“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 The request is on a desk at HNK Rijeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marko Tolić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Chorý 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomáš Chorý. 1‑0 against Istra 1961, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tiago Dantas 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Maxim Borisko 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Maxim Borisko knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dominik Simčić provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tomáš Chorý 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
At 20 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HNK Rijeka 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 HNK Rijeka 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 Tomáš Chorý 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 Marko Tolić 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 HNK Rijeka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tiago Dantas’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and HNK Rijeka needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Lukas Đikić’s exile
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Miha Zajc’s exile
A brace, and Tomáš Chorý takes the afternoon — 9.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tomáš Chorý provided it, and the 9.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
23 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Milić and HNK Rijeka agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tiago Dantas 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.
“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 HNK Rijeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 2, 20 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.
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.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tomáš Chorý 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.
Half the programme played, position 2, 20 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Rijeka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tomáš Chorý 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. HNK Rijeka will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
A mark of 7.81, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad20 Sep 2027
12 new faces, and HNK Rijeka 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
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.” Filip Pasalic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Rijeka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Rijeka can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HNK Rijeka 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 HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tiago Dantas 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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at HNK Rijeka can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
$9.1M was the most the club would pay and Coritiba were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 24 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomáš Chorý 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. Jadran Luka Ploce have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Rijeka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 HNK Rijeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 2, 11 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 offer from Udinese for Ante Matej Jurić 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.
HNK Rijeka have gone to Coritiba with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Opatija had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
HNK Rijeka and Rudes have settled on $260.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The deal with CSKA Moscow 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Rijeka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Valladolid did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $11.1M for Yeray Cabanzón, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Marko Tolić 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.
Yeray Cabanzón was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $11.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Dantas 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.
HNK Rijeka asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Rijeka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around HNK Rijeka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$11.1M on the table at Valladolid. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Rijeka can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Branko Pavić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HNK Rijeka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Chorý 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.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Rijeka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The shirt still fits. Ivan Lepinjica is back at HNK Rijeka, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivan Lepinjica has, at HNK Rijeka, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ivan Lepinjica from Sabah for $7.7M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
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.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Rijeka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around HNK Rijeka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Sabah this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part 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.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tiago Dantas 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 words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Jadran Luka Ploce had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. HNK Rijeka have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Croatia Zmijavci for Ante Oreč 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.
HNK Rijeka moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Filip Pasalic, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomáš Chorý 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at HNK Rijeka
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Mladost Lucani had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Varteks waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Rijeka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Ante Oreč again, and this time the name on the line is Croatia Zmijavci. HNK Rijeka are listening politely and promising nothing.
Slaven Belupo wanted more than $120.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dejan Petrovič 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.
HNK Rijeka asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Cherno Saho 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.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Rijeka lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jarun Zagreb waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Rijeka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Ante Majstorović has come up in conversations HNK Rijeka were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $129.2K — a club that wants Karlo Išasegi enough to be asked twice.
HNK Rijeka have gone to Slaven Belupo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Lukas Murica had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Jarun Zagreb moved on, Gabriel Rukavina reports back to HNK Rijeka, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The phone has started ringing about Tornike Morchiladze again, and this time the name on the line is Dugopolje. HNK Rijeka are listening politely and promising nothing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Rijeka have done the hard part with Slavia Prague, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Dantas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Rijeka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. HNK Rijeka have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Opatija had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deal with Cibalia 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.
Marko Tolić 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dejan Petrovič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around HNK Rijeka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Opatija for Ante Majstorović 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 HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tiago Dantas 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.
HNK Rijeka have made the call to Aris Thessaloniki. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kustosija waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Rijeka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Toni Fruk was one of the reasons people came, and $5.4M does not replace that by itself.
HNK Rijeka offered $1.8M; Istra 1961 said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
HNK Rijeka have gone to Segesta with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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.
HNK Rijeka have gone to Istra 1961 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Istra 1961 have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marko Tolić 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 name of Alfonso Barco has come up in conversations HNK Rijeka were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Miha Zajc 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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 HNK Rijeka have had the benefit of it.
Marko Aščić 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.
6 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.
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 loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at HNK Rijeka no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ante Matej Jurić obliged against NK Osijek. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is HNK Rijeka.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at HNK Rijeka pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Rijeka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 2, 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.
Dejan Petrovič 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miha Zajc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 goals in 26 games at Grobnican — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at HNK Rijeka updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I watch every HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sesvete 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 Yusuf Kabadayı is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ante Matej Jurić signs something — a contract at HNK Rijeka 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 Tiago Dantas has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marko Tolić 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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.
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 Ivan Ćubelić is on it.
3 goals in 20 games at Opatija — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at HNK Rijeka updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Antonio Milić has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Rijeka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marko Tolić 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; HNK Rijeka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jarun Zagreb runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at HNK Rijeka 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Toni Fruk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Miha Zajc 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Toni Fruk signs something — a contract at HNK Rijeka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
21 appearances at Opatija and the goals have stopped going in. HNK Rijeka lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Nobody at HNK Rijeka 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Toni Fruk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Milan Ivanovic 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. Vedran Kasalo 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. Vedran Simunovic 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. Bruno Simunovic 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.
11 goals in 26 games at Grobnican — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at HNK Rijeka updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marko Tolić 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 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Rijeka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ante Matej Jurić and HNK Rijeka agree another 4 years.
Toni Fruk 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.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Dejan Petrovič 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miha Zajc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cibalia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Rijeka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dejan Petrovič 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 HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sesvete runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Rijeka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from HJK for Toni Fruk 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Adu-Adjei and HNK Rijeka agree another 5 years.
Marko Tolić 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.
At 18 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Rijeka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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 Tiago Dantas has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Rijeka will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Toni Fruk 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 Miha Zajc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 games, 9 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at HNK Rijeka now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“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 HNK Rijeka, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at HNK Rijeka 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.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at HNK Rijeka argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 HNK Rijeka know it.
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.
18 appearances and 9 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at HNK Rijeka has been clear about where Tornike Morchiladze stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 HNK Rijeka, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Market1 Mar 2027
Vito Kovač returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Rijeka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Rijeka 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 Miha Zajc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 goals in 25 games at Grobnican — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at HNK Rijeka updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I watch every HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sesvete runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Toni Fruk signs something — a contract at HNK Rijeka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Toni Fruk 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Miha Zajc 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 HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Segesta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tiago Dantas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at HNK Rijeka would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Lucko suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to HNK Rijeka, and the summer will force it.
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
13 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dejan Petrovič 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Rijeka can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Marko Tolić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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.
HNK Rijeka asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
20 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at HNK Rijeka now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Niko Janković is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
HNK Rijeka have made the call to Aris Thessaloniki. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Rijeka 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 HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Corinthians have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 goals in 13 games at St. Pölten — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at HNK Rijeka updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jarun Zagreb waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Rijeka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
HNK Rijeka had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rudes, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Dubrava paid $1.0M and HNK Rijeka took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Marko Tolić 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 Dejan Petrovič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
HNK Rijeka asked and Barcelona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Segesta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Radnik Krizevci had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dubrava waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Rijeka is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Rijeka can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Jarun Zagreb for Lukas Đikić 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.
Toni Fruk 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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. HNK Rijeka will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Rijeka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The phone has started ringing about Alfonso Barco again, and this time the name on the line is Jarun Zagreb. HNK Rijeka 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 HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at HNK Rijeka has been clear about where Toni Fruk stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Moreno Živković is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 Tiago Dantas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Rijeka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
19 appearances at Opatija and the goals have stopped going in. HNK Rijeka lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
In brief
The dugoutJakov Puljić has become a man the manager trusts
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
At 18 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Miha Zajc 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 HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Segesta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Rijeka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Amer Gojak is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Rijeka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jakov Puljić obliged against Uskok. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is HNK Rijeka.
Match9 Dec 2026
Jakov Puljić wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Jakov Puljić found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Uskok went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Marko Tolić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miha Zajc was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dejan Petrovič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 3, 27 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.
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.
Toni Fruk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Miha Zajc 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. HNK Rijeka will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon HNK Rijeka had all but put away. Dinamo Zagreb will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. HNK Rijeka told Marko Tolić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Toni Fruk 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Slaven Belupo scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“I watch every HNK Rijeka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Segesta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A 1‑1 draw with Slaven Belupo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Filip Pasalic chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Toni Fruk 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
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dejan Petrovič 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marko Aščić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and HNK Rijeka needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Gabriel Rukavina is on 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 Tornike Morchiladze has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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.
A 1‑0 win over Lokomotiva Zagreb, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Toni Fruk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Filip Pasalic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Chances created: 9. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Miha Zajc 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ante Majstorović's mistake
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Antonio Milić
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dejan Petrovič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Marko Tolić had HNK Rijeka level again within 3 minutes, and NK Osijek never got to play with a lead at all.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Filip Pasalic after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
NK Varazdin will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. HNK Rijeka were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
HNK Rijeka are 1 in the table and the town has noticed
22 points, a place near the top and a ground that has begun to enjoy itself. Nobody will say the word out loud, which is the surest indication that everybody is thinking it.
1 for Miha Zajc, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Marko Tolić 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 easiest signature of my career.” Tornike Morchiladze and HNK Rijeka agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
SquadWords at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Miha Zajc 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. HNK Rijeka told Mikołaj Biegański something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
12 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at HNK Rijeka has been clear about where Amer Gojak stands, which is more than many ever get.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Toni Fruk has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
HNK Vukovar 1991 will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. HNK Rijeka were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ante Matej Jurić in the middle of it, and HNK Vukovar 1991 unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Toni Fruk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsMiha Zajc was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Miha Zajc scored, was marked 7.26, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Toni Fruk 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
13 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.
Toni Fruk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Miha Zajc 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ante Matej Jurić 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.
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.
Marked 7.88. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Filip Pasalic kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Rijeka can pretend not to have heard.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.88, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about HNK Rijeka and Dinamo Zagreb in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
$21.0K was the most the club would pay and Lokomotiva Zagreb were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dejan Petrovič was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
“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 HNK Rijeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.5M has been paid because Miha Zajc is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at HNK Rijeka 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.
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Istra 1961 were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. BSK Bijelo Brdo have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Miha Zajc from Dinamo Zagreb for $2.5M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at HNK Rijeka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miha Zajc 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.
12 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.
HNK Rijeka and Houston Dynamo have settled on $10.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Rijeka can pretend not to have heard.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marko Aščić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Tiago Dantas delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tiago Dantas scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
HNK Rijeka offered $540.0K; Istra 1961 said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Marko Tolić 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 went to Houston Dynamo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$2.3M on the table at Dinamo Zagreb. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
HNK Rijeka asked and San Jose Earthquakes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer from Tabor Sežana for Marko Aščić 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.7M — a club that wants Miha Zajc enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AEK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Toni Fruk 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.
HNK Gorica paid $260.0K and HNK Rijeka took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The offer from Iraklis for Daniel Adu-Adjei 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Córdoba have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $587.5K — a club that wants Raul Kumar enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slavia Prague keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Istra 1961 this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud 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 HNK Rijeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tiago Dantas 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 offer from Hajduk Split for Toni Fruk 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marko Tolić has, at HNK Rijeka, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
HNK Rijeka asked and Rayo Vallecano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Samuele Vignato was one of the reasons people came, and $4.8M does not replace that by itself.
Everything agreed with Slavia Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Toni Fruk 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 Varazdin will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. HNK Rijeka were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Istra 1961 for Ante Matej Jurić 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ante Matej Jurić provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at HNK Rijeka hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
6 goals in one match, Ante Matej Jurić on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of HNK Rijeka and NK Varazdin.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tiago Dantas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and HNK Rijeka go back to a list with one name crossed off it.