“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olimpija Ljubljana can pretend not to have heard.
Marvin Çuni 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dino Kojić 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olimpija Ljubljana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Olimpija Ljubljana and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Marvin Çuni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Dino Kojić 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Marko Brest'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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Agustín Doffo is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Olimpija Ljubljana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpija Ljubljana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dino Kojić 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.
“I did not go to Kustosija to sit and watch. I want to come back to Olimpija Ljubljana and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matevž Vidovšek is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dino Kojić 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.
Jasmin Kurtić 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Olimpija Ljubljana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Marko Brest is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The offer from Isloch for Vid Chinoso Juvančič 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.
Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Olimpija Ljubljana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dino Kojić 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.
Olimpija Ljubljana asked and Triglav Kranj said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Isloch have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vid Chinoso Juvančič. The answer from Olimpija Ljubljana has not changed — yet.
“I watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kustosija runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Indrit Tuci trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olimpija Ljubljana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 in and 2 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.
Marvin Çuni 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Dino Kojić 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.
Triglav Kranj have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mark Strajnar has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
The dugoutIndrit Tuci knocks on the manager's door
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olimpija Ljubljana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jurgen Çelhaka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpija Ljubljana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Olimpija Ljubljana asked and NK Krsko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jošt Urbančič is on it.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Indrit Tuci decided nobody was going anywhere. NK Domzale had no time left to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpija Ljubljana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Indrit Tuci. 2‑1 against NK Domzale, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Dino Kojić 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.
2‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Olimpija Ljubljana came through the finding-out well against Dinamo Bucharest.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Olimpija Ljubljana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dino Kojić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1‑0 against St. Gallen, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Marked 7.41 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dino Kojić 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Olimpija Ljubljana have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Jošt Urbančič
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jošt Urbančič has come out of that comparison in the side, and Olimpija Ljubljana have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Marin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpija Ljubljana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Veljko Jelenković 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dino Kojić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
1‑2 against Dinamo Bucharest. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and NK Domzale had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Olimpija Ljubljana did not stop to explain themselves.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpija Ljubljana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marko Brest was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olimpija Ljubljana can pretend not to have heard.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Marvin Çuni 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nemanja Motika 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Olimpija Ljubljana prefer.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Olimpija Ljubljana, another week without a signature from Antonio Marin.