HNK Gorica U18

Croatian Prva HNL U18
26 Sep 2027
Sunday
Process
60 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 21 days

21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Bruno Bogojević was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. 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.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for HNK Gorica — 7.94

1 for Ognjen Bakić, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić 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.

Match

Ognjen Bakić the difference as HNK Gorica beat NK Osijek

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ognjen Bakić. 1‑0 against NK Osijek, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

100 appearances for Ognjen Bakić

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Match

Halfway: HNK Gorica sit in position 5

15 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

The dugout

A satisfied Bojan Erceg

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Bojan Erceg could afford to be generous.

In brief

Back issues
59 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Both of them Patrik Mijić's — 8.66

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Ante Erceg, 37, rolls back the years — 7.85

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Transfer targets

Silvio Ivanišević Dvornik turns down HNK Gorica

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Patrik Mijić 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Loan watch

Davyd Fesyuk counts the days

“I watch every HNK Gorica game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dinamo Makhachkala runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Davor Matijaš

“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.

Squad

Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

Home is on Benjamin Jack's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; HNK Gorica are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

In brief

58 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

The dugout

Ivan Barić: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Gorica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Boardroom

HNK Gorica close the window on a squad of their own making

26 in and 15 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.

Squad

A move Bartol Kunert would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bartol Kunert is living that version at HNK Gorica, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Francis Chinedu Echue is a HNK Gorica player again

He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.

Match

A bad afternoon for HNK Gorica against Slaven Belupo

0‑1 to Slaven Belupo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Bojan Erceg to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

57 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 46 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 46 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 dugout

Bartol Kardum: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Gorica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Jacob Beaumont-Clark 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 HNK Gorica can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Juan Lopes has agreed to leave HNK Gorica for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Market

Juan Lopes is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HNK Gorica is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić 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.

Match

Patrik Mijić the difference as HNK Gorica beat Istra 1961

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Patrik Mijić. 1‑0 against Istra 1961, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

Ante Kavelj stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ante Kavelj and HNK Gorica agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

56 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 54 days

54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Darijan Žarkov puts it in writing

“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 HNK Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić 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.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

HNK Gorica refuse to lose to Hajduk Split

A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ivan Ignatjev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ignatjev, and the manager let it.

Squad

HNK Gorica are still strangers to each other

7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Match

Jurica Pršir rescues a point for HNK Gorica

It needed Jurica Pršir to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Hajduk Split, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

Patrik Mijić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at HNK Gorica 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.

In brief

55 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 62 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.

Match

HNK Gorica taken apart

0‑3 to HNK Rijeka, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Squad

A fracture rules Tomislav Prgomet out for 20 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Gorica will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Ivan Ignatjev: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Gorica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Hisham Al-Dubais says no to Zaglebie

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Hisham Al-Dubais had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Squad

Patrik Mijić 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Bruno Bogojević runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Bruno Bogojević 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 dugout

No hiding place for Stefan Perić

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Perić, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Boardroom Doors closed at HNK Gorica
  • Loan watch Davyd Fesyuk counts the days
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
54 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 71 days

71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Bruno Bogojević beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

28 days out for Tomislav Prgomet after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Gorica will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Both of them Patrik Mijić's — 8.76

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

The dugout

Stefan Perić says HNK Gorica went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Bartol Kardum, 21, 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 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Bogojević 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.

Match

HNK Gorica get the job done against NK Varazdin

A 2‑1 win over NK Varazdin, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

53 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Bartol Kardum, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63

A mark of 7.63 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Ufa tell HNK Gorica: Laurent Seji is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Bartol Kardum

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.

Match

Patrik Mijić the difference as HNK Gorica beat Lokomotiva Zagreb

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Patrik Mijić. 1‑0 against Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

ThankGod Ekawu wants to go home

“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 HNK Gorica know it.

Loan watch

Medin Gashi wants to come home

“I did not go to Hapoel Kiryat Shmona to sit and watch. I want to come back to HNK Gorica and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.

