Marked for Tom Lockyer
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zemun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 Sep 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zemun people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A move Luka Pejović would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luka Pejović is living that version at Zemun, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market6 Sep 2027
Kaio César 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 Zemun can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Zemun close the window on a squad of their own making
25 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Zemun
Nikola Tasić 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Zemun asked and Cukaricki said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zemun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout6 Sep 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
The knee: Danko Kiković out for 108 days
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zemun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match31 Jul 2027
A hiding for Zemun
Beaten 0‑3 by Ušće, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Nikola Tasić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zemun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Luka Petrović 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Ilija Matejević is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zemun has been clear about where Ilija Matejević stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milan Spremo, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Inquest at Zemun
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market2 Aug 2027
Zemun and Tom Lockyer are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Ilija Matejević out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zemun will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Crvena Zvezda is saying, and nobody at Zemun is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$610.0K on the table at Cukaricki. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$83.0K on the table at Javor-Matis. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Zemun
Nikola Tasić 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Iestyn Jones arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Iestyn Jones has, at Zemun, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Zemun asked and Cukaricki said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages swallow 155% of the Zemun income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Ilija Matejević out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zemun will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Milos Vlahovic has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zemun can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 Jun 2027
Andijon come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zemun did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Jun 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 Zemun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Nikola Tasić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zemun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Kostas Tsaknis gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kostas Tsaknis has just signed for Zemun, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danko Kiković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IMT have kept their man, and Zemun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilija Matejević
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Branislav Tomić damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 May 2027
Gustavo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zemun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Zemun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danko Kiković 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Tom Lockyer
“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 dugout10 May 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 Zemun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
127 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zemun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 Apr 2027
109 days out for Ben after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zemun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market19 Apr 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 Zemun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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
Gustavo 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 146% of everything Zemun earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Gustavo gets it from the manager
“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
Milan Spremo 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 Milan Spremo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Savo Rašković damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zemun can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Zemun boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match27 Feb 2027
Zemun make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zemun have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
Tom Lockyer gets it from the manager
“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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Dubočica made Zemun work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zemun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Zemun
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Gustavo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zemun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Milan Spremo
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirko Andrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zemun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Tom Lockyer left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tom Lockyer will call it something else in private.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Milos Vlahovic to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
The knee: Savo Rašković out for 102 days
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zemun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market1 Feb 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 Zemun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 1 out at Zemun
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Zemun's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zemun has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A move Dapo Anunlopo would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dapo Anunlopo is living that version at Zemun, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Krsta Đorđević
“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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Zemun had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
The knee: Savo Rašković out for 109 days
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zemun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Zemun
Nikola Tasić 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Gustavo 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 152% of everything Zemun earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Match23 Jan 2027
Zemun rescue it on 86 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Kabel had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Zemun support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Ilija Matejević
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
The knee: Savo Rašković out for 117 days
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zemun lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market18 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 Zemun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Omonia 29M waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zemun is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Jan 2027
Zemun say no — this time
The offer from Shenzhen Peng City for Fei Ernanduo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tom Lockyer in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zemun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets18 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darko Vukašinović, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A club back home comes in for Fei Ernanduo
The enquiry everybody at Zemun 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zemun told Ilija Matejević something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Savo Rašković
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zemun lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Jan 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Zemun
Tom Lockyer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zemun have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Zemun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Zemun asked and IMT said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match9 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Zemun against Grafičar
0‑2 to Grafičar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Milan Spremo
“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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Milos Vlahovic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Savo Rašković
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zemun lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.07, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Zemun
Nikola Tasić 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Zemun is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match2 Jan 2027
Three points for Zemun, 3‑2 the final word against Voždovac in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Gustavo 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.
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.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Petar Jauković has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Zemun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
151% of the income goes out in wages at Zemun
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Branislav Tomić, and the manager let it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Obadović. 1‑0 against Dinamo Vranje, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zemun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match30 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Zemun
Position 9, 21 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ilija Matejević
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Mouhamadou Fall's mistake
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Player ratings
Nikola Stanković runs at them all day
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zemun may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tom Lockyer in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zemun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Zemun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danko Kiković, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.14 on the card, and the Zemun support went home talking about one name.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Smederevo 1924 defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
8 matches without a win for Zemun
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Zemun are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Zemun
Gustavo 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilija Matejević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 151% of everything Zemun earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilija Matejević, and the manager let it.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Trayal Kruševac, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Costa commits to Zemun for another 1 years.
Market2 Nov 2026
Zemun and Tom Lockyer are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Milos Vlahovic left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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; Zemun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Zemun
25 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zemun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
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Looking ahead
A test against the best for Zemun
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Looking ahead
Stefan Đurić faces his old club
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The dugout
When it matters, Ben plays
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The dugout
The manager makes Luka Petrović a promise
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Zemun
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Zemun are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Gustavo
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Zemun is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 158% of the Zemun income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilija Matejević, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Zemun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Savo Rašković 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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; Zemun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ilija Matejević
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Zemun and Loznica take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zemun
Gustavo 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filip Obadović, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Danko Kiković had Zemun level again within 1 minutes, and Grafičar never got to play with a lead at all.
Market14 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zemun, another week without a signature from Tom Lockyer.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Savo Rašković 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 Sep 2026
25 new faces, and Zemun are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.63 on the card, and the Zemun support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ognjen Marinković
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 38 in, 25 out at Zemun
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 38 arrived, 25 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IMT have kept their man, and Zemun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Gustavo needs a bigger stage
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Zemun know which stage they are at.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zemun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 Sep 2026
Gustavo brings the grey hairs Zemun lacked
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zemun
Nikola Tasić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jagiellonia have kept their man, and Zemun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Branislav Tomić, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Zemun
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirko Andrić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to OFK Beograd: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Stefan Đurić
7.12, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Zemun had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Tom Lockyer left out for tactical reasons at Zemun
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Zemun and Voždovac cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Voždovac came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Zemun out of the cup
Zeleznicar Pancevo ended it 2‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Zemun did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zemun
Tom Lockyer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zemun and Zeleznicar Pancevo in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Joseph George has come up in conversations Zemun were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FCSB have kept their man, and Zemun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Tom Lockyer gets it from the manager
“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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Zemun, 1‑0 the final word against FAP Priboj in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.43. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
In brief
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The dugout
Darko Vukašinović dropped after a run of poor form
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
A row about effort at Zemun
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zemun
Tom Lockyer 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nasaf have kept their man, and Zemun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Obadović. 1‑0 against Tekstilac Odžaci, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tom Lockyer has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Zemun know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Zemun and Tom Lockyer are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Zemun are still strangers to each other
22 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The afternoon belonged to Stefan Đurić
A mark of 7.70, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.