“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wisla Krakow can pretend not to have heard.
Ángel Rodado 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Wisla Krakow and Gornik Leczna, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Julius Ertlthaler. 4‑2 against Gornik Leczna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Wisla Krakow can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow 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.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Wisla Krakow dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutRaoul Giger dropped after a run of poor form
1 for Kacper Duda, marked 7.83, 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.
Arkadiusz Jędrych 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
SquadLisandro Semedo falls out with a teammate over standards
Lisandro Semedo 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ervin Omić, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Lelieveld 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.
Marked 7.74 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Wisla Krakow had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Grzegorz Bednarek kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
3‑0, and Julius Ertlthaler took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Wisla Krakow tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Maciej Kuziemka, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Maciej Kuziemka 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
140% of the income goes out in wages at Wisla Krakow
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Polonia Warszawa next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Slask next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Lelieveld 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Wisla Krakow told Dawid Olejarka something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Ángel Rodado signs something — a contract at Wisla Krakow or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Wisla Krakow will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Wisla Krakow the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
SquadMarko Božić makes the division’s eleven — 7.05
Ángel Rodado 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Lelieveld 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Grzegorz Bednarek kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wisla Krakow, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maciej Kuziemka did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Marko Božić 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.
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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
140% of the income goes out in wages at Wisla Krakow
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.57, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Semedo 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ervin Omić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Arkadiusz Jędrych 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Grzegorz Bednarek after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kamil Broda: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
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.
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Arkadiusz Jędrych and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Semedo 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marc Carbó has his answer from Wisla Krakow; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Wisla Krakow 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marc Carbó trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Odra Opole next, and one man in the Wisla Krakow dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Wisla Krakow have no good answer.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arkadiusz Jędrych and Wisla Krakow agree another 1 years.
Marko Božić 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 22 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcel Łubik, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Lelieveld 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.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Wisla Krakow had all but put away. Stal Rzeszów will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
At 22 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.
A performance of 9.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Wisla Krakow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Lelieveld 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 Wisla Krakow, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Grzegorz Bednarek could afford to be generous.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Wiktor Biedrzycki has his answer from Wisla Krakow; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It needed Marko Božić to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Chrobry Głogów, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Grzegorz Bednarek was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Wisla Krakow dressing room was either.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Znicz Pruszków in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Marko Božić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and Wisla Krakow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Lelieveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Grzegorz Bednarek was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Wisla Krakow dressing room was either.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Wisla Krakow 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Levante is saying, and nobody at Wisla Krakow is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wisla Krakow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wisla Krakow asked and Dynamo Kyiv 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 phone has started ringing about Alan Uryga again, and this time the name on the line is Widzew Łódź. Wisla Krakow are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Lelieveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Wisla Krakow who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
In brief
Squad8 new faces, and Wisla Krakow are still learning each other
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Wisla Krakow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wisla Krakow can pretend not to have heard.
Wisla Krakow had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Farul Constanța, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Wisla Krakow offered $370.0K; GKS Katowice 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pogon have kept their man, and Wisla Krakow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Semedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maciej Kuziemka did not need any: 8.19, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Wisla Krakow, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
Wisla Krakow asked and Raków Częstochowa 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $356.5K — a club that wants Kacper Łukasiak enough to be asked twice.
Wisla Krakow have gone to GKS Katowice with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer went to Legia 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.
The offer went to Raków Częstochowa 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.0M — a club that wants Jonatan Braut Brunes enough to be asked twice.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Marko Božić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer went to GKS Katowice 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lisandro Semedo has, at Wisla Krakow, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tomasz Lewandowski 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Piotr Blaszczykowski is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dawid Frankowski 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. Szymon Frankowski is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Marko Božić takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Božić provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maciej Kuziemka did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Marko Božić 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Maciej Kuziemka 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Lelieveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Darijo Grujčić’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.