Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Artúr Musák obliged against Slovacko. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Banik Ostrava.
Pribram will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Banik Ostrava were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zlin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Artúr Musák, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Michal Kohút 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.
In brief
MatchJiří Boula among the goals in a wild afternoon
A brace, and Filip Kubala takes the afternoon — 8.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filip Kubala provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Jablonec for Eldar Šehić 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 and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
Jablonec paid $75.0K and Banik Ostrava took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Jihlava tried to reorganise, Banik Ostrava did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“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 The request is on a desk at Banik Ostrava, and it is not being withdrawn.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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Slovacko pay $780.0K, 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Dantaye Gilbert again, and this time the name on the line is Sigma Olomouc. Banik Ostrava are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” David Látal has his answer from Banik Ostrava; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
In brief
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Karel Schick on the draw
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zlin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Zbrojovka Brno for Artúr Musák 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Michal Kohút 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at CSKA Sofia is saying, and nobody at Banik Ostrava is enjoying the guessing.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Jiří Boula 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Banik Ostrava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vladimir Sima 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adam Masopust 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vladimir Schick is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Everything agreed with CSKA Sofia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karel Pojezný and Banik Ostrava agree another 4 years.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jagiellonia have kept their man, and Banik Ostrava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Artúr Musák has come up in conversations Banik Ostrava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. David Planka was one of the reasons people came, and $1.6M does not replace that by itself.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Banik Ostrava asked and Austria Wien 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 words a physio says slowly. 15 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and Banik Ostrava go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Banik Ostrava offered $750.0K; Viktoria Plzen said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Michal Kohút 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vaclav Soucek 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jakub Brabec 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Banik Ostrava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Banik Ostrava asked and Slovan Liberec said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Banik Ostrava have gone to Viktoria Plzen with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Jiří Boula 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 at Banik Ostrava 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michal Kohút signs something — a contract at Banik Ostrava or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Banik Ostrava have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal that would have taken David Planka to Atromitos has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Banik Ostrava with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Jiří Boula 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 name of Tochukwu Ogbadibo has come up in conversations Banik Ostrava were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Banik Ostrava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Jiří Boula 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.
Banik Ostrava asked and Pogon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banik Ostrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Banik Ostrava enter the window
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Banik Ostrava lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Michal Kohút 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
Jiří Boula 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 at Banik Ostrava 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.
The loan was meant to give him football. 3 games and 1 goals later he is back at Banik Ostrava no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Position 4 on 52 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Elias Cobbaut trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
BoardroomThe Banik Ostrava board put their names to 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Jiří Boula 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 watch every Banik Ostrava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dukla Prague runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Banik Ostrava know it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Václav Jurečka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Planka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banik Ostrava the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Abdallah Gning is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banik Ostrava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Michal Kohút 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Jiří Boula 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 at Banik Ostrava 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Banik Ostrava will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Banik Ostrava, another week without a signature from Vojtěch Vorel.
Position 4, 52 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banik Ostrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Jiří Boula 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banik Ostrava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Jiří Boula 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 watch every Banik Ostrava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dukla Prague runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michal Kohút signs something — a contract at Banik Ostrava or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banik Ostrava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Michal Kohút 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Banik Ostrava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dukla Prague runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banik Ostrava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 Apr 2027
Jiří Boula 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Banik Ostrava, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vojtěch Vorel is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Elias Cobbaut trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Banik Ostrava, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Václav Jurečka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banik Ostrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Banik Ostrava game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dukla Prague runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Banik Ostrava can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michal Kohút signs something — a contract at Banik Ostrava or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banik Ostrava. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
2‑3 away to the standard of AZ. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Michal Kohút 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ondřej Kričfaluši and Banik Ostrava agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Vojtěch Vorel.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vojtěch Vorel and Banik Ostrava agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Sigma Olomouc to sit and watch. I want to come back to Banik Ostrava and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
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 Jiří Boula is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banik Ostrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrik Holes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pavel Vydra 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Sima 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michal Provod 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Banik Ostrava know it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Michal Frydrych has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Viktoria Plzen go through and Banik Ostrava go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Jiří Boula 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Getting past Martin Jedlička has become the hardest job in the division
13 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Michal Kohút 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 Feb 2027
Jiří Boula 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.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banik Ostrava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal that would have taken David Látal to Pribram has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Banik Ostrava with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Jiří Boula is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Banik Ostrava people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Banik Ostrava close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Filip Kubala had Banik Ostrava level again within 3 minutes, and Slovan Liberec never got to play with a lead at all.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Vojtěch Vorel will call it something else in private.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Látal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banik Ostrava the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Jiří Boula 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.
