From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Nov 2026
Korona refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Korona may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Dawid Błanik 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mariusz Stępiński. 2‑0 against Podbeskidzie, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Marcin Cebula at his very best
Marked 8.42. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Korona.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Viktor Popov 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Tamar Svetlin pops up at the right end — 5.80
5.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Xavier Dziekoński is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Viktor Popov 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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
Triumph
Squad12 Oct 2026
There were 9 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Korona — 7.60
1 for Tamar Svetlin, marked 7.60, 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Korona 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.
Squad12 Oct 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktor Popov commits to Korona for another 3 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Błanik 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Wiktor Długosz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Korona.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stjepan Davidović signs something — a contract at Korona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Tamar Svetlin took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Korona tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match5 Oct 2026
Korona are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Stjepan Davidović, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.38
A mark of 8.38 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Mariusz Stępiński was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Stjepan Davidović 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
20 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Sep 2026
Korona win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Zaglebie will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Simon Gustafson 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Xavier Dziekoński 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Zaglebie made Korona work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dawid Błanik 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Gornik Zabrze left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Rogerinho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rogerinho, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Xavier Dziekoński has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Korona 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Mariusz Stępiński takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mariusz Stępiński provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match12 Sep 2026
Korona make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Korona have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match12 Sep 2026
Jagiellonia made Korona work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Viktor Popov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Vladimir Nikolov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Korona 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stjepan Davidović signs something — a contract at Korona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Korona can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Tamar Svetlin delivers — 7.83
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tamar Svetlin scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match5 Sep 2026
Korona make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Korona have 3 straight wins of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Hubert Zwoźny to Piast has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Korona with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Viktor Popov 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Sep 2026
Korona get the job done against Piast
A 2‑1 win over Piast, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dawid Błanik gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Korona had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
Girona come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Korona did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Aug 2026
Piotr Rogala 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 Korona can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Błanik 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Viktor Popov 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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Xavier Dziekoński 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Korona will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Korona, 1‑0 the final word against Wisla Krakow in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Vladimir Nikolov obliged against Pogon. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Korona.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Korona, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Mariusz Stępiński 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Zaglebie pay $570.0K, 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Piast pay $220.0K, 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Pau Resta gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wiktor Długosz 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Marcin Cebula'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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rogerinho 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Korona say no — this time
The offer from Piast for Patrik Hellebrand 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: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrik Hellebrand and Korona agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Korona
Simon Gustafson 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
Wisla Krakow paid $370.0K and Korona took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Korona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dawid Błanik 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
259 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Simon Gustafson and Korona agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 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 Korona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Wiktor Długosz 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vladimir Nikolov. 1‑0 against Gornik Leczna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.55 on the card, and the Korona support went home talking about one name.