Simon Sluga

Goalkeeper - NK Celje
3 Jan 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Simon Sluga

14 Edition

The NK Celje Sentinel

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Blaž Kramer's — 8.98

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.98, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Rudi Požeg Vancaš beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

100 goals in the shirt for Blaž Kramer

100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.

Match

Blaž Kramer the difference as NK Celje beat NK Krka

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Blaž Kramer. 2‑0 against NK Krka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A step back for Matej Poplatnik at NK Celje

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

The dugout

Sandi Kurtovic has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sandi Kurtovic on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Market

No place for Simon Sluga in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Simon Sluga has his answer from NK Celje; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Looking ahead

Svit Sešlar goes back to face Olimpija Ljubljana

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Svit Sešlar’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and NK Celje needing him to play as if none of it matters.

Squad

The armband comes off Artemijus Tutyškinas

NK Celje will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.

In brief

Back issues
13 Edition

The NK Celje Sentinel

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Arsenal take NK Celje apart in Europe

0‑5. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.

Squad

Žiga Frelih keeps NK Celje in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Svit Sešlar

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Simon Sluga: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Celje have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Artemijus Tutyškinas pops up at the right end — 7.76

7.76, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

The terraces

One of their own: Artemijus Tutyškinas

He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Match

NK Celje find a way past NK Zavrc

NK Zavrc made NK Celje work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Łukasz Bejger 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at NK Celje

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

11 Edition

The NK Celje Sentinel

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A muscle injury and 16 days out for Matej Poplatnik

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. NK Celje will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Loan watch

Tiijan Zorko wants to come home

“I did not go to NK Zavrc to sit and watch. I want to come back to NK Celje and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.

The dugout

No hiding place for Yaya Dukuly

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaya Dukuly, and the manager let it.

Squad

Young player of the week: Valters Lūsis

At 18 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.

The dugout

Damjan Vuklišević asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Looking ahead

Rudi Požeg Vancaš goes back to face Koper

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rudi Požeg Vancaš’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and NK Celje needing him to play as if none of it matters.

Market

The Svit Sešlar story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Svit Sešlar signs something — a contract at NK Celje or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

Simon Sluga placed on the list

NK Celje have made Simon Sluga available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

Squad

Leonardo Koutris has settled at NK Celje

The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.

In brief

8 Edition

The NK Celje Sentinel

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

NK Celje come up short in Europe

0‑1 away to the standard of Pandurii. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.

Squad

Žiga Frelih stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

The wait goes on for NK Celje

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

A falling-out at NK Celje

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

Match

3 matches without a goal for NK Celje

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Player ratings

Svit Sešlar beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

The form table has caught Rudi Požeg Vancaš

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.

The dugout

Žiga Frelih has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at NK Celje will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Sandi Kurtovic on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sandi Kurtovic after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

6 Edition

The NK Celje Sentinel

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Svit Sešlar 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 NK Celje, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Terms done: Florjan Jevšenak is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slavia Mozyr waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

The terraces

A $630.0K sale, and a town that did not want it

Žan-Luk Leban has gone, the accounts have $630.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Market

NK Celje turn down Olimpija Ljubljana for Mark Zabukovnik

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Boardroom

NK Celje close the window on a squad of their own making

6 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

Business is business: Žan-Luk Leban goes

NK Maribor paid $630.0K and NK Celje took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darko Hrka 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.

Squad

A step back for Benjamin Verbič at NK Celje

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

Squad

NK Celje have started building around Svit Sešlar

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

In brief