In brief

52 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 87 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.

Market

Jacob Beaumont-Clark asks to leave HNK Gorica

“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.

Boardroom

HNK Gorica tie Bojan Erceg down

A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić 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.

Boardroom

2 academy graduates step up at HNK Gorica

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.

Transfer targets

Lokomotiva Zagreb tell HNK Gorica: Krunoslav Hendija is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Tin Došen moves on

Dugopolje pay $28.0K, 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Davor Matijaš

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davor Matijaš, and the manager let it.

Market

Tomislav Ivanovic steps up from the HNK Gorica academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tomislav Ivanovic 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.

In brief

51 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 97 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.

Market

Luka Ćurković 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 HNK Gorica can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Hisham Al-Dubais is a HNK Gorica player

The fee is $420.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Cibalia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

Squad

Patrik Mijić 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Hisham Al-Dubais arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hisham Al-Dubais has, at HNK Gorica, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Ognjen Bakić signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ognjen Bakić commits to HNK Gorica for another 4 years.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Lisandru Olmeta

HNK Gorica asked and Dinamo Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica try to borrow Matej Grahovac

NK Osijek have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Market

The Jurica Pršir question follows HNK Gorica around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jurica Pršir’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

50 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 105 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.

Market

Niels Verburgh puts it in writing

“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 HNK Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica bid $420.0K for Hisham Al-Dubais

The offer went to Cibalia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Hadji Issa Moustapha

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Market

Théo Epailly moves on

Imotski pay $530.0K, 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.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Stipo Marković

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Segesta have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Bartol Kardum stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Bartol Kardum and HNK Gorica agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Patrik Mijić gets picked when it counts

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 Patrik Mijić is on it.

In brief

49 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Domagoj Pavičić asks to leave HNK Gorica

“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.

Squad

The step up is real for Fran Stunja

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić 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.

Market

Davyd Fesyuk attracts admirers

The name of Davyd Fesyuk has come up in conversations HNK Gorica were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Rico Speksnijder signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rico Speksnijder commits to HNK Gorica for another 4 years.

Transfer targets

Door shut on John Dembe

HNK Gorica asked and Sigma Olomouc 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Stefan Perić

“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.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica try to borrow Jakub Jokl

MSK Zilina have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

48 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 122 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 122 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.

Market

HNK Gorica say no — this time

The offer from Hajduk Split for Patrik Mijić 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.

Market

Jacob Beaumont-Clark asks to leave HNK Gorica

“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.

Squad

Real improvement from Paris Elmensdorp at HNK Gorica

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Paris Elmensdorp is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Jurica Pršir

At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market

Business is business: Jakov Miholić goes

Zadar paid $33.0K and HNK Gorica took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets

Egnatia Rrogozhinë tell HNK Gorica: Soumaïla Bakayoko is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica ask about Ivan Barić

A loan enquiry to NK Osijek: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

47 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 130 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 130 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.

Market

Terms done: Husein Sumbuljević is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tusker waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Gorica is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Squad

Patrik Mijić 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The step up is real for Jacob Beaumont-Clark

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Antonio Čolak

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Legia have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Market

The Tom Lacoux question follows HNK Gorica around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tom Lacoux’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The terraces

The stands have heard the Patrik Mijić talk too

What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. HNK Gorica would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.

The dugout

A door opens for Stefan Perić

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.

In brief

46 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

HNK Gorica turn down Sesvete for Darijan Žarkov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Hapoel Kiryat Shmona join the queue for Medin Gashi

Add another name to the list: Hapoel Kiryat Shmona have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Medin Gashi. The answer from HNK Gorica has not changed — yet.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Too dear: HNK Gorica walk away from Karlo Išasegi

$360.0K was the most the club would pay and Slaven Belupo 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.

