28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sigma Olomouc lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Mlada Boleslav for Moses Amasi 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.
Tomáš Wiesner 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Beaten 0‑3 by Slavia Prague, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match14 Aug 2027
After 13 games, Sigma Olomouc finally taste it again
The first defeat in 13 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Slavia Prague; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Sigma Olomouc asked and Teplice 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 went to Jablonec 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 Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Eldar Šehić at that price
SquadWords at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
$2.0M was the most the club would pay and Banik Ostrava 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 offer from Metalist for Tadeáš Stoppen 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 offer went to Banik Ostrava 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.
Sigma Olomouc asked and Jablonec said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan Koutný was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jan Koutný 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.
$2.0M on the table at Banik Ostrava. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$370.0K on the table at Banik Ostrava. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
Sigma Olomouc offered $68.0K; Dukla Prague 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Václav Sejk. 3‑1 against Pribram, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sigma Olomouc will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The fee is $720.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Jablonec drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Tomáš Wiesner 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filip Slavíček and Sigma Olomouc agree another 3 years.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Koutný 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sigma Olomouc will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. John Dembe had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Sigma Olomouc have gone to Jablonec 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Dukla Prague 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Jan Koutný 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Stanislav Barak has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michal Holes 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sigma Olomouc will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Sigma Olomouc, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad12 Jul 2027
7 new faces, and Sigma Olomouc 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sigma Olomouc, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jakub Jezierski's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sigma Olomouc will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tomáš Wiesner 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
Abubakar Ghali has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Palermo have kept their man, and Sigma Olomouc go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Debrecen will make the call about John Dembe this week. Sigma Olomouc have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Dario Grgić has gone, the accounts have $2.3M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Sigma Olomouc and Viktoria Plzen have settled on $390.0K. 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.
At 23 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.
Zbrojovka Brno paid $2.3M and Sigma Olomouc took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Tomáš Wiesner 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 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáchym Šíp is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutJan Kliment asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutJohn Dembe has become a man the manager trusts
“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.
Sigma Olomouc offered $7.8M; Zaglebie 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Dario Grgić again, and this time the name on the line is Zbrojovka Brno. Sigma Olomouc are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
David Tkáč has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Viktoria Plzen 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.
Sigma Olomouc asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 20 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 Sigma Olomouc, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jakub Jezierski's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Sigma Olomouc have gone to Zaglebie 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. Slovan Liberec have kept their man, and Sigma Olomouc go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Viktoria Plzen 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.
Tomáš Wiesner 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. John Dembe is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sigma Olomouc, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sigma Olomouc they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Péter Baráth 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.
“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 Sigma Olomouc know it.
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 John Dembe is on it.
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Sigma Olomouc no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and John Dembe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Sigma Olomouc have no good answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sigma Olomouc, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Fabijan Krivak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Noumbissie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Péter Baráth signs something — a contract at Sigma Olomouc or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Tomáš Wiesner and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sigma Olomouc, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michal Beran signs something — a contract at Sigma Olomouc or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sigma Olomouc have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabijan Krivak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sigma Olomouc the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Noumbissie 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jan Kliment trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Václav Sejk and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Péter Baráth 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sigma Olomouc. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Matúš Hruška has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sigma Olomouc is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Péter Baráth 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 21 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stéphane Noumbissie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Anthony Pavlešić has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Slavíček trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abubakar Ghali signs something — a contract at Sigma Olomouc or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sigma Olomouc have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fabijan Krivak 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Jan Provod has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrik Soucek 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrik Jankto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michal Jankto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Sigma Olomouc know 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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adrian Malovec is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Noumbissie 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomáš Digaňa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
“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 Sigma Olomouc, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stéphane Noumbissie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Sigma Olomouc have no good answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sigma Olomouc is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tomáš Wiesner and Sigma Olomouc agree another 3 years.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
5 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Péter Baráth trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abubakar Ghali signs something — a contract at Sigma Olomouc or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sigma Olomouc told Václav Sejk something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stéphane Noumbissie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sigma Olomouc know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Sigma Olomouc would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sigma Olomouc, 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 Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Sigma Olomouc game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Teplice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Noumbissie is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sigma Olomouc, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Dario Grgić has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Péter Baráth 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.