Banik Ostrava asked and Slovan Liberec said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Filip Kubala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Martin Jedlička is on it.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Karel Schick was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Banik Ostrava dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Slovacko defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Banik Ostrava people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Banik Ostrava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CSKA Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“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.
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
Marked 8.45 — 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banik Ostrava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Jiří Boula 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. David Planka has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.14 — 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 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Karel Schick on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutMartin Jedlička has become a man the manager trusts
2‑0 against DAC Dunajska Streda, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banik Ostrava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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: 21. 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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 19 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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 midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.74, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Vojtěch Vorel
0‑1 away to the standard of Ajax. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Jiří Boula 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Filip Kubala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Planka did not need any: 8.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banik Ostrava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Chigozie Ani is living that version at Banik Ostrava, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Banik Ostrava.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Michal Kohút was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
3‑0. Nights like this are why clubs spend decades trying to qualify for this competition, and they arrive perhaps twice in that time. Everybody who was in the ground will describe it badly for years.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Hamidou Kante, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jiří Boula 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jiří Boula. 1‑0 against Dukla Prague, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matěj Chaluš 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Václav Jurečka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Banik Ostrava, another week without a signature from Vojtěch Vorel.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Jakub Pira
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Michal Kohút 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Vojtěch Vorel will call it something else in private.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Banik Ostrava had all but put away. Sigma Olomouc will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jiří Boula 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 at Banik Ostrava 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Efa Enabulele has just signed for Banik Ostrava, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jiří Boula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Banik Ostrava 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.
2‑0 against DAC Dunajska Streda, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Position 3, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Jakub Pira, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matúš Kmeť will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banik Ostrava the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Michal Kohút 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
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
He is 18 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Michal Kohút 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jiří Boula 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Banik Ostrava 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Mlada Boleslav defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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 David Planka is on it.
In brief
The dugoutDennis Owusu knocks on the manager’s door
0‑1 against Ajax. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Akintunde Azeez has just signed for Banik Ostrava, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
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.
Matěj Chaluš 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.
Jiří Boula 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.
Banik Ostrava asked and Ujpest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.55 — 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banik Ostrava is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Banik Ostrava close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Banik Ostrava have gone to Slovan Liberec with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Michal Kohút and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Banik Ostrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jiří Boula 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.
Václav Jurečka 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.
Sparta Prague wanted more than $210.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jiří Boula 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.
12 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.
A 4‑3 win over Zbrojovka Brno, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match19 Aug 2026
Filip Kubala wins it after the whistle should have gone
120 minutes played. Filip Kubala found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Zbrojovka Brno went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Grasshopper had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $960.0K has been paid because Alan Marinelli is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Pribram will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Banik Ostrava were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Planka had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$2.9M was the most the club would pay and Sparta Prague were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
$960.0K on the table at Slovacko. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Jihlava will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vojtěch Vorel has just signed for Banik Ostrava, and for once the answer mattered.
$2.9M on the table at Sparta Prague. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banik Ostrava they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Dennis Owusu delivers — 7.99
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Dennis Owusu scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
$510.0K on the table at Sigma Olomouc. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Matúš Kmeť has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Transfer targetsAn offer of $160.0K for Adam Ševínský
1Edition
The Banik Ostrava Herald
3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondentTriumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Artúr Musák, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The offer from Helsingborg for David Planka 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.
“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.
Václav Jurečka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jiří Boula 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.
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.
Marked 8.17 — 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.