Squad

Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

Ivan Cvijanović stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Cvijanović and HNK Gorica agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica try to borrow Antonio Čolak

Legia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica try to borrow John Dembe

Sigma Olomouc have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

Patrik Mijić has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at HNK Gorica 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.

In brief

45 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

HNK Gorica turn down Imotski for Husein Sumbuljević

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

An offer of $250.0K for Karlo Išasegi

HNK Gorica have gone to Slaven Belupo 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Dino Špehar

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Segesta have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

ThankGod Ekawu wants to go home

“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 HNK Gorica know it.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica try to borrow Ivan Ignatjev

Spartak Trnava have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Market

Domagoj Pavičić told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Domagoj Pavičić has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at HNK Gorica.

The dugout

Bruno Bogojević has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at HNK Gorica 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.

In brief

44 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Bartol Kardum says HNK Gorica went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Patrik Mijić honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. HNK Gorica had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Davor Matijaš claims the golden glove

The one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Davor Matijaš, on 9 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.

Squad

Dušan Stevanović 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 dugout

Hadji Issa Moustapha gets picked when it counts

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 Hadji Issa Moustapha is on it.

In brief

43 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Dušan Stevanović 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.

Market

The Tom Lacoux question follows HNK Gorica around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tom Lacoux’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

42 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Bogojević 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 dugout

No hiding place for Rico Speksnijder

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rico Speksnijder, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Patrik Mijić gets picked when it counts

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 Patrik Mijić is on it.

Market

The Patrik Mijić story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrik Mijić signs something — a contract at HNK Gorica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

The manager makes Medin Gashi a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HNK Gorica. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Squad

The training reports on Stefan Perić are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

The dugout

The manager plants his flag on Patrik Mijić

“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Patrik Mijić’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.

Squad

Good reports on Zvonimir Šarlija

The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.

In brief

41 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić 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.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Bogojević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Bruno Bogojević gets picked when it counts

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 Bruno Bogojević is on it.

The dugout

Dušan Stevanović asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Jurica Pršir linked with a move away

The name of Jurica Pršir keeps appearing in other people's back pages. HNK Gorica say nothing, which says plenty.

Match

HNK Gorica in the hunt for Europe

Position 5, 26 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.

In brief

40 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Stefan Perić

“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.

Squad

Benjamin Jack wants to go home

“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 HNK Gorica know it.

The dugout

Dušan Stevanović knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dušan Stevanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

When it matters, Hadji Issa Moustapha plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

39 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Stefan Perić says HNK Gorica went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Bruno Bogojević 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.

Market

The Tom Lacoux question follows HNK Gorica around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tom Lacoux’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

The manager makes Medin Gashi a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HNK Gorica. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout

Darijan Žarkov knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Darijan Žarkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

38 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Hadji Issa Moustapha out for 15 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Gorica will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Stefan Perić 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 dugout

Théo Epailly 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Patrik Mijić plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

Patrik Mijić linked with a move away

The name of Patrik Mijić keeps appearing in other people's back pages. HNK Gorica say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

37 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Hadji Issa Moustapha out for 23 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Gorica will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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 dugout

Bruno Bogojević has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at HNK Gorica 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 dugout

Théo Epailly knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Gorica, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Jurica Pršir story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jurica Pršir signs something — a contract at HNK Gorica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

36 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

31 days out for Hadji Issa Moustapha after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Gorica will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bruno Bogojević 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.

Squad

8 new faces, and HNK Gorica 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bartol Kardum

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Medin Gashi asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

35 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

38 days out for Hadji Issa Moustapha after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Gorica will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Bruno Bogojević 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 dugout

Stefan Perić 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.

Squad

ThankGod Ekawu wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at HNK Gorica can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Market

The Tom Lacoux talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Gorica know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

34 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

HNK Gorica out of the cup

NK Osijek ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

Squad

Hadji Issa Moustapha breaks a bone — 46 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

The dugout

Davor Matijaš 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.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Bojan Erceg to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir 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.

