Marked for Roka
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match15 Sep 2027
Cup progress for Leixões
A 1‑0 win over Feirense, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match15 Sep 2027
Leixões win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Feirense will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Koba Koindredi takes the afternoon — 8.22
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Koba Koindredi provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Leixões
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Leixões
Koba Koindredi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Leixões
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Bamba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces20 Sep 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.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Caio Secco
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Match
The run is over for Leixões
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Player ratings
Roka was unplayable
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Rafael Barbosa 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.
Market31 May 2027
Werton comes back from a loan that worked
25 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Squad31 May 2027
Leixões are still strangers to each other
6 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.
Market31 May 2027
A year gone for Roka
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at Leixões no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
The dugout31 May 2027
Sean Sankanu 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cláudio Araújo is on it.
Market31 May 2027
Leixões have let the market know Luccas Paraízo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout31 May 2027
Paulinho 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Sean Sankanu has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Leixões will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Leixões
Issa Doumbia 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.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Leixões
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Capucho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch10 May 2027
Roka counts the days
“I watch every Leixões game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at São João de Ver runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 May 2027
When it matters, Caio Secco plays
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 dugout10 May 2027
Hernandes 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Diego Lopes knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leixões, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Rafael Barbosa has written the date down.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Tamble Monteiro keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Leixões say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad10 May 2027
Gustavo Lobo: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Leixões will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fernando Fonseca and Leixões agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Rafael Barbosa 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
Diego Lopes left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Diego Lopes will call it something else in private.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“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 Leixões, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Caio Secco gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Caio Secco is on it.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Académico de Viseu leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fabio Neves was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Leixões dressing room was either.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Gustavão has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Leixões will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
Rafael Barbosa 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Zé Vitor runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Caio Secco 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
João Capucho 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 ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 7.94. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
Roka wants to come home
“I did not go to São João de Ver to sit and watch. I want to come back to Leixões and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Caio Secco has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leixões 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.
In brief
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Paulinho
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Market
Naldo is free to find somewhere else
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Squad
The weekend belonged to Benjamin Kanurić
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rafael Barbosa 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Caio Secco 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad15 Feb 2027
João Capucho 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Leixões had all but put away. Felgueiras will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
Roka counts the days
“I watch every Leixões game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at São João de Ver runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I want to play”: Issa Doumbia speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Rafael Barbosa 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
Uneasy
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
São João de Ver asked and Académico de Viseu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The offer went to Moreirense 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Kaynan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at São João de Ver training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toty 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Dudu Hatamoto
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The decline has begun for Hugo Firmino
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for São João de Ver is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at São João de Ver
8 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Casa Pia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Jan 2027
The season ends: position 7 for São João de Ver
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 21 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. São João de Ver will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Leixões, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Jair Monteiro is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Toty in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at São João de Ver this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan David Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Fafe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Victor Braga beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
27 days out for João Teixeira after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leixões will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Leixões
Rafael Barbosa 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Roka signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roka commits to Leixões for another 4 years.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Fabio Neves chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Paulinho 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Leixões have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gabriel Átila decides it from twelve yards
2 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.
Match16 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Leixões
A 0‑0 win over Oliveirense, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thamsanqa Hlatshwayo 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Roka runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 21 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.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Appearance number 200 for Caio Secco
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.