From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
NK Osijek paid $460.0K 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.94 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jurica Pršir finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. HNK Gorica have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Hajduk Split for Hadji Issa Moustapha 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Davor Matijaš commits to HNK Gorica for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: NK Osijek have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Elvir Duraković. The answer from HNK Gorica has not changed — yet.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ognjen Bakić, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Davor Matijaš 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jurica Pršir commits to HNK Gorica for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jurica Pršir 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Lokomotiva Zagreb left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Iker Pozo's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
Franko Jakšić is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at HNK Gorica has been clear about where Franko Jakšić stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
The one thing Wisdom Sule could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.