From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Florjan Jevšenak commits to NK Celje for another 5 years.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
21 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.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
NK Celje supporters have found a favourite in Mass Sise
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mass Sise 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mass Sise’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Celje.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Papa Daniel 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Krsko runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
NK Celje do the business in Europe
2‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and NK Celje came through the finding-out well against St. Gallen.
Match5 Oct 2026
NK Celje up to position 2
23 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Armandas Kučys takes the afternoon — 8.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Armandas Kučys provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 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 NK Celje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darko Hrka 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Nikita Iosifov
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. NK Celje have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Match3 Oct 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 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 NK Celje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for NK Celje, 2‑1 the final word against Rudar Velenje in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Armandas Kučys 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
Marked 8.21 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ćalušić, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Darko Hrka'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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nikita Iosifov 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 5.10, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
NK Celje come up short in Europe
0‑1 away to the standard of FCSB. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Matej Poplatnik was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Łukasz Bejger, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Łukasz Bejger was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Celje told Matej Poplatnik something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad21 Sep 2026
No place for Mario Kvesić 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 NK Celje pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 5.18, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Matej Poplatnik, 34, rolls back the years — 9.03
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.03 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Darko Hrka
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market14 Sep 2026
Svit Sešlar wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at NK Celje hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mass Sise 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 NK Celje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The crowd has taken to Mass Sise
At 22 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Mass Sise’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Celje.
Match12 Sep 2026
NK Krsko blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. NK Krsko tried to reorganise, NK Celje did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Darko Hrka 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Sep 2026
NK Celje are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 15 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market7 Sep 2026
NK Celje say no — this time
The offer from Olimpija Ljubljana for Simon Sluga 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Matej Poplatnik takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matej Poplatnik provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 24 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
2‑3 to NK Maribor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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 NK Celje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. NK Celje have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nobody wants to play NK Celje right now
5 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.
Market31 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.
Market31 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Armandas Kučys. 2‑1 against ND Gorica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Armandas Kučys 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
NK Celje keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artemijus Tutyškinas and NK Celje agree another 4 years.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Papa Daniel 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
NK Celje cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and NK Celje did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Nino Vukasović has come up in conversations NK Celje were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Svit Sešlar. 2‑1 against Olimpija Ljubljana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Svit Sešlar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.68. 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Damjan Vuklišević 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
Papa Daniel 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
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
NK Celje say no — this time
The offer from NK Krka for Florjan Jevšenak 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
NK Celje cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Damjan Vuklišević 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Armandas Kučys’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Celje.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.49 — 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Armandas Kučys was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The Gašper Vodeb conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: NK Krsko will make the call about Gašper Vodeb this week. NK Celje have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Gašper Vodeb 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and NK Celje did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Svit Sešlar and NK Celje agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 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 NK Celje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Jakov Pranjić has come up in conversations NK Celje were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match8 Aug 2026
NK Zavrc made NK Celje work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ćalušić, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
NK Celje say no — this time
The offer from Slavia Mozyr for Žan-Luk Leban 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at NK Celje heard it as anything else.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Darko Hrka
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Žan Karničnik and NK Celje agree another 3 years.
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 NK Celje this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Žan Karničnik
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 23 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Svit Sešlar, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. NK Celje have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.