From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matej Marojević
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cibalia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Oct 2026
Marcos Gómez hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cibalia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Britto keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cibalia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Cibalia
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Šime Gržan 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
Luka Marijanović 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Cibalia
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
153% of the income goes out in wages at Cibalia
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Greg Houla runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Matej Marojević damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Šime Gržan in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cibalia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Cibalia against Sesvete
0‑2 to Sesvete, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Renato Kelić 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mariano Cristaldo 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
The chances came and went for Ante Kuliš
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Renato Kelić 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 Cibalia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Šime Gržan 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Gabrijel Boban
“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 ratings21 Sep 2026
18 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Luka Vrzić
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ante Kuliš could have had three
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Šime Gržan in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cibalia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Cibalia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dave Bulthuis 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Zadar left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Petar Brlek 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Cibalia
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Sep 2026
Cibalia are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 10 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Gabrijel Boban yet — 8.53
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.53 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Šime Gržan 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 unbeaten for Cibalia
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Cibalia did not have in the autumn.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Gabrijel Boban’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cibalia.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dave Bulthuis, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Cibalia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Cristaldo 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ante Kuliš at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cibalia.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Gabrijel Boban, 37, rolls back the years — 8.15
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Renato Kelić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cibalia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Cibalia and Imotski, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Šime Gržan 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Greg Houla 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.23 — 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market31 Aug 2026
Petar Mišić is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cibalia has been clear about where Petar Mišić stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad31 Aug 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.
In brief
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Market
Experience through the door at Cibalia
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Player ratings
An afternoon Noa Godec will want back
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Player ratings
An afternoon Šime Gržan will want back
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Karlo Stapić
Defensive actions: 129. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Šime Gržan 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dave Bulthuis 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Marko Pervan at his very best
Marked 8.57. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cibalia.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Marko Pervan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cibalia.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The chances came and went for Marcos Gómez
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Petar Mišić 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Renato Kelić
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Šime Gržan in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cibalia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Šime Gržan, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Greg Houla has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Cibalia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Cibalia
8 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Churre brings the grey hairs Cibalia lacked
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
Renato Kelić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cibalia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Šime Gržan 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Renato Kelić, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Šime Gržan has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Cibalia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market10 Aug 2026
A conversation is coming this week. Cibalia will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months and counting on Britto
Still no offer on the table, and Britto’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
In brief
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Market
Experience through the door at Cibalia
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Player ratings
Marcos Gómez changes it off the bench
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Renato Kelić and Cibalia agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Renato Kelić 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Petar Brlek is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cibalia has been clear about where Petar Brlek stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabrijel Boban, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Ante Kuliš
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Cibalia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Karlo Stapić's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.