It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Banik Ostrava did not have in the autumn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karel Pojezný 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.
Zlin made Banik Ostrava work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
175% of the income goes out in wages at Banik Ostrava
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.
Filip Kubala 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
Karel Pojezný 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Banik Ostrava scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karel Pojezný 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.
A 2‑1 win over Slovan Liberec, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Viktoria Plzen had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Banik Ostrava did not stop to explain themselves.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Karel Pojezný 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.
Marked 9.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I watch every Banik Ostrava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Viktoria Plzen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Michal Kohút 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
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karel Pojezný 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.
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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Karel Pojezný 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martin Jedlička, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Srđan Plavšić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Michal Kohút 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karel Pojezný 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.68 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Filip Kubala 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Banik Ostrava and Zbrojovka Brno in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matěj Chaluš. 4‑2 against Zbrojovka Brno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Karel Pojezný 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.
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.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Abdallah Gning
30 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Banik Ostrava can pretend not to have heard.
Karel Pojezný 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.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Marked 9.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
“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 Banik Ostrava, and it is not being withdrawn.
Filip Kubala 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Karel Pojezný 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Michal Kohút was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.93. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Planka did not need any: 8.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Banik Ostrava, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Sparta Prague for Vlasiy Sinyavskiy 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.
Michal Kohút 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karel Pojezný 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 offer from Mlada Boleslav for Ladislav Almási 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Karel Pojezný 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Slovacko will make the call about Patrick Kpozo this week. Banik Ostrava have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Michal Kohút has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Rafael Galhardo arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banik Ostrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Slavia Prague pay $630.0K, 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.
David Planka had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Bohemians 1905 were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Planka did not need any: 8.58, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Václav Jurečka and Banik Ostrava agree another 2 years.
Michal Kohút 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karel Pojezný 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.
At 21 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Václav Jurečka’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.