Marked for Mariusz Stępiński
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Korona can pretend not to have heard.
Match31 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Korona do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad2 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Market2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
8 new faces, and Korona 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
91% of the income goes out in wages at Korona
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Mariusz Stępiński
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mariusz Stępiński has come out of that comparison in the side, and Korona have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Korona do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz 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 terraces26 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Wellerson 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
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Xavier Dziekoński is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Mariusz Stępiński 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 Oct 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Xavier Dziekoński, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.80. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Óscar Contreras is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Lech made Korona work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
7.81, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Korona had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Jagiellonia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Korona and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Market12 Oct 2026
Óscar Contreras is 20, and Korona 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.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stjepan Davidović signs something — a contract at Korona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Korona
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Korona are no longer polite ones.
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 Korona, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Korona
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Korona can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Mariusz Stępiński 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
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Squad5 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at Korona
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Korona
7 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Korona
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Korona are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Korona, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Korona
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Mariusz Stępiński 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
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zé Henrique and Korona agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Korona
5 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Korona and Piast cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Piast came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Korona
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.
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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A move Rodrigo Mordomo 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. Rodrigo Mordomo is living that version at Korona, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Korona
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 6.88. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Korona bow out of the cup
Pogon go through and Korona go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market24 Aug 2026
Korona say no — this time
The offer from Lechia for Stjepan Davidović 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Korona can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Korona
4 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Mariusz Stępiński 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Piast are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Korona will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konrad Matuszewski, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Korona did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
Lechia pay $380.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
The afternoon belonged to Viktor Popov
7.16, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Korona had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Match15 Aug 2026
Korona and Legia cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Legia came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Korona would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.