From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Zaglebie out
Out, 1‑1 to Lechia, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Legia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dominik Hładun decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Zaglebie, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Zaglebie did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Josip Ćorluka 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Zaglebie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Nalepa 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaglebie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zaglebie have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Zaglebie, 1‑0 the final word against Ruch in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tomasz Makowski falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.59, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Carlos Franco dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateusz Grzybek, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Zaglebie say no — this time
The offer from Lech for Michalis Kosidis 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zaglebie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Michał Nalepa 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jakub Kolan and Zaglebie agree another 4 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Levente Szabó's contract
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
15 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑6 by Cracovia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sebastian Kowalczyk commits to Zaglebie for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Josip Ćorluka 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Zaglebie and Cracovia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Zaglebie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michał Nalepa 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Zaglebie 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.