The dugout

Patrik Mijić gets picked when it counts

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 Patrik Mijić is on it.

In brief

33 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 26 days

26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Hadji Issa Moustapha breaks a bone — 55 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Husein Sumbuljević signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Husein Sumbuljević and HNK Gorica agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Bruno Bogojević gets picked when it counts

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 Bruno Bogojević is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Zvonimir Josić

“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.

In brief

32 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

63 days out for Hadji Issa Moustapha after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Gorica will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Zvonimir Šarlija signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zvonimir Šarlija and HNK Gorica agree another 3 years.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

One of our own: Niko Cop joins the HNK Gorica first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Niko Cop is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Filip Bilic steps up from the HNK Gorica academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Filip Bilic 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.

Market

Dejan Bjelica steps up from the HNK Gorica academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dejan Bjelica 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.

Market

Marco Orsic steps up from the HNK Gorica academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marco Orsic 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 dugout

Husein Sumbuljević asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

31 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 41 days

41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

71 days out for Hadji Issa Moustapha after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Gorica will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Théo Epailly

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Medin Gashi has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Medin Gashi has written the date down.

In brief

30 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

78 days out for Hadji Issa Moustapha after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Gorica will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Perić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Patrik Mijić gets picked when it counts

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 Patrik Mijić is on it.

Market

The Tom Lacoux question follows HNK Gorica around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tom Lacoux’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

29 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Paris Elmensdorp breaks a bone — 27 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Magnus Lankhof Dahlby

HNK Gorica asked and Stabaek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Perić 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Medin Gashi

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

When it matters, Bruno Bogojević plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Jurica Pršir story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jurica Pršir signs something — a contract at HNK Gorica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

HNK Gorica have something to play for

Position 5 on 26 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.

In brief

28 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 63 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Paris Elmensdorp out for 34 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Gorica will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

HNK Gorica say no — this time

The offer from Kryvbas for Medin Gashi 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.

The dugout

Rico Speksnijder keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HNK Gorica may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ivan Božić rejects the move

HNK Gorica had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sturm Graz, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Medin Gashi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Medin Gashi commits to HNK Gorica for another 4 years.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Dante Stipica

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Stefan Perić

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Perić, and the manager let it.

In brief

27 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Darijan Žarkov

72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Paris Elmensdorp out for 41 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Gorica will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Dušan Stevanović says HNK Gorica went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 6 signed and 1 gone

That is the business done at HNK Gorica until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Luís Hemir rejects the move

HNK Gorica had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Clermont Foot, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Bogojević 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.

Boardroom

Josip Baturina will join HNK Gorica for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Josip Baturina has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means HNK Gorica have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Transfer targets

Aalborg tell HNK Gorica: Kelvin John is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief

26 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 80 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.

Squad

48 days out for Paris Elmensdorp after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Gorica will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Théo Epailly puts it in writing

“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 HNK Gorica, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Darijan Žarkov: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Gorica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A move Jenson Jones would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jenson Jones is living that version at HNK Gorica, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Lee Young-Jun

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grasshopper have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica ask about Luís Hemir

A loan enquiry to Clermont Foot: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Market

HNK Gorica buy the years ahead of Jenson Jones

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

In brief

25 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 89 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.

Transfer targets

Lisandru Olmeta due for a HNK Gorica medical

Everything agreed with Dinamo Bucharest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Business is business: Luka Vrzić goes

Hajduk Split paid $450.0K and HNK Gorica took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

Bruno Bogojević 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.

Transfer targets

Lechia tell HNK Gorica: Szymon Weirauch is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

HNK Gorica are still strangers to each other

8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Wisdom Sule

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Bruno Bogojević has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at HNK Gorica 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.

