“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Olimpija Ljubljana hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olimpija Ljubljana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Olimpija Ljubljana told Indrit Tuci something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Indrit Tuci
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Indrit Tuci has come out of that comparison in the side, and Olimpija Ljubljana have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Shabab runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Indrit Tuci was the best thing in any of them.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tristan Kotar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpija Ljubljana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Žiga Pečjak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpija Ljubljana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Indrit Tuci 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Olimpija Ljubljana hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Jošt Urbančič 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dino Kojić 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Olimpija Ljubljana hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 Al-Shabab to sit and watch. I want to come back to Olimpija Ljubljana and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tristan Kotar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpija Ljubljana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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. Jošt Urbančič 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nemanja Motika provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Žiga Pečjak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpija Ljubljana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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. Agustín Doffo 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.
NK Zavrc made Olimpija Ljubljana work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Pedro Lucas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.15. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Olimpija Ljubljana told Marko Ristić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Olimpija Ljubljana deserved better, and so did he.
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.
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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Inas Kukavica
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Inas Kukavica has come out of that comparison in the side, and Olimpija Ljubljana have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Rudar Velenje will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Olimpija Ljubljana were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
A brace, and Pedro Lucas takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pedro Lucas provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Olimpija Ljubljana and Rudar Velenje, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Jošt Urbančič 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dino Kojić 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.
In brief
Player ratingsFredéric Ananou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pedro Lucas. 1‑0 against NK Domzale, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olimpija Ljubljana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana heard it as anything else.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Olimpija Ljubljana did not have in the autumn.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Stojanovic and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 3 years.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Olimpija Ljubljana, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and NK Krka had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Olimpija Ljubljana did not stop to explain themselves.
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A brace, and Indrit Tuci takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Indrit Tuci provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marat Žlibanović is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jošt Urbančič 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.
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.
A brace, and Marko Brest takes the afternoon — 8.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Brest provided it, and the 8.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Olimpija Ljubljana deserved better, and so did he.
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.
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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Olimpija Ljubljana have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Agustín Doffo 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 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.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Jošt Urbančič 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marko Ristić and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 4 years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olimpija Ljubljana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Jošt Urbančič 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.
Veljko Jelenković 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.
The name of Žiga Pečjak has come up in conversations Olimpija Ljubljana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jošt Urbančič 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Olimpija Ljubljana know it.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
In brief
SquadAgustín Doffo falls out with a teammate over standards
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Veljko Jelenković and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 3 years.
Indrit Tuci 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Olimpija Ljubljana hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Gorenc 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 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Sangari is living that version at Olimpija Ljubljana, and it tends to show in the first month.
The phone has started ringing about Žiga Pečjak again, and this time the name on the line is Suduva. Olimpija Ljubljana are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davit Kobouri and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Olimpija Ljubljana will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 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.
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.
Squad8 May 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
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.
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. Jošt Urbančič 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.
41 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tijan Vasić and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 4 years.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Fredéric Ananou'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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Agustín Doffo 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.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gomel runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Agustín Doffo signs something — a contract at Olimpija Ljubljana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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. Jošt Urbančič 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Olimpija Ljubljana know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad17 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Fredéric Ananou'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.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Add another name to the list: NK Zavrc have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Inas Kukavica. The answer from Olimpija Ljubljana has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Olimpija Ljubljana, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marat Žlibanović and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Olimpija Ljubljana will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 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.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Matevž Dajčar: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Position 3, 35 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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. Agustín Doffo 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Veljko Jelenković 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.
“I watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Spartaks runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davit Kobouri 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Indrit Tuci has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dimitar Mitrovski signs something — a contract at Olimpija Ljubljana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 2, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
At 22 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
NK Zavrc will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Olimpija Ljubljana were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Doffo wants continental football; whether Olimpija Ljubljana can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 ratings11 Oct 2027
Fredéric Ananou was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Olimpija Ljubljana and Rudar Velenje in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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 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.
At 22 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.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Marked 7.89 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Olimpija Ljubljana had the best player on the pitch.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Davit Kobouri 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Marko Brest 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Agustín Doffo 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Indrit Tuci is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Indrit Tuci. 3‑1 against NK Krka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Dajan Durmiši 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Indrit Tuci was the best thing in any of them.
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 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Olimpija Ljubljana have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Agustín Doffo 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.
At 18 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Olimpija Ljubljana. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A 1‑0 win over Rudar Velenje, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luka Karapetrović and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 4 years.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Indrit Tuci and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Doffo 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Agustín Doffo signs something — a contract at Olimpija Ljubljana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The phone has started ringing about Marko Ristić again, and this time the name on the line is Minsk. Olimpija Ljubljana are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Indrit Tuci has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
A conversation is coming this week. Olimpija Ljubljana will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Davit Kobouri 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Doffo wants continental football; whether Olimpija Ljubljana can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Indrit Tuci 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.
The name of Žiga Pečjak has come up in conversations Olimpija Ljubljana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Olimpija Ljubljana have had the benefit of it.
Marko Brest 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davit Kobouri 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.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Davit Kobouri 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.
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 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. Marko Ristić 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Olimpija Ljubljana, and 10 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Davit Kobouri 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davit Kobouri 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 watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Krka runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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. Agustín Doffo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sylvester Lartey and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 3 years.
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.