Marked for Renan
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 May 2027
Cup progress for Avaí
A 1‑0 win over Barra, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings24 May 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match22 May 2027
Avaí strike at the death to beat Cuiabá
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Cuiabá had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Avaí did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Renan runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 May 2027
Avaí make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Avaí have 3 straight wins of it.
Match22 May 2027
Avaí get the job done against Cuiabá
A 3‑2 win over Cuiabá, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Avaí
Luiz Henrique 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 terraces24 May 2027
At 22 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Diego Callai
“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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Wallison in the eights
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Player ratings
One of those days for Jean Lucas
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avaí is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Avaí
Emiliano Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Rafael Bilu 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.
Loan watch8 Feb 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 Avaí, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Zé Ricardo 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 Zé Ricardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Gaspar has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Avaí 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Aug 2026
Avaí march on in the cup
Ituano are out and Avaí go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Marcelo Martins
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Avaí lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Aug 2026
Avaí strike at the death to beat Ituano
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Ituano had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Avaí did not stop to explain themselves.
Market31 Aug 2026
Lokomotivi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Avaí did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Aug 2026
Alef Manga has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Avaí can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Renan was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Avaí
Luiz Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Avaí supporters have found a favourite in Sorriso
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sorriso 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Jean Lucas
“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.
In brief
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Squad
14 new faces, and Avaí are still learning each other
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Player ratings
Nobody on the pitch touched Sorriso
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The dugout
Sérgio Barbosa on the point