In brief

24 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 96 days

96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

HNK Gorica march on in the cup

HNK Rijeka are out and HNK Gorica go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

A brace, and Patrik Mijić takes the afternoon — 8.79

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Patrik Mijić provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Franjo Posavac

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Gorica have done the hard part with Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Franjo Posavac rejects the move

HNK Gorica had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Bogojević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 20. 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gentrit Salihu

HNK Gorica asked and Lokomotiva Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

23 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 103 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 103 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 dugout

Théo Epailly says HNK Gorica went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Patrik Mijić is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. HNK Gorica will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Market

Hajduk Split watching Luka Vrzić

The interest is real enough to have reached print. HNK Gorica have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica try to borrow Gentrit Salihu

Lokomotiva Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Franjo Posavac is in the works

HNK Gorica have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Market

Théo Epailly told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Théo Epailly has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at HNK Gorica.

In brief

22 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darijan Žarkov damages knee ligaments — 110 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

The formation has left Jacob Beaumont-Clark behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. HNK Gorica will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Market

The Tom Lacoux question follows HNK Gorica around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tom Lacoux’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Medin Gashi asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

21 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 117 days

117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Medin Gashi 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.

Squad

Domagoj Pavičić 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.

Squad

Jacob Beaumont-Clark signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jacob Beaumont-Clark commits to HNK Gorica for another 3 years.

The dugout

Stefan Perić knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stefan Perić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Jurica Pršir story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jurica Pršir signs something — a contract at HNK Gorica or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Continental football is in reach for HNK Gorica

26 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

Market

HNK Gorica pick up Paris Elmensdorp for nothing

The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Paris Elmensdorp arrives at HNK Gorica with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.

In brief

20 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 126 days

126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at HNK Gorica

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bartol Kardum

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bartol Kardum, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Stefan Perić asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

  • The dugout Luka Vrzić has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout Ante Erceg keeps his manager's vote
19 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Darijan Žarkov out for 133 days

133 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

The dugout

Bartol Kardum keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HNK Gorica may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Hadji Issa Moustapha signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hadji Issa Moustapha and HNK Gorica agree another 4 years.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Jakov Filipović

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. HNK Gorica told Jakov Filipović something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

18 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Darijan Žarkov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darijan Žarkov commits to HNK Gorica for another 1 years.

Squad

Théo Epailly 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Rico Speksnijder

“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.

Squad

No place for Niels Verburgh in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation HNK Gorica are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

Market

The Tom Lacoux question follows HNK Gorica around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tom Lacoux’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

17 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Patrik Mijić’s goal not enough for HNK Gorica

Patrik Mijić scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to NK Osijek, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Davor Matijaš

“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.

Squad

Stefan Perić makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

Niels Verburgh signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Niels Verburgh and HNK Gorica agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Bojan Erceg: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 13. 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 dugout

A promise honoured at HNK Gorica

Something was said to Luka Vrzić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

16 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Ivan Cvijanović: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Gorica have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jurica Pršir

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Squad

Luka Ćurković signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luka Ćurković commits to HNK Gorica for another 3 years.

The dugout

No place for Dušan Stevanović on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at HNK Gorica pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

Player ratings

Mateo Leš was the difference for HNK Gorica

Marked 7.10. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

Théo Epailly 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.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Bojan Erceg chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

15 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Luka Ćurković gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luka Ćurković has just signed for HNK Gorica, and for once the answer mattered.

Match

HNK Gorica see off HNK Vukovar 1991

Three points for HNK Gorica, 1‑0 the final word against HNK Vukovar 1991 in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Dušan Stevanović 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 ratings

Ninety minutes of Jurica Pršir at his very best

Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at HNK Gorica.

Squad

Luka Ćurković stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Luka Ćurković and HNK Gorica agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Bojan Erceg, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

Player ratings

Jakov Pranjić was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 12. 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 dugout

When it matters, Luka Vrzić plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

14 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Wisdom Sule sends HNK Gorica through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Wisdom Sule obliged against HNK Vukovar 1991. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is HNK Gorica.

