The Pontedera Courier
Market24 Aug 2026
Luciano Ballan asks to leave Pontedera
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Pontedera
Umberto Saracco 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Gabriele Negri gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriele Negri has just signed for Pontedera, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Pontedera
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sanasi Sy 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
One of our own: Emanuele Barbieri joins the Pontedera first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Emanuele Barbieri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market Pontedera promote Achille Rizzi from within
- Market One of our own: Riccardo Bellini joins the Pontedera first team
- Squad A muscle injury sidelines Diego Blè for 15 days
- Boardroom Pontedera turn down the training-ground plan