Slovacko will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ousman Ceesay has pre-agreed a move to Sigma Olomouc, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“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 Sigma Olomouc, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Fabijan Krivak has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sigma Olomouc. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabijan Krivak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sigma Olomouc the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Tomáš Wiesner
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tomáš Wiesner has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sigma Olomouc have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stéphane Noumbissie 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Patrik Brabec after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Sigma Olomouc close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Tkáč. 2‑1 against Dukla Prague, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.23 — 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sigma Olomouc people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Zlin, and it could have been more.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Václav Sejk takes the afternoon — 8.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Václav Sejk provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sigma Olomouc 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 Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hilmir Rafn Mikaelsson 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jan Kliment, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Jáchym Šíp 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The bid was some way short and Sigma Olomouc did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$52.0K settles it between the clubs for Tomáš Pekhart
Dukla Prague have accepted the money. What Sigma Olomouc do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Slavia Prague paid $1.9M and Sigma Olomouc took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
At 19 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sigma Olomouc can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. João Conceição is living that version at Sigma Olomouc, and it tends to show in the first month.
The name of Matěj Hadaš has come up in conversations Sigma Olomouc were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and Sigma Olomouc go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jan Koutný 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Viktoria Plzen; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 7.15 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dario Grgić, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Patrik Brabec, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Mlada Boleslav will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Sigma Olomouc were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The offer from Universidad de Concepcion for John Dembe 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Mlada Boleslav tried to reorganise, Sigma Olomouc did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adrian Malovec is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marked 8.03 — 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Patrik Brabec could afford to be generous.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sigma Olomouc lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Zbrojovka Brno were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hilmir Rafn Mikaelsson 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A 1‑0 win over Zbrojovka Brno, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.99, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sigma Olomouc 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 Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sigma Olomouc can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Something was said to Tomáš Wiesner and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Patrik Brabec after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sigma Olomouc 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 Sigma Olomouc, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sigma Olomouc can tell you which week it ends in.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
Slavia Prague left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑2 Patrik Brabec left the room before anybody could ask which.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sigma Olomouc lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Péter Baráth 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Michal Beran 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sigma Olomouc can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sigma Olomouc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michal Beran was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 11, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Patrik Brabec left the room before anybody could ask which.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sigma Olomouc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fabijan Krivak 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.
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.
Sigma Olomouc will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout2 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.” Patrik Brabec chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Jihlava defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody 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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Dukla Prague defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
The dugoutMatěj Hadaš knocks on the manager's door
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sigma Olomouc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sigma Olomouc are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dukla Prague in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sigma Olomouc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ismail Mukhtar has, at Sigma Olomouc, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adrian Malovec is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sigma Olomouc lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Péter Baráth 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Sigma Olomouc 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Patrik Brabec after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Václav Sejk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sigma Olomouc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Jan Kliment takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jan Kliment provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Péter Baráth 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.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Jan Kliment’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sigma Olomouc.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabijan Krivak 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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sigma Olomouc lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Sparta Prague for Matěj Hadaš 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.
1 for Marko Soldo, marked 7.51, 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.
Fabijan Krivak 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marko Soldo 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.
Marked 8.28 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 95 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 offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Václav Sejk takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Václav Sejk provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sigma Olomouc are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Sigma Olomouc 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sigma Olomouc offered $170.0K; Banik Ostrava 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.
Sigma Olomouc ran out of time with Slovacko. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Michal Leibl damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Sigma Olomouc have gone to Slovacko 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.
$500.0K was the most the club would pay and Slovacko 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.
Tomáš Wiesner 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 name of John Dembe has come up in conversations Sigma Olomouc were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sigma Olomouc lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Matúš Hruška: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Sigma Olomouc have gone to Slovacko 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.
Tomáš Wiesner 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.
Michal Leibl damages knee ligaments — 116 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 116 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.
Sigma Olomouc offered $210.0K; Sparta Prague 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.
“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.
Sigma Olomouc have gone to Sparta Prague 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.
$190.0K on the table at Sparta Prague. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Zbrojovka Brno 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.
Péter Baráth 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Michal Beran 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 easiest signature of my career.” Dominik Janošek and Sigma Olomouc agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sigma Olomouc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sigma Olomouc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michal Beran 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. Monza have kept their man, and Sigma Olomouc go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Still no offer on the table, and Dominik Janošek’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Marked 7.84 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sigma Olomouc had the best player on the pitch.
Squad3 Aug 2026
9 new faces, and Sigma Olomouc 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.