Marked for Ivan Brkić
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
The mood at Motor Lublin has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Dadaşov
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Motor Lublin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Marek Bartoš out for 112 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Motor Lublin will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match23 Jan 2027
8 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for Marek Bartoš
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marek Bartoš will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Motor Lublin the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Motor Lublin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Levski keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Marek Bartoš has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renat Dadaşov
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Motor Lublin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
The mood at Motor Lublin has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Motor Lublin
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Motor Lublin are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mathias Fjørtoft Løvik 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Fábio Ronaldo 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 100% of the Motor Lublin income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ivan Brkić lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Motor Lublin lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match21 Dec 2026
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad21 Dec 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 Motor Lublin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Fábio Ronaldo 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑2 to Lech, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Bruk-Bet Termalica next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Brkić, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Karol Bednarek after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Motor Lublin
Position 18 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Ivan Brkić
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad23 Nov 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 Motor Lublin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 2‑1 win over Cracovia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Motor Lublin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrià Vilanova 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Thomas Santos
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Motor Lublin
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Motor Lublin are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mathias Fjørtoft Løvik 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a goal for Motor Lublin
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fábio Ronaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A mistake Ivan Brkić will not forget
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Karol Bednarek left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Renat Dadaşov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Motor Lublin
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Motor Lublin are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
9 saves: Ivan Brkić was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match3 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Motor Lublin
A 0‑3 beating by Legia was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mathias Fjørtoft Løvik 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Motor Lublin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fábio Ronaldo 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Motor Lublin
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
133% of the income goes out in wages at Motor Lublin
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Motor Lublin dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
The manager makes an example of Renat Dadaşov
-
The dugout
Adrià Vilanova does not fit this one
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Motor Lublin
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Motor Lublin are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 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 Motor Lublin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fábio Ronaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Karol Bednarek after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Pogon will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Paweł Stolarski’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Motor Lublin needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
6 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mathias Fjørtoft Løvik 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fábio Ronaldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Filip Wójcik at his very best
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Motor Lublin.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Motor Lublin are still strangers to each other
7 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Brkić
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Arka Gdynia leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
14 saves: Ivan Brkić was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Gornik Zabrze for Marek Bartoš 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
Thomas Santos 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$57.0K was the most the club would pay and Raków Częstochowa were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Motor Lublin go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Jagiellonia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Adrià Vilanova 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.