Marked for Brinner
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malik Sellouki, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Diogo Nascimento's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Jorge 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 Jorge trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ennio van der Gouw’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match12 Apr 2027
Rio Ave have something to play for
Position 6 on 60 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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
26 starts and a season average of 6.61. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Mar 2027
The small margins put Rio Ave out
Out, 0‑1 to Sporting CP, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rio Ave will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Brinner 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Richard gets it from the manager
“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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Arouca left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Duarte Mota left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Alan Varela wants out of the spotlight
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pacos de Ferreira waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Rio Ave
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
No hiding place for Brinner
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brinner, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diogo Bezerra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Ole Pohlmann
7.58, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rio Ave had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Martin Ádám is in the works
Rio Ave have made the call to Sturm Graz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Jakub Brabec 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 Jakub Brabec trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Adrian Bajrami is a square peg at Rio Ave
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Maxwell
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Dec 2026
Cup progress for Rio Ave
A 1‑0 win over Gil Vicente, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match16 Dec 2026
Tobías Medina wins it after the whistle should have gone
115 minutes played. Tobías Medina found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Gil Vicente went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jakub Brabec 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 unbeaten for Rio Ave
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Rio Ave did not have in the autumn.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard 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 terraces21 Dec 2026
The crowd has taken to Ivo Mammini
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
After 5 games, Rio Ave finally taste it again
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 Alverca; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ivo Mammini was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rio Ave may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Brinner
“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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
A promise honoured at Rio Ave
Something was said to Jakub Brabec and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Rio Ave
10 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every Rio Ave game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bhayangkara Presisi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
João Graça 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 Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
João Tomé has left for Gil Vicente in a $3.5M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Torreense wanted more than $1.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Marios Vrousai 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
Samuel Alves gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Petrasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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Player ratings
Jalen Blesa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Match
Rio Ave hit back inside 1 minutes
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Squad
No place for Brinner in the new shape