Marked for Daniel Kozma
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
Nüraly Älip 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Kozma, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Kreiker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Tomáš Smejkal has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dukla Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dukla Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jan Bačkovský’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Apr 2027
Dario Kreiker hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Nüraly Älip 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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Hanousek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pavel Gaszczyk commits to Dukla Prague for another 4 years.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
When it matters, Jakub Kadák plays
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Daniel Kozma knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Kozma trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
David Látal has been promised minutes
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 David Látal has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market1 Mar 2027
Dominik Hašek hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dukla Prague can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Tidjane Traoré pops up at the right end — 7.45
7.45, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Nüraly Älip 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 terraces1 Mar 2027
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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for Dukla Prague, 1‑0 the final word against Zlin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marek Hanousek 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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 Dukla Prague know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dukla Prague lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.88, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Jakub Jeřábek: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dukla Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Hamdi Akujobi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Dukla Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Matěj Žitný for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Dukla Prague will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marek Hanousek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dukla Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Boubou Diallo again, and this time the name on the line is Jihlava. Dukla Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Michal Tomič 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Olatoundji Tessilimi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Samson Tijani has improved at 24, 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marek Hanousek 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Marek Hanousek
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Nüraly Älip is in the works
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Jan Zíka is in the works
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Nov 2026
Slavia Prague ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Dukla Prague's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dukla Prague has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Dukla Prague — 7.63
1 for Hamdi Akujobi, marked 7.63, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jakub Kadák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Látal 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Late, late show earns Dukla Prague a point
Minute 88, against Bohemians 1905, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Market23 Nov 2026
No place for Daniel Kozma in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Daniel Kozma has his answer from Dukla Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jakub Kadák 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Kreiker 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jan Bačkovský’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Dukla Prague needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Daniel Kozma asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dukla Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Jakub Kadák
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Dukla Prague would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tidjane Traoré has seen what the next man earns
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 Dukla Prague that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jakub Kadák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Samson Tijani has improved at 24, 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dukla Prague can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Dukla Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Kreiker 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.34 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dukla Prague had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dominik Hašek, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dukla Prague told Daniel Kozma something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Ondrej Vydra on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.