Marked for Ilja Rubtsov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Nemanja Stevanović damages knee ligaments — 159 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 159 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Miloš Tošeski: 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.” Napredak have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Napredak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Napredak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrija Majdevac 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 dugout15 Mar 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
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
9 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Aleksandar Lutovac 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Napredak
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Srećković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Uros Ilic to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Napredak told Ilja Rubtsov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladimir Savić, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ilja Rubtsov changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Napredak had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Napredak
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Srećković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Napredak
Ilja Rubtsov 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Milos Bogdanovic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Match12 Sep 2026
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Miloš Tošeski
“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.
Market14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The formation has left Yan behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Napredak will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Mladost Lucani leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Jack Aitchison 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. Jack Aitchison is living that version at Napredak, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Napredak
Aleksandar Lutovac and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Napredak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Srećković 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Napredak go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Spartak Subotica have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lazar Balević. The answer from Napredak has not changed — yet.
The dugout17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Makhachkala is saying, and nobody at Spartak Kostroma is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Amur Kalmykov 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 targets17 Aug 2026
KDV Tomsk wanted more than $43.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Tarasov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Spartak Kostroma asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Aug 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Yenisey scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.