“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 The request is on a desk at NK Krsko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Niki Radovič 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jure Zupan 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Krsko told Fran Penezić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
NK Krka next, and one man in the NK Krsko dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutJure Zupan asks for a word with the manager
Kobi Bajc, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 7.50 for the rest of it.
Sven Opačić 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at NK Krsko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kobi Bajc 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.
At 21 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Erik Lovric 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timi Kurtovic 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.
Position 16 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Olimpija Ljubljana go through and NK Krsko go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at NK Krsko: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Furhgill Zeldenrust 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.
Brinje Grosuplje left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Kobi Bajc 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Gašper Vodeb
Žiga Kranjc wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Žiga Kranjc found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Slovan Ljubljana went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 Krsko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Kobi Bajc, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Gašper Vodeb 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.
A 2‑1 win over Slovan Ljubljana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Jure Zupan 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.
“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 dugout26 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.” Robert Janza, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriel Bačan did not need any: 8.23, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Jesenice were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Gabriel Bačan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Krsko.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at NK Krsko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kobi Bajc 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
The terracesNK Krsko's travelling support get something back at Jesenice
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 Krsko 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 Kobi Bajc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Krsko told Gašper Vodeb something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
11 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.
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 Kobi Bajc is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jan Župančič trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. NK Krsko know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Sven Opačić 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and NK Krsko know it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Rudar Velenje left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jure Zupan 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what NK Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
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 Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Kobi Bajc 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Jure Zupan'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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and NK Krsko will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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 Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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 Krsko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kobi Bajc 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.
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 Žiga Kranjc is on it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Koper have kept their man, and NK Krsko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sven Opačić 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at NK Krsko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jure Zupan 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.
Jure Kavelj 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.
Nobody at NK Krsko 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Robert Janza after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“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 Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
NK Krsko close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 1 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.
Gašper Vodeb and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at NK Krsko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kobi Bajc 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakob Zbašnik, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and NK Krsko 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.
Nobody at NK Krsko 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at NK Krsko than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“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 Krsko can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and NK Krsko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at NK Krsko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Niki Radovič 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Brinje Grosuplje are out and NK Krsko go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Kobi Bajc, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 7.69 for the rest of it.
Niki Radovič 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.
Add another name to the list: Brinje Grosuplje have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matic Kustrin. The answer from NK Krsko has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Celje have kept their man, and NK Krsko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jure Zupan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑3 to Bistrica, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The deal with NK Celje 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Sven Opačić 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at NK Krsko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Niki Radovič 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.
11 combined actions and 6.80. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fran Penezić did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nejc Elsnik 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vid Elsnik 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. Gregor 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robert Mevlja is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
1‑4 against Triglav Kranj, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Sven Opačić 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 Krsko asked and Olimpija Ljubljana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at NK Krsko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jure Zupan 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.