Match

HNK Gorica win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 97th minute. HNK Vukovar 1991 will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

Luka Vrzić, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.17

A mark of 8.17 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Davor Matijaš stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Théo Epailly

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The terraces

HNK Gorica supporters have found a favourite in Luka Vrzić

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Luka Vrzić 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for HNK Gorica against Istra 1961

0‑2 to Istra 1961, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Wisdom Sule was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.16. 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Stefan Perić

“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.

In brief

13 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Appearance number 200 for Zvonimir Šarlija

200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Dušan Stevanović

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Hadji Issa Moustapha 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.

Squad

10 new faces, and HNK Gorica 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.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Tom Lacoux

Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

The dugout

Bojan Erceg on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bojan Erceg after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Luka Vrzić's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

The dugout

HNK Gorica pick somebody else ahead of Rico Speksnijder

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

12 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

A brace, and Patrik Mijić takes the afternoon — 8.83

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Patrik Mijić provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Nobody wants to play HNK Gorica right now

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.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Patrik Mijić sends HNK Gorica past HNK Rijeka

It finished 2‑1, and it was Patrik Mijić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to HNK Gorica.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Patrik Mijić

12 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Patrik Mijić reaches 50 goals

50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakov Pranjić 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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Bojan Erceg, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

Rico Speksnijder 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.

In brief

11 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Match

HNK Gorica get the job done against Slaven Belupo

A 1‑0 win over Slaven Belupo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir runs at them all day

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.

Player ratings

Patrik Mijić was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.10. 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 dugout

No hiding place for Medin Gashi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Medin Gashi, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Bojan Erceg: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

Medin Gashi dropped after a run of poor form

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.

Squad

The weekend belonged to Patrik Mijić

Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.

Looking ahead

Bruno Bogojević goes back to face HNK Rijeka

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Bruno Bogojević’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and HNK Gorica needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

10 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Patrik Mijić takes the afternoon — 8.93

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Patrik Mijić provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Zvonimir Šarlija and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Patrik Mijić sends HNK Gorica past Lokomotiva Zagreb

It finished 2‑0, and it was Patrik Mijić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to HNK Gorica.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Stevanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Darijan Žarkov signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darijan Žarkov and HNK Gorica agree another 1 years.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Jurica Pršir

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jurica Pršir has come out of that comparison in the side, and HNK Gorica have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Bojan Erceg kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Medin Gashi

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.

Looking ahead

Zvonimir Šarlija faces his old club

Slaven Belupo next, and one man in the HNK Gorica dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

9 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Théo Epailly

20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

HNK Gorica say no — this time

The offer from Gomel for Medin Gashi 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.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

HNK Gorica come up short against Dinamo Zagreb

Dinamo Zagreb left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Davor Matijaš

“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.

Squad

Jakov Pranjić 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.

Match

The half-term report on HNK Gorica

Position 5, 12 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

Squad

9 new faces, and HNK Gorica 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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Bojan Erceg left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

8 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Théo Epailly out for 27 days

27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Patrik Mijić leads the rout of NK Osijek

5‑1, and Patrik Mijić took the headlines on an afternoon when everything HNK Gorica tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir scores twice — 8.49

Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Patrik Mijić takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Patrik Mijić among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Patrik Mijić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of HNK Gorica and NK Osijek.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Patrik Mijić

Marked 9.59 — 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 terraces

One of their own: Ognjen Bakić

He is 23 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.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakov Pranjić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

7 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Théo Epailly

34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Gorica lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Not going: Medin Gashi stays at HNK Gorica

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Torpedo Kutaisi had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Match

Patrik Mijić wins it after the whistle should have gone

92 minutes played. Patrik Mijić found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and NK Varazdin went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Bruno Bogojević 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.

