The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Player ratings7 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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Niko Grlić was one of the reasons people came, and $2.6M does not replace that by itself.
NK Maribor asked and Walsall said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 The request is on a desk at NK Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Žan Karničnik 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.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. NK Maribor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
38 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 The request is on a desk at NK Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nejc Viher 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 phone has started ringing about Matej Tadič again, and this time the name on the line is Olimpija Ljubljana. NK Maribor are listening politely and promising nothing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Indrit Tuci 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
11 new faces, and NK Maribor 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.
Indrit Tuci 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.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Žan Karničnik signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and NK Maribor have no good answer.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Matej Tadič 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.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and NK Maribor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at NK Maribor would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
12 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Jadran Dekani. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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 Ažbe Jug signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ali Reghba has written the date down.
5 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.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Žan Karničnik signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at NK Maribor that is a harder question to answer.
29 appearances at Cherno More and the goals have stopped going in. NK Maribor lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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 will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The loan was meant to give him football. 2 games and 1 goals later he is back at NK Maribor no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Indrit Tuci has moved up it.
25 appearances at Jadran Dekani and the goals have stopped going in. NK Maribor lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Jean Michaël Seri 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.
Nobody at NK Maribor 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ažbe Jug signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dario Vizinger has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 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 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 Žan Karničnik signs something — a contract at NK Maribor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at NK Maribor would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Maribor can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Indrit Tuci was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $4.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Loan watch31 Jan 2028
Luka Kolar’s loan is measured in nothing happening
13 clean sheets from 21 appearances at Cherno More. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
12 shut-outs in 25 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Tanej Handanovič has been having a lot 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.
NK Maribor arrived with $4.4M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Indrit Tuci has gone, the accounts have $4.4M 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.
Alberto Marí 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Motika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Olimpija Ljubljana will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Matevž Vidovšek'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 Nemanja Motika is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Maribor can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
$4.4M settles it between the clubs for Indrit Tuci
Olimpija Ljubljana have accepted the money. What NK Maribor do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Maribor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 clean sheets from 24 appearances at Jadran Dekani. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
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.
“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.
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.
Alberto Marí 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nemanja Motika signs something — a contract at Olimpija Ljubljana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Olimpija Ljubljana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Olimpija Ljubljana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Motika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Olimpija Ljubljana asked and Primorje said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 7 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Maribor, and it is not being withdrawn.
NK Maribor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olimpija Ljubljana, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nejc Viher 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.
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. NK Maribor know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
10 shut-outs in 22 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Tanej Handanovič has been having a lot of them.
Tabor Sežana 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.
The enquiry everybody at NK Maribor was hoping would not arrive has arrived. He has never pretended he did not want to go back, and now there is somewhere to go back to.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” NK Maribor had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
NK Krka go through and Olimpija Ljubljana go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.77 beside his name.
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.
Olimpija Ljubljana asked and Al Ahly said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“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 Olimpija Ljubljana, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The name of Luka Poredoš has come up in conversations Olimpija Ljubljana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nafta 1903 have kept their man, and Olimpija Ljubljana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Slaven Belupo continues; the message travels home.
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.
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.
Olimpija Ljubljana have made the call to Primorje. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Domen Vipotnik 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Motika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Lourenço trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Indrit Tuci signs something — a contract at Olimpija Ljubljana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
16 appearances at Eyupspor and the goals have stopped going in. Olimpija Ljubljana lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
27 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 27 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
1‑2 away to the standard of Metalist. 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.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Olimpija Ljubljana has to find a result from somewhere.
Alberto Marí 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.82, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marko Ristić.
“I watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Triglav Kranj runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
2‑0 against Brommapojkarna, 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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
A brace, and Indrit Tuci takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Indrit Tuci provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Motika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Filip Kurtovic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marko Brest.
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.
“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 5 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Stefan Melentijević’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Olimpija Ljubljana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 name of Indrit Tuci keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Olimpija Ljubljana say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
Denis Pintol’s loan is measured in nothing happening
6 clean sheets from 11 appearances at Eyupspor. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Position 2, 22 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.
0‑1 away to the standard of OGC Nice. 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.
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.
Alberto Marí 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.
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.
Aluminij next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Alberto Marí 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 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.
