Marked for Balša Popović
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
Ayoub El Kaabi 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Olympiacos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Remo Freuler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market31 May 2027
32 games and 0 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad31 May 2027
Olympiacos are still strangers to each other
6 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Ayoub El Kaabi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Olympiacos 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.
Market31 May 2027
The shop window has Joel Roca in it
Olympiacos have let the market know Joel Roca can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout31 May 2027
Lorenzo Scipioni 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.
Market31 May 2027
Joel Roca returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 2 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Squad31 May 2027
Ayoub El Kaabi 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 Olympiacos that is a harder question to answer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
Chiquinho 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 Olympiacos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Olympiacos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Remo Freuler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every Olympiacos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jelgava runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
When it matters, Leon Bailey 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leon Bailey’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Giorgos Masouras’s exile
4 goals in 22 games at Al-Khaleej — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Olympiacos updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
19 appearances at Olympique Lyonnais and the goals keep coming. Olympiacos are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
Ayoub El Kaabi 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Olympiacos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Remo Freuler 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Nair Tiknizyan
“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 dugout15 Mar 2027
When it matters, Leon Bailey 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leon Bailey’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad15 Mar 2027
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 Olympiacos would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Dani García 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 Olympiacos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Feb 2027
0‑5 against Partizan, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market22 Feb 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OFK Beograd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
0-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Miloš Pantović 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 Feb 2027
Milan Rodić 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.
Match17 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for OFK Beograd
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikola Leković
“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
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2027
OFK Beograd are in real trouble now
Position 15, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market15 Feb 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 OFK Beograd can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Nikola Pavlica: 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.” OFK Beograd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Balša Popović 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 targets15 Feb 2027
OFK Beograd asked and Mladost Lucani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateus Anderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Esapa Osong 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market25 Jan 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 OFK Beograd can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Miloš Pantović 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 targets25 Jan 2027
OFK Beograd asked and Spartak Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match23 Jan 2027
0‑2 to Cukaricki, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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
Words at OFK Beograd training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksej Vukičević 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.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Napredak to sit and watch. I want to come back to OFK Beograd and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nemanja Dimitrijevic 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
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
There were 9 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.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFK Beograd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luka Matic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Djordje Markovic 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 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateus Anderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Gobeljić, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nemanja Dimitrijevic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” OFK Beograd may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFK Beograd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at OFK Beograd training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Prutsev 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Novi Pazar left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tayrell Wouter, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Luka Tasić
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for OFK Beograd
A 1‑5 beating by Vojvodina was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
52 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFK Beograd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ethan Hoard among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Ethan Hoard on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of OFK Beograd and Vojvodina.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milan Rodić, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at OFK Beograd training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateus Anderson 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.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the OFK Beograd dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Edmund Addo'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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match3 Oct 2026
It had gone 10 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Balša Popović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Yegor Prutsev 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Javor-Matis made OFK Beograd work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I watch every OFK Beograd game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Napredak runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout5 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 12 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
6 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Partizan for Stefan Despotovski 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OFK Beograd have done the hard part with Novi Pazar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFK Beograd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
OFK Beograd asked and TSC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
OFK Beograd are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Strahinja Jovanović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OFK Beograd have done the hard part with Cukaricki, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Yegor Prutsev 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
$33.0K on the table at Novi Pazar. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Davor Nedeljković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nemanja Dimitrijevic after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.