From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
Elías Villar: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nacional have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matías Scigliano commits to Nacional for another 4 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ignacio Bailone: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nacional have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Alexis Cañete has come up in conversations Nacional were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match3 Jul 2027
Sol de America made Nacional work for it, but the scoreboard read 1-0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Joel Figueredo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ignacio Bailone: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nacional have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Match3 Apr 2027
4 matches without a win for Nacional
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Nacional are no longer polite ones.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Feb 2027
A 1-0 win over River Plate, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Hugo Benítez finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Nacional have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ignacio Bailone asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Fabrizio Jara unhappy with how he is being used
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Fabrizio Jara has let it be known that he does not like the way Nacional are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Market15 Feb 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Hugo García may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
The press cannot get enough of Hugo Benítez
Praise is not points and never has been. It is, however, the fastest way for a valuation to move, and everybody in the game reads the same pages.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Marcelo Ríos has left for 12 de Octubre in a $100.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 124% of everything Nacional earn
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Fernando Díaz joins up with his country. Nacional lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Silvio Torales has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A welcome sight on the training pitch: Ignacio Bailone has come through recovery and is pushing for a place again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Alanyaspor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nacional did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Carlos Arrúa'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.