Match

HNK Gorica see off NK Varazdin

Three points for HNK Gorica, 1‑0 the final word against NK Varazdin in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Patrik Mijić stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.99 on the card, and the HNK Gorica support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Bojan Erceg, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

Stefan Perić asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

6 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Théo Epailly damages knee ligaments — 42 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 10 in, 3 out at HNK Gorica

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Rafał Mamla turns down HNK Gorica

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Korona keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Market

Torpedo Kutaisi watching Medin Gashi

The interest is real enough to have reached print. HNK Gorica have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell HNK Gorica: Krešimir Radoš is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A row about effort at HNK Gorica

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Bogojević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

A bad afternoon for HNK Gorica against HNK Vukovar 1991

0‑1 to HNK Vukovar 1991, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Wisdom Sule

“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.

In brief

5 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Théo Epailly damages knee ligaments — 50 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.

Transfer targets

Rafał Mamla due for a HNK Gorica medical

Everything agreed with Korona, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica bid $410.0K for Noa Mikić

The offer went to Dinamo Zagreb this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

No deal for Karlo Išasegi at that price

HNK Gorica offered $430.0K; Slaven Belupo 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.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

NK Varazdin tell HNK Gorica: Mario Mladenovski is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Player ratings

Jakov Pranjić beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Jakov Pranjić 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at HNK Gorica

9 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.

In brief

4 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Théo Epailly out for 57 days

57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Gorica lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

Too dear: HNK Gorica walk away from Gabriel Vidović

$1.8M was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Zagreb 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.

Market

HNK Gorica turn down HNK Rijeka for Hadji Issa Moustapha

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Paul Bismarck Tabinas

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica make their move for Karlo Išasegi

$430.0K on the table at Slaven Belupo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Jurica Pršir 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Jurica Pršir was unplayable

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.

Match

Hajduk Split take the points off HNK Gorica

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

In brief

3 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

HNK Gorica say no — this time

The offer from Gomel for Medin Gashi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Ivan Radošević

HNK Gorica and Sesvete have settled on $730.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Luka Vrzić at 19 — 7.89

The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luka Vrzić did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Transfer targets

NK Varazdin tell HNK Gorica: Tomislav Duvnjak is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

Craque will not be coming to HNK Gorica

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Astra is saying, and nobody at HNK Gorica is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Zvonimir Šarlija 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 HNK Gorica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

HNK Gorica get their man

The chase for Davyd Fesyuk ended with $110.0K changing hands and Hajduk Split out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Transfer targets

Too dear: HNK Gorica walk away from Mislav Ćutuk

$46.0K was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Zagreb 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.

The terraces

One of their own: Luka Vrzić

He is 19 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.

In brief

2 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Niko Galešić

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Davyd Fesyuk due for a HNK Gorica medical

Everything agreed with Hajduk Split, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

Davor Matijaš signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Davor Matijaš commits to HNK Gorica for another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica make their move for Mislav Ćutuk

$46.0K on the table at Dinamo Zagreb. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

HNK Rijeka watching Hadji Issa Moustapha

The interest is real enough to have reached print. HNK Gorica have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Davor Matijaš

“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.

Market

HNK Gorica promote Dario Babic from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dario Babic 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.

Market

One of our own: Robert Sucic joins the HNK Gorica first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robert Sucic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

1 Edition

The HNK Gorica Herald

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jakov Miholić 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 HNK Gorica can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Jurica Pršir signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jurica Pršir commits to HNK Gorica for another 4 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at HNK Gorica

Jurica Pršir 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.

Squad

Words at HNK Gorica training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.

Transfer targets

HNK Gorica rebuffed over Nick Oyekunle

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Southampton have kept their man, and HNK Gorica go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

49 months and counting on Jurica Pršir

Still no offer on the table, and Jurica Pršir’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.

Squad

8 new faces, and HNK Gorica 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Luka Vrzić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Davor Matijaš knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davor Matijaš trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Match Point won or two lost for HNK Gorica?
  • Looking ahead Bruno Bogojević faces his old club