Marked for Thomás Amilivia
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Feb 2027
No mercy from Leones
Bogota will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Leones were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Cristian Rodríguez takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cristian Rodríguez provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Bryan Caicedo, 21, steals the show — 8.32
Marked 8.32 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Feb 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.58, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Chances created: 11. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Felipe Hincapié was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Meneses was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Leones
Juan David Ramírez 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Bryan Caicedo makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Andres Castillo could afford to be generous.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Cristian Lora
“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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Roinner Fruto 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Thomás Amilivia takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thomás Amilivia provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad25 Jan 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Bryan Caicedo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Wuhan Three Towns have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Wainer Marquez. The answer from Leones has not changed — yet.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Leones
Jeimar Ibargüen 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 87% of the Leones income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑1, Andres Castillo could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Meneses was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Dec 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kevin Tamayo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Leones.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Atletico Bucaramanga: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Bryan Caicedo knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bryan Caicedo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Open for business: Leones enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Market7 Dec 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Santiago Montoya may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Thomás Amilivia is put on a programme of his own
Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leones is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Nov 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 Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Felipe Hincapié 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
20 days out for Thomás Amilivia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leones will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Nov 2026
Cristian Lora has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leones they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Leones told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
169% of the income goes out in wages at Leones
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Cristian Lora
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Juan Felipe Hincapié 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
The shop window has Kevin Tamayo in it
Leones have let the market know Kevin Tamayo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Samuel Guzmán has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leones they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samuel Guzmán is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
43 days out for Thomás Amilivia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leones will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bryan Caicedo is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 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 Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Cristian Lora
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Lora will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leones the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jeycob Zabaleta is a better footballer than he was
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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 225% of the Leones income
-
Squad
Germán Meneses falls out with a teammate over standards
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Squad
A falling-out at Leones
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Thomás Amilivia out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Sep 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 Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Leones are still strangers to each other
13 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Thomás Amilivia out for 66 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Sep 2026
Luis Ceballos hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leones can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Leones
Germán Meneses and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
75 days out for Thomás Amilivia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leones will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mateo Ramirez 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jose Diaz 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sebastian Duque is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hector Palacios is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Germán Meneses 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Thomás Amilivia out for 84 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Sep 2026
Cristian Lora has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leones they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Meneses was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Leones will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Market7 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Leones
15 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Leones
Yojhan Sánchez 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.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Leones
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Thomás Amilivia out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Meneses 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
A falling-out at Leones
Jeycob Zabaleta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Thomás Amilivia out for 106 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Leones out
Out, 0‑2 to Atletico Bucaramanga, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Leones
Germán Meneses 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 dugout17 Aug 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Andres Castillo to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristian Lora, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
No place in the plan for Nicolás Gil
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The pass was always on for Óscar Segura
Chances created: 5. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. David García may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Cristian Lora
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Lora will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leones the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Cristian Lora has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nicolas Herrera 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Johan Montero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jefferson Montero 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.