Marked for Splinter de Mooij
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Husein Sumbuljević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HNK Gorica the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market30 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at HNK Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Luka Vrzić, 20, steals the show — 7.60
Marked 7.60 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Gorica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Gorica have done the hard part with Dugopolje, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pérez Vinlöf 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 targets30 Aug 2027
HNK Gorica asked and Dugopolje 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom31 May 2027
Continental nights are coming to HNK Gorica
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Squad31 May 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and HNK Gorica have had the benefit of it.
Market31 May 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 HNK Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2027
Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
8 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
Squad31 May 2027
Bruno Bogojević falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout31 May 2027
Patrik Mijić gets picked when it counts
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 Patrik Mijić is on it.
Market31 May 2027
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at HNK Gorica no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
Market31 May 2027
HNK Gorica have let the market know Ivan Cvijanović can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HNK Gorica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2027
Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at HNK Gorica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Bogojević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I did not go to HNK Vukovar 1991 to sit and watch. I want to come back to HNK Gorica and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Market10 May 2027
Turki Hazazi is 20, and HNK Gorica have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout10 May 2027
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 Matteo Pérez Vinlöf is on it.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Splinter de Mooij, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. HNK Gorica have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Market10 May 2027
The Ognjen Bakić story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ognjen Bakić signs something — a contract at HNK Gorica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HNK Gorica may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakov Filipović, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Patrik Mijić gets picked when it counts
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 Patrik Mijić is on it.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
16 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market21 Dec 2026
The Jurica Pršir story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jurica Pršir signs something — a contract at HNK Gorica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Mario Šuver knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Gorica, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match21 Dec 2026
Continental football is in reach for HNK Gorica
24 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.