi wants to come home

“I did not go to Uljanik Pula to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokomotiva Zagreb and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.

The dugout

Dejan Knezevic: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief