Rudar Velenje

Slovenian Druga Liga
22 Aug 2026
Saturday
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3 Edition

The Rudar Velenje Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Marko Aščić turns down Rudar Velenje

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: HNK Rijeka keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Francesco Tahiraj was unplayable

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.

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Door shut on Lukáš Němec

Rudar Velenje asked and Pribram said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Words at Rudar Velenje training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lejs Pličanić 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.

Match15 Aug 2026

Rudar Velenje come up short against NK Krka

NK Krka left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Words exchanged at Rudar Velenje

Tilen Rajter Krebs 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 dugout17 Aug 2026

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Filip Bijol to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout17 Aug 2026

Rudar Velenje pick somebody else ahead of Valent Šavor

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

Looking ahead17 Aug 2026

A reunion for Francesco Tahiraj

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tabor Sežana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

Back issues
2 Edition

The Rudar Velenje Courier

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market10 Aug 2026

Dubrava come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Rudar Velenje did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

No thanks: Svit Hočevar rejects the move

Rudar Velenje had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olimpija Ljubljana, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad10 Aug 2026

A falling-out at Rudar Velenje

Lejs Pličanić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

Bjelovar tell Rudar Velenje: Fran Ćavar is not for sale

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.

The terraces10 Aug 2026

One of their own: Gal Gorenak

He is 22 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.

Match8 Aug 2026

Rudar Velenje find a way past Ilirija 1911

Ilirija 1911 made Rudar Velenje work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Market10 Aug 2026

Jure Sikosek steps up from the Rudar Velenje academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jure Sikosek 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.

Market10 Aug 2026

Timi Brekalo steps up from the Rudar Velenje academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Timi 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.

Market10 Aug 2026

One of our own: Jan Handanovic joins the Rudar Velenje first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jan Handanovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

1 Edition

The Rudar Velenje Courier

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match1 Aug 2026

Rudar Velenje run riot against Brinje Grosuplje

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Aljaž Krefl stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Aljaž Krefl and Rudar Velenje agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad3 Aug 2026

A row about effort at Rudar Velenje

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lejs Pličanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Rudar Velenje

Ante Kozina 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 terraces3 Aug 2026

One of their own: Rocco Vicol

He is 22 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.

Market3 Aug 2026

Hugo Šelih attracts admirers

The name of Hugo Šelih has come up in conversations Rudar Velenje were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

Ninety minutes of Adam Vošnjak at his very best

Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rudar Velenje.

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

Marko Simić in the eights

A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Luka Pučnik has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Rudar Velenje know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

In brief