From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KFC Komárno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Martin Vantruba ended with $450.0K changing hands and Spartak Trnava out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Filip Kiss 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alen Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
AS Trencin 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The formation has left Mário Hollý behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. KFC Komárno will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Zyen Jones 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 KFC Komárno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Erik Gyurákovics damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Match11 Jan 2027
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with MFK Skalica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: MFK Ruzomberok keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
KFC Komárno have gone to Spartak Trnava 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Filip Kiss 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nándor Tamás and KFC Komárno agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
KFC Komárno asked and MSK Zilina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KFC Komárno lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the KFC Komárno board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Reziuan Mirzov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Rifat Zhemaletdinov 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 targets4 Jan 2027
KFC Komárno asked and AS Trencin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Petržalka 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Rifat Zhemaletdinov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Filip Kiss 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 KFC Komárno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
AS Trencin left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elvis Mashike Sukisa, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Norbert Mak left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Elvis Mashike Sukisa is on it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
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.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Spartak Trnava in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Joao Grimaldo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KFC Komárno.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Alen Mustafić 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 terraces21 Dec 2026
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for KFC Komárno
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Podbrezova were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Christian Emmanuel Nguidjol Bayemi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Lorik Emini 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Dec 2026
KFC Komárno are in real trouble now
Position 12, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Reziuan Mirzov 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Podbrezova next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Lorik Emini left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Lorik Emini will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces7 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the KFC Komárno board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for KFC Komárno
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around KFC Komárno are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Kiss and KFC Komárno agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Filip Kiss and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
MFK Skalica next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Zyen Jones
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.35. 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” Norbert Mak chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” KFC Komárno may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alen Mustafić 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Kiss and KFC Komárno agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match28 Nov 2026
1‑2 to Slovan Bratislava, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Lorik Emini 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Benjamín Száraz
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Norbert Mak after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Zyen Jones
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Alen Mustafić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 1‑2 Norbert Mak left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Zyen Jones
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Róbert Pillár, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. KFC Komárno lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Nobody at KFC Komárno 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.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Slovan Bratislava next, and one man in the KFC Komárno dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for KFC Komárno
Position 12 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Reziuan Mirzov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at KFC Komárno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rifat Zhemaletdinov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. KFC Komárno told Matej Franko something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Šimon Šmehyl 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
When it matters, Adam Krčík 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tatran Prešov in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Zyen Jones 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 KFC Komárno, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KFC Komárno know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Zyen Jones
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alen Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Filip Kiss and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Norbert Mak after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Kristóf Domonkos
Nobody at KFC Komárno is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad9 Nov 2026
At 32 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at KFC Komárno are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KFC Komárno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over MFK Michalovce, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KFC Komárno.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
2-0, and a corner of somebody else’s ground that outsang the rest of it. Those coaches leave before dawn and nobody outside them mentions it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.” Norbert Mak, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Reziuan Mirzov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at KFC Komárno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rifat Zhemaletdinov 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑2 to DAC Dunajska Streda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joao Grimaldo, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
MFK Michalovce next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Zyen Jones runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Oct 2026
Halfway: KFC Komárno sit in position 12
6 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Something was said to Joao Grimaldo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Oct 2026
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to KFC Komárno's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KFC Komárno has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a goal for KFC Komárno
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alen Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Norbert Mak was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the KFC Komárno dressing room was either.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A defender's afternoon for Filip Kiss
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. MSK Zilina came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Benjamín Száraz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and KFC Komárno needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alen Mustafić 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martin Gamboš and KFC Komárno agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Patrik Duda 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juraj Benes 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Filip Kiss commits to KFC Komárno for another 1 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rifat Zhemaletdinov 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for KFC Komárno
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Filip Kiss 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 KFC Komárno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Spartak Trnava left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Zyen Jones
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Reziuan Mirzov 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to AS Trencin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at KFC Komárno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorik Emini 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and KFC Komárno 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Norbert Mak to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Matej Franko 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Spartak Trnava next, and one man in the KFC Komárno dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Sep 2026
KFC Komárno are in real trouble now
Position 11, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at KFC Komárno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rifat Zhemaletdinov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Podbrezova, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Filip Kiss 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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 Norbert Mak to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Matej Franko 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 Matej Franko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AS Trencin in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A move Lukáš Skovajsa 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. Lukáš Skovajsa is living that version at KFC Komárno, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Reziuan Mirzov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. KFC Komárno will try again when the window opens; Tatran Prešov may not be selling by then.
Match12 Sep 2026
Late, late show earns KFC Komárno a point
Minute 94, against MFK Skalica, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one KFC Komárno will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Martin Boďa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against MFK Skalica, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Norbert Mak: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and KFC Komárno did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 16 in, 14 out at KFC Komárno
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KFC Komárno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at KFC Komárno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alen Mustafić 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 targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. KFC Komárno will try again when the window opens; MFK Skalica may not be selling by then.
Squad7 Sep 2026
51 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and KFC Komárno know which stage they are at.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Róbert Pillár, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against MFK Skalica in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Tatran Prešov; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Reziuan Mirzov, 33, rolls back the years — 7.91
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with MFK Skalica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Rifat Zhemaletdinov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Lorik Emini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Reziuan Mirzov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KFC Komárno.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and KFC Komárno 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov takes the afternoon — 8.74
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rifat Zhemaletdinov provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Martin Boďa takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Martin Boďa provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market24 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Jablonec, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Viktoria Plzen is saying, and nobody at KFC Komárno is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rifat Zhemaletdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alen Mustafić 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lorik Emini commits to KFC Komárno for another 3 years.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Martin Gamboš ran the middle of the pitch — 6.92
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.92, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lorik Emini 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Reziuan Mirzov
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. KFC Komárno will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Adam Krčík beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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 0‑1 Norbert Mak left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
0‑3 against MFK Ruzomberok, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Radek Lehovec gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Radek Lehovec has just signed for KFC Komárno, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Reziuan Mirzov 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at KFC Komárno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rifat Zhemaletdinov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Suslov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robert Pekarik is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Denis Duris is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to MTK Budapest 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at KFC Komárno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alen Mustafić 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Domzale have kept their man, and KFC Komárno go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match1 Aug 2026
MFK Michalovce left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kristóf Domonkos and KFC Komárno agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Filip Kiss 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 KFC Komárno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Matyáš Šilhavý is in the works
KFC Komárno have made the call to Viktoria Plzen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.