The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Jevšenak 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
“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 The request is on a desk at NK Celje, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at CSKA Moscow is saying, and nobody at NK Celje is enjoying the guessing.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation NK Celje did not have in the autumn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Jevšenak 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.
NK Celje asked and Tristán Suárez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alin Kumer Čelik is living that version at NK Celje, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Moscow is saying, and nobody at NK Celje is enjoying the guessing.
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 ratings23 Aug 2027
Brown Irabor was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.80. 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ivan Kontek is living that version at NK Celje, and it tends to show in the first month.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Jevšenak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 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.
NK Celje have made the call to Dinamo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. NK Celje have lost him in all but the paperwork.
NK Celje had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Slavia Prague, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Leonardo Koutris 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Milot Avdyli for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. NK Celje will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Marked 8.37 — 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mario Kvesić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Celje the goodbyes have quietly begun.
NK Celje had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at CSKA Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 1‑0 win over Rudar Velenje, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and NK Krsko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Florjan Jevšenak again, and this time the name on the line is Olimpija Ljubljana. NK Celje are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Jevšenak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
NK Celje have made the call to Slavia Prague. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Celje people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Celje can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to NK Maribor, the club has $1.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
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.
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.
NK Celje asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jan Handanovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mario Kvesić
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Celje people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Celje can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zenit is saying, and nobody at NK Celje is enjoying the guessing.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: NK Krka will make the call about Mario Kvesić this week. NK Celje have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
Position 3, 33 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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Artemijus Tutyškinas was one of the reasons people came, and $1.1M does not replace that by itself.
The name of Mario Kvesić has come up in conversations NK Celje were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Celje they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and NK Krsko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 NK Celje, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from NK Krsko for Mario Kvesić 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florjan Jevšenak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from NK Krka for Łukasz Bejger 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Celje people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Žan-Luk Leban has gone, the accounts have $1.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nino Vukasović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Celje the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Universitatea Craiova keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Rudar Velenje paid $1.1M and NK Celje took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Leonardo Koutris 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 offer from Olimpija Ljubljana for Blaž Kramer 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 accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Darko Hrka was one of the reasons people came, and $2.3M does not replace that by itself.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Yaya Dukuly has come up in conversations NK Celje were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florjan Jevšenak 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Celje people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 3, 33 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaya Dukuly will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Celje the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and NK Celje have had the benefit of it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamin Verbič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at NK Celje now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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.
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at NK Celje no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Henrique Carmo 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Celje, and 0 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Matej Poplatnik is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mario Kvesić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Celje know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Armandas Kučys has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. NK Celje lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nino Vukasović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Celje the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Henrique Carmo 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.
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 Milot Avdyli is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at NK Celje, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Celje know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at NK Celje. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Celje they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Damjan Vuklišević, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Celje, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at NK Celje, another week without a signature from Artemijus Tutyškinas.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at NK Celje, another week without a signature from Armandas Kučys.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Celje, and 10 appearances in 38 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Henrique Carmo 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.
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 Matej Poplatnik is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Celje know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Papa Daniel has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Celje, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Position 3, 33 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Maribor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Luka Vešner Tičić is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Łukasz Bejger signs something — a contract at NK Celje or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Henrique Carmo plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Armandas Kučys is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Krka runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Blaž Kramer is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. NK Celje will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matej Poplatnik signs something — a contract at NK Celje or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Papa Daniel has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutYaya Dukuly asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Henrique Carmo 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.
3 groups that do not mix, and 2 players belonging to none of them. Nothing here can be fined or dropped, which is why it lasts longer than any row that can.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Domzale runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Matej Poplatnik is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mario Kvesić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nino Vukasović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Celje the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Henrique Carmo 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.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I did not go to NK Maribor to sit and watch. I want to come back to NK Celje and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Market22 Mar 2027
Tomas Verbic returns from a loan that gave him nothing
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Celje have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Celje they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Celje, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Henrique Carmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Armandas Kučys trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Leonardo Koutris 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Jure Sesko 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vid Handanovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jure Stojanovic 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matic Birsa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Kotnik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matej Poplatnik provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nino Vukasović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around NK Celje the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between NK Celje and Olimpija Ljubljana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Celje they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Kotnik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Andrej Kotnik is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Celje people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 NK Celje, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Ćalušić and NK Celje agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
Nobody at NK Celje 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Celje can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Celje have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at NK Celje 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.
Henrique Carmo 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.
NK Celje asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
In brief
The dugoutMilot Avdyli has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around NK Celje they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
NK Celje asked and TSG Hoffenheim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to DAC Dunajska Streda: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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. NK Celje will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from NK Maribor for Luka Vešner Tičić 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and NK Krka waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 3, 33 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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Svit Sešlar was one of the reasons people came, and $3.7M does not replace that by itself.
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.
ND Gorica paid $390.0K and NK Celje took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Slovacko had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around NK Celje people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Celje can pretend not to have heard.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Svit Sešlar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Celje can pretend not to have heard.
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. NK Celje will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The phone has started ringing about Artemijus Tutyškinas again, and this time the name on the line is Suduva. NK Celje are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torino have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Łukasz Bejger has his answer from NK Celje; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kotnik 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.
Nobody at NK Celje 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.
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 Mario Kvesić has written the date down.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Tilen Letonja’s exile
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 33 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.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at NK Celje, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mario Kvesić, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andrej Kotnik 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Darko Hrka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Vešner Tičić signs something — a contract at NK Celje or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutMilot Avdyli has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Leonardo Koutris 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Armandas Kučys has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nenad Damjanoski is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Damjan Vuklišević trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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 Rudi Požeg Vancaš is on it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Dejan Suhovršnik obliged against Koper. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is NK Celje.
Position 3, 33 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.
Benjamin Verbič 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yaya Dukuly 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Benjamin Verbič 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. NK Krsko spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Something was said to Blaž Kramer and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ivan Ćalušić will call it something else in private.
5 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.
Darko Hrka 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. NK Celje will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” NK Celje have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
7.96, 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Darko Hrka has his answer from NK Celje; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.84 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
“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 dugout19 Oct 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.” Nejc Vipotnik, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nenad Damjanoski did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Matej Poplatnik 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Nenad Damjanoski 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.
With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Nejc Vipotnik could afford to be generous.
In brief
SquadAndrej Kotnik falls out with a teammate over standards
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matej Poplatnik. 1‑0 against Koper, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rudi Požeg Vancaš was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
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 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and NK Celje 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nejc Vipotnik after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Blaž Kramer’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Celje.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Nejc Vipotnik, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
NK Celje have made Svit Sešlar available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andrej Kotnik 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nenad Damjanoski had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deal that would have taken Svit Sešlar to Polissia has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to NK Celje with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Rivers United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
6 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artemijus Tutyškinas, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 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 Nejc Vipotnik left the room before anybody could ask which.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. NK Celje will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Olimpija Ljubljana for Damjan Vuklišević 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.
He is going to Olimpija Ljubljana, the club has $1.9M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Olimpija Ljubljana pay $1.9M, 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.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. NK Celje will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon NK Celje had all but put away. Olimpija Ljubljana will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
It needed Blaž Kramer to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Olimpija Ljubljana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason NK Celje will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Enyimba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Žan-Luk Leban. The answer from NK Celje has not changed — yet.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Artemijus Tutyškinas had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Shooting Stars 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.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about NK Celje and NK Zavrc in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Blaž Kramer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.89. 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.
Leonardo Koutris 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.
“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.
The phone has started ringing about Artemijus Tutyškinas again, and this time the name on the line is Trakai. NK Celje are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
11 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.