Marked for Fabio Rispoli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Dec 2027
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Como lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.04, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market6 Dec 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Como, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Como
Álvaro Morata 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Trevoh Chalobah 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Three points for Como, 2‑1 the final word against Atalanta in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout6 Dec 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 ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Squad
Fabio Rispoli named in the team of the month
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Emil Audero knocks on the manager's door
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
A one-man rearguard from Emil Audero
There were 10 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Como heard it as anything else.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Como
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Trevoh Chalobah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Como
Tommaso Fumagalli 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabio Rispoli and Como agree another 5 years.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout4 Oct 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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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.” Sebastiano Benedetti chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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
Steady
Market31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Südtirol
Salvatore Molina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Wages swallow 115% of the Südtirol 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 dugout31 May 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Fabian Tait 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 Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad31 May 2027
A wage question at Südtirol
Alessio Cragno has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes Domen Črnigoj a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Südtirol. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad31 May 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Südtirol the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrea Giorgini and Südtirol agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Salvatore Molina 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Loan watch24 May 2027
33 appearances away from home and 8 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Federico Davi
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
A Südtirol teenager takes the young player award
Fabio Rispoli is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout24 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 Alvin Obinna Okoro is on it.
Market24 May 2027
The name of Bjarki Bjarkason keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Südtirol say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hamza El Kaouakibi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 May 2027
Südtirol finish in position 12
46 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Fabio Rispoli, 20, steals the show — 7.96
Marked 7.96 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Raphael Odogwu 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salvatore Molina, and the manager let it.
Match15 May 2027
The run at home goes on for Südtirol
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match15 May 2027
Südtirol rescue it on 95 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Catanzaro had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Match15 May 2027
It needed Fabio Rispoli to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Catanzaro, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout17 May 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 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 Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Davi 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.
Transfer targets11 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Bari left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Riccardo Tonin
“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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Salvatore Molina 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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 dugout28 Dec 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
109% of the income goes out in wages at Südtirol
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Julio Buffarini 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Emanuele Donati after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A Südtirol teenager takes the young player award
Fabio Rispoli is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Fabio Rispoli, 20, steals the show — 7.73
Marked 7.73 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Dec 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 Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Davi 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Fabian Tait
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Julio Buffarini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Fabio Rispoli is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Südtirol lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Südtirol
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Padova were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Dec 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 Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Fabian Tait reaches 500 appearances
500 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Fabio Rispoli has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Three points for Südtirol, 1‑0 the final word against Padova in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Masiello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Salvatore Molina 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Südtirol rescue it on 89 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Reggiana had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davide Veroli, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Felix Mahlknecht and Südtirol agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Raphael Odogwu 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Late, late show earns Südtirol a point
Minute 92, against Carrarese, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 106% of the Südtirol 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Filipe Bordon 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It needed Aljoša Vasić to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Carrarese, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Cragno, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Kevin Zeroli, 21, steals the show — 7.76
Marked 7.76 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.
Squad19 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 Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
Juve Stabia left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salvatore Molina, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Stefano Mazzini has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Simone Tronchin commits to Südtirol for another 4 years.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Salvatore Molina 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fabio Giambertone is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bjarki Bjarkason commits to Südtirol for another 4 years.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Oct 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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 1‑2 Emanuele Donati left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Rareş Burnete 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 Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andrea Giorgini’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Südtirol needing him to play as if none of it matters.