From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Matej Poplatnik out for 14 days
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.
Market22 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Bejger 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Damjan Vuklišević has his answer from NK Celje; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Triglav Kranj to sit and watch. I want to come back to NK Celje and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 26 matches say the rest.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Benjamin Verbič is on it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Svit Sešlar linked with a move away
The name of Svit Sešlar keeps appearing in other people's back pages. NK Celje say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
25 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
6 shut-outs in 18 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Žan-Luk Leban has been having a lot of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Feb 2027
First, on 31 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Dravinja had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
NK Celje asked and Mjällby said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dravinja runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Žiga Frelih 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stijan Gobec commits to NK Celje for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Triglav Kranj waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market8 Feb 2027
NK Celje say no — this time
The offer from Lillestrom for Svit Sešlar 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at NK Celje
Leonardo Koutris and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vid 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Domen Bijol is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Bejger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Mark Zabukovnik
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 dugout1 Feb 2027
Simon Sluga: that is not what I was promised
“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
NK Celje close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A move Josh Tobin would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Josh Tobin is living that version at NK Celje, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at NK Celje
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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudar Velenje have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Bejger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Svit Sešlar had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market25 Jan 2027
Svit Sešlar 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 NK Celje can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jan 2027
Primorje come back empty-handed
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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” NK Celje may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market25 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Ivan Ćalušić again, and this time the name on the line is Jesenice. NK Celje are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpija Ljubljana have kept their man, and NK Celje go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Triglav Kranj runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match18 Jan 2027
The view from the top for NK Celje
31 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market18 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Ivan Ćalušić: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Samo Pridgar ended with $170.0K changing hands and Radomlje out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
NK Celje asked and Nafta 1903 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Bejger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Matej Poplatnik out for 57 days
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.
Match6 Jan 2027
NK Celje march on in the cup
NK Domzale are out and NK Celje go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bilje waiting with a shirt. Nobody at NK Celje is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A one-man rearguard from Simon Sluga
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Radomlje is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at NK Celje
Darko Hrka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Ivica Vidović at his very best
Marked 8.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at NK Celje.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mark Zabukovnik 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
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
64 days out for Matej Poplatnik after a fracture
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Svit Sešlar is named among the best
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Yaya Dukuly 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 NK Celje can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Ivan Ćalušić has come up in conversations NK Celje were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at NK Celje
Darko Hrka 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Svit Sešlar is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at NK Celje has been clear about where Svit Sešlar stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Matej Poplatnik
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
73 days out for Matej Poplatnik after a fracture
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Bejger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Triglav Kranj to sit and watch. I want to come back to NK Celje and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matej Poplatnik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market28 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Blaž Kramer’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Matej Poplatnik out for 81 days
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.
Match21 Dec 2026
The view from the top for NK Celje
31 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Łukasz Bejger 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 dugout21 Dec 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Blaž Kramer has become a man the manager trusts
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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Simon Sluga is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Armandas Kučys asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market21 Dec 2026
The Svit Sešlar talk will not go away
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
89 days out for Matej Poplatnik after a fracture
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.
Match10 Dec 2026
A European lesson for NK Celje
1‑2 against Lausanne-Sport. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alpha Diounkou and NK Celje agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dravinja runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Žiga Frelih gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Luka Vešner Tičić'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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Matic Oblak to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
85% of the income goes out in wages at NK Celje
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Benjamin Verbič has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Armandas Kučys damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
96 days out for Matej Poplatnik after a fracture
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Aluminij will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. NK Celje were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Darko Hrka pops up at the right end — 7.46
7.46, 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mark Zabukovnik and NK Celje agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match5 Dec 2026
At last: NK Celje win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Aluminij. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Bejger 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Armandas Kučys damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Match26 Nov 2026
A European lesson for NK Celje
2‑4 against FCSB. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Match29 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for NK Celje
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match26 Nov 2026
6 goals as NK Celje and FCSB go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between NK Celje and FCSB, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Bejger 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Svit Sešlar at his very best
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at NK Celje.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Łukasz Bejger
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. NK Celje lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
113 days out for Matej Poplatnik after a fracture
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.
Match23 Nov 2026
27 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Benjamin Verbič, 33, rolls back the years — 8.02
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match21 Nov 2026
Luka Vešner Tičić among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Luka Vešner Tičić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of NK Celje and Koper.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Darko Hrka 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 dugout23 Nov 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
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Matej Poplatnik out for 121 days
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Bejger 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Papa Daniel 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“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 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 86% of the NK Celje income
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matej Poplatnik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Simon Sluga'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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Nov 2026
NK Celje come up short in Europe
1‑3 away to the standard of Bournemouth. 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Darko Hrka delivers — 7.40
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Darko Hrka scored, was marked 7.40, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at NK Celje
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.
