Marked for Silvio Goričan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ivan Vasiljević damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad31 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 Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Franko Kolić
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Matt Lowton 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
A conversation is coming this week. Istra 1961 will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Istra 1961 have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Smail Prevljak 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Josip Radošević 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Gonzalo Carneiro’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Istra 1961.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Josip Radošević's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.44, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad24 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Marko Zubaj arrives from NK Osijek with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
Sibenik come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Istra 1961 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 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 Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Istra 1961 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Radošević 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Vinko Rozić
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Gonzalo Carneiro’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Istra 1961.
Market17 Aug 2026
The shape has not worked since the summer and the reason was never a mystery. Gonzalo Carneiro comes in from Nacional to be the missing piece, which is a flattering description and a heavy one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kévin Hoggas, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
9 new faces, and Istra 1961 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.44, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Istra 1961 scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Allen Obando takes the afternoon — 8.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Allen Obando provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Emil Frederiksen takes the afternoon — 7.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emil Frederiksen provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Silvio Goričan and Istra 1961 agree another 3 years.
Squad10 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 Istra 1961 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Silvio Goričan 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.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Allen Obando 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Josip Radošević commits to Istra 1961 for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Smail Prevljak 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Istra 1961 have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Josip Radošević 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 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.