“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.
Njegoš Petrović 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 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. 9 actions, 6.97, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad23 Aug 2027
6 new faces, and Vojvodina 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.
“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 Vojvodina know it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vojvodina have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Nikola Simić again, and this time the name on the line is Orebro. Vojvodina are listening politely and promising nothing.
Nikola Simić 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.” Pylyp Budkivskyi and Vojvodina agree another 1 years.
At 26 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.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Crvena Zvezda; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Dejan Zukić wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Dejan Zukić found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Radnicki 1923 went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Nomme Kalju had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Rosić 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.
Add another name to the list: KAMAZ have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nenad Matic. The answer from Vojvodina has not changed — yet.
Stefan Stanisavljević 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Dejan Zukić 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.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Nardin Mulahusejnović decided otherwise. TSC had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nardin Mulahusejnović. 3‑2 against TSC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vojvodina have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 26 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.
Novi Pazar paid $370.0K and Vojvodina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Vojvodina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Vojvodina. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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.
OFK Beograd paid $350.0K and Vojvodina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Rosić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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; Vojvodina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vojvodina 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 Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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 Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Milan Kolarević has come up in conversations Vojvodina were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ibrahim Mustapha 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vojvodina have done the hard part with Napredak, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Kornél Szűcs has improved at 25, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milan Kolarević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vojvodina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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. Matija Gočmanac is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pylyp Budkivskyi and Vojvodina agree another 1 years.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Vojvodina have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer went to LNZ 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vojvodina can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Astra is saying, and nobody at Vojvodina is enjoying the guessing.
Partizan paid $1.1M and Vojvodina took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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.
“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 Vojvodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
$930.0K on the table at Partizan. 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 Zorya 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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.
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.
Nardin Mulahusejnović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Dragan Rosić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lucas Barros is on 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.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Nikola Bursać on the training pitch
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vojvodina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vojvodina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Babacar Mboup 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.
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 Nardin Mulahusejnović is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vojvodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 4, 53 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The dugoutSiniša Tanjga knocks on the manager's door
41Edition
The Vojvodina Herald
10 May 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Rosić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 goals in 29 games at Radnicki Nis — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vojvodina updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“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; Vojvodina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
The dugoutNjegoš Petrović has become a man the manager trusts
Nardin Mulahusejnović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vojvodina can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bartosz Żelazowski 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.
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 Lucas Barros is on it.
In brief
The dugoutŽarko Udovičić asks for a word with the manager
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vojvodina 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 Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Rosić 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 Nardin Mulahusejnović is on it.
Position 4 on 53 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vojvodina will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nemanja Mitrovic 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 Vojvodina know it.
10 goals in 29 games at Radnicki Nis — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vojvodina updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
5 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.
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 Njegoš Petrović is on 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 Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutIfet Đakovac knocks on the manager’s door
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Rosić 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.
Babacar Mboup 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 at Vojvodina 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Vojvodina will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Vojvodina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vojvodina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.
53 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vojvodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nardin Mulahusejnović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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 Vojvodina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kokand 1912 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Slobodan Medojević commits to Vojvodina for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Dragan Rosić 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. Milan Stojkovic 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.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Crnomarković 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.
5 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.
“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; Vojvodina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleksa Vukanović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vojvodina they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vojvodina can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Vojvodina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Urartu 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 Nardin Mulahusejnović is on it.
Position 4, 53 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nardin Mulahusejnović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Rosić 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vojvodina, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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. Aris have kept their man, and Vojvodina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Babacar Mboup. 2‑1 against Spartak Subotica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Predrag Ivic 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.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina 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 Vojvodina people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Benfica is saying, and nobody at Vojvodina is enjoying the guessing.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 Dragan Rosić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpia is saying, and nobody at Vojvodina is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Vojvodina asked and Zorya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Njegoš Petrović 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 Dragan Rosić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Branislav Radonjic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Vojvodina had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
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.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 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.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sinisa Maksimovic on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Njegoš Petrović is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. IMT will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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.
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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1‑6. Newcastle United play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefan Lazovic 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.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
1‑0 against IA, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Nardin Mulahusejnović was at the centre of the description.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 Đorđe Crnomarković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Njegoš Petrović 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.
A 2‑0 win over Radnicki 1923, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vukan Savićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout23 Nov 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.” Sinisa Maksimovic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Njegoš Petrović is on it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Žarko Udovičić
Looking aheadA test against the best for Vojvodina
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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: Nardin Mulahusejnović. 2‑0 against Mladost Lucani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nobody at Vojvodina 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
0‑4. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nenad Mitrovic 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. Sinisa Krsticic 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Crnomarković 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Vojvodina pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 136 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.
Babacar Mboup 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.
200 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.
Marked 8.20 — 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. 144 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.
Babacar Mboup had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Spartak Subotica were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
1‑3 against Trabzonspor. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Njegoš Petrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugout19 Oct 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 Sinisa Maksimovic to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Vojvodina will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Novak Bogdanovic 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nenad Matic 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ifet Đakovac and Vojvodina agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Vojvodina 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 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 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑5 against Newcastle United. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Babacar Mboup takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Babacar Mboup provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Vojvodina and Napredak in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vojvodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cukaricki made Vojvodina work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Crnomarković 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sinisa Maksimovic on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vojvodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2‑0 against IA, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 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 Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Stefan Mitrović will call it something else in private.
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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.
Babacar Mboup 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lazar Vlahovic 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.
7 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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.
Babacar Mboup 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nardin Mulahusejnović is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Successful dribbles: 48. 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 Crvena Zvezda for Dragan Rosić 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Hasan Hilu has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Vojvodina have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Vojvodina asked and Novi Pazar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Marko Veličković 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.
A 2‑0 win over Zeleznicar Pancevo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Zeleznicar Pancevo spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Out, 3‑3 to Radnik Surdulica, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Radnik Surdulica kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Vojvodina will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Dragan Rosić: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vojvodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Vojvodina asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Damjan Đokanović 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 offer from Zlate Moravce for Damjan Đokanović 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 deal with Radnicki Nis 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.
$300.0K was the most the club would pay and Radnik Surdulica 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. Rapid Wien have kept their man, and Vojvodina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Crnomarković 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nardin Mulahusejnović scored in the 88th minute, Radnicki 1923 had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Vojvodina took the lot.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Mihai Butean delivers — 7.33
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mihai Butean scored, was marked 7.33, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The offer went to Radnik Surdulica 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Novak Krsticic 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. Djordje Jovanovic 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marko Veličković did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Nardin Mulahusejnović 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.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.79, and 2 involvements.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Vojvodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Njegoš Petrović 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.
Vojvodina asked and Radnicki 1923 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 21 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.