Match8 Nov 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about NK Celje and NK Maribor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match8 Nov 2026
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Žiga Frelih 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.
Squad9 Nov 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
Triumph
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Oct 2026
NK Celje march on in the cup
Brinje Grosuplje are out and NK Celje go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ivica Vidović takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivica Vidović provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The town believes in NK Celje
Position 1, 26 points, and a ticket office that has not been this busy in years. Nobody says the word; everybody is thinking it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play NK Celje 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Blaž Kramer. 3‑1 against NK Domzale, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Triglav Kranj to sit and watch. I want to come back to NK Celje and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Oct 2026
0‑5. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Match25 Oct 2026
NK Celje win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Radomlje will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match26 Oct 2026
First, on 23 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Žiga Frelih
There were 6 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.19, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.04 for the rest of it.
Match25 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Radomlje, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Florjan Jevšenak 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Mario Kvesić, 34, rolls back the years — 8.17
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for NK Celje is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match17 Oct 2026
The drought breaks for NK Celje
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mura were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mario Kvesić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Celje.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Bejger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Matic Oblak: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Match12 Oct 2026
NK Celje up to position 2
17 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout12 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
NK Celje are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at NK Celje
Something was said to Armandas Kučys and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luka Vešner Tičić is on it.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matej Poplatnik’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Andrej Kotnik asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
5 appearances at NK Krsko and the goals keep coming. NK Celje are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Match1 Oct 2026
NK Celje do the business in Europe
0‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and NK Celje came through the finding-out well against Lausanne-Sport.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Žiga Frelih
There were 6 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.
Match4 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for NK Celje
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around NK Celje are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Łukasz Bejger 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.
Match5 Oct 2026
NK Celje at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 2, 17 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at NK Celje
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at NK Celje can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at NK Celje
Łukasz Bejger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Top-of-the-table clash for NK Celje
Primorje next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Luka Vešner Tičić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Darko Hrka 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 3‑3 draw with Olimpija Ljubljana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad28 Sep 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.
In brief
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Squad
A mistake Simon Sluga will not forget
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The dugout
Half-satisfied: Matic Oblak on the draw
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Simon Sluga's mistake
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Sep 2026
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Blaž Kramer takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Blaž Kramer provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at NK Celje
Leonardo Koutris and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Žiga Frelih left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Žiga Frelih will call it something else in private.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the NK Celje dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every NK Celje game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dravinja runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Sep 2026
NK Celje are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 14 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Žiga Frelih, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Bravo made NK Celje work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Darko Hrka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.96, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Matic Oblak on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Sep 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 NK Celje, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
NK Celje close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Bejger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order NK Celje prefer.
Squad7 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Žiga Frelih asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bravo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad31 Aug 2026
100 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
NK Celje asked and Aluminij said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Koper made NK Celje work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.86 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 NK Celje players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Žiga Frelih knocks on the manager’s door
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Damjan Vuklišević
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Matej Poplatnik, 34, rolls back the years — 7.80
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for NK Celje, 2‑0 the final word against NK Maribor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.44 — 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.
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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Matic Oblak kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Koper in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market24 Aug 2026
Blaž Kramer linked with a move away
The name of Blaž Kramer keeps appearing in other people's back pages. NK Celje say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
No place in the plan for Mario Kvesić
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
NK Celje say no — this time
The offer from Karlovac 1919 for Ivica Vidović 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at NK Celje
Darko Hrka 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at NK Celje training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Bejger 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.38 on the card, and the NK Celje support went home talking about one name.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Matic Oblak was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the NK Celje dressing room was either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The weekend belonged to Svit Sešlar
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. NK Domzale came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against NK Maribor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Mario Kvesić yet — 8.08
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match8 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about NK Celje and Radomlje in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 4‑2, and it was Svit Sešlar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Celje.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Svit Sešlar commits to NK Celje for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Darko Hrka 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gregor Bijol is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jure Verbic 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jan Brekalo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market3 Aug 2026
NK Celje say no — this time
The offer from Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leonardo Koutris and NK Celje agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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 dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Žiga Frelih
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about David Castro again, and this time the name on the line is Beltinci. NK Celje are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at NK Celje
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Darko Hrka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.