Rudes U20

27 Aug 2026
Thursday
Process
4 Edition

The Rudes Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Cup progress for Rudes

A 4‑0 win over Varteks, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings

Duje Korač scores twice — 8.66

Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Rudes say no — this time

The offer from Lokomotiva Zagreb for Jurica Poldrugač 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.

Market

Besart Abdurahimi asks to leave Rudes

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Jurica Poldrugač was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Rudes

Dominik Mulac 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 terraces

One of their own: Lenny Ilečić

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.

Match

BSK Bijelo Brdo take the points off Rudes

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Jurica Poldrugač 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.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The Rudes Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Noa Skoko, 20, steals the show — 8.20

Marked 8.20 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Lokomotiva Zagreb watching Jurica Poldrugač

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rudes have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Dominik Mulac in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rudes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rudes and Opatija in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Transfer targets

Slavia Prague tell Rudes: Nazar Domchak 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.

Squad

Jurica Poldrugač 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kristijan Lovrić

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Honours even between Rudes and Opatija

3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Mikkel Bro Hansen is in the works

Rudes have made the call to PSV. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

2 Edition

The Rudes Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Stefan Vukić takes the afternoon — 8.45

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefan Vukić provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Noa Skoko, 20, steals the show — 8.01

Marked 8.01 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Josip Bralić puts it in writing

“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 Rudes, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Rudes say no — this time

The offer from Dugopolje for Lenny Ilečić 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Rudes

Dominik Mulac 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.

Match

Rudes get the job done against Dubrava

A 3‑1 win over Dubrava, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

Rudes supporters have found a favourite in Noa Skoko

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Noa Skoko 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.

Market

Vedran Bogdan steps up from the Rudes academy

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

Market

Tomislav Orsic steps up from the Rudes academy

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

In brief

  • Squad Felipe Curcio makes it 200
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Squad A row about effort at Rudes
1 Edition

The Rudes Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Vedran Celjak signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vedran Celjak commits to Rudes for another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Rudes

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

Market

Eyes on Ivan Zaverukha again

The phone has started ringing about Ivan Zaverukha again, and this time the name on the line is Varteks. Rudes are listening politely and promising nothing.

Match

A bad afternoon for Rudes against Dugopolje

0‑1 to Dugopolje, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A row about effort at Rudes

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

Market

Rudes and Vedran Celjak are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Rudes

11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dario Grbic left the room before anybody could ask which.

Market

Besart Abdurahimi told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Besart Abdurahimi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rudes.

In brief