“I did not go to Triglav Kranj to sit and watch. I want to come back to Olimpija Ljubljana and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
“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 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 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 Agustín Doffo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Olimpija Ljubljana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
0‑1 away to the standard of Brommapojkarna. 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.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matevž Vidovšek and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 4 years.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I did not go to Triglav Kranj to sit and watch. I want to come back to Olimpija Ljubljana and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Agustín Doffo will call it something else in private.
In brief
The dugoutIndrit Tuci has become a man the manager trusts
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. De Graafschap have kept their man, and Olimpija Ljubljana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Matevž Dajčar was one of the reasons people came, and $1.1M does not replace that by itself.
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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Alberto Marí from Sabadell for $8.4M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Motika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Olimpija Ljubljana will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“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 Olimpija Ljubljana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Olimpija Ljubljana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to Sabadell this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A brace, and Indrit Tuci takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Indrit Tuci provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Olimpija Ljubljana asked and Hammarby said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
3 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nemanja Motika was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Olimpija Ljubljana, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Olimpija Ljubljana asked and RKC Waalwijk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 phone has started ringing about Denis Pintol again, and this time the name on the line is Eyupspor. Olimpija Ljubljana are listening politely and promising nothing.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dino Kojić is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olimpija Ljubljana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lechia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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.
The chase for Žan-Luk Leban ended with $1.4M changing hands and NK Celje out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
NK Maribor paid $590.0K and Olimpija Ljubljana took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Žan-Luk Leban was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
In brief
SquadDino Kojić falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Olimpija Ljubljana and Ilirija 1911 have settled on $190.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Emmen have kept their man, and Olimpija Ljubljana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Olimpija Ljubljana offered $490.0K; Primorje said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Domen Vipotnik 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. 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Olimpija Ljubljana has been clear about where Marko Ristić stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Indrit Tuci is on it.
72 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Olimpija Ljubljana had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
23 games, 10 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Olimpija Ljubljana now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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 Dimitar Mitrovski is on it.
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.
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.
87 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.
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.
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.
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.
In brief
SquadIndrit Tuci is the talk of the training ground
35 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.
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 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.
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 Indrit Tuci is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nemanja Motika trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nemanja Motika signs something — a contract at Olimpija Ljubljana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Domen Vipotnik 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 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tristan Kotar and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
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 Marvin Çuni is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Olimpija Ljubljana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Olimpija Ljubljana have no good answer.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 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.
“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 dugout22 Mar 2027
Jan Gorenc 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.
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 Marvin Çuni is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Olimpija Ljubljana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Olimpija Ljubljana that is a harder question to answer.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Marvin Çuni obliged against NK Celje. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Olimpija Ljubljana.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Marvin Çuni takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marvin Çuni provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Svit Hočevar and Olimpija Ljubljana agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
17 games, 6 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Olimpija Ljubljana now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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 went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Olimpija Ljubljana argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Olimpija Ljubljana no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Ristić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 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.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Olimpija Ljubljana would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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 watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Flora 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 Bruno Lourenço trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Olimpija Ljubljana would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Olimpija Ljubljana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Olimpija Ljubljana until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
“I watch every Olimpija Ljubljana game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bilje runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Indrit Tuci has moved up it.
“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 Olimpija Ljubljana, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
7 goals in 21 games at Nafta 1903 — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Olimpija Ljubljana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nemanja Motika trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Olimpija Ljubljana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ludogorets had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Position 3, 27 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.
“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.
Domen Vipotnik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 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.
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.
6 goals in 17 games at Sesvete — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Olimpija Ljubljana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
6 goals in 20 games at Nafta 1903 — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Olimpija Ljubljana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dino Kojić has written the date down.
“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.
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.
4 goals in 14 games at Sesvete — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Olimpija Ljubljana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fredéric Ananou commits to Olimpija Ljubljana for another 4 years.
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.
“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 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
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.
Domen Vipotnik 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Jan Gorenc'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.
It needed Marvin Çuni to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Radomlje, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Filip Kurtovic chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Tristan Kotar
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
NK Domzale next, and one man in the Olimpija Ljubljana dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Olimpija Ljubljana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
Player ratingsMarvin Çuni beats them one at a time
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Svit Hočevar’s exile
Domen Vipotnik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Filip Kurtovic could afford to be generous.
8.17. 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 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 10 say he has earned the hearing.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Filip Kurtovic on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Aluminij in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Olimpija Ljubljana is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.