Marked for Sebastião Leandro
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Campobasso boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Lorenzo Di Livio 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 terraces31 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Rizzo 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Sebastião Leandro 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
He is 19, and nobody at Campobasso signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Match29 Jan 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Torres leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Marked 4.42. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Campobasso told Davide Agazzi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nino Di Biase
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Campobasso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Campobasso can pretend not to have heard.
Match8 Jan 2028
The wait goes on for Campobasso
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Alfredo Bifulco 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.
Match8 Jan 2028
0‑2 to Pineto, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market10 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: Arezzo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Wellerson. The answer from Campobasso has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Magnaghi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Campobasso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastião Leandro 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Dec 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Campobasso can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Campobasso may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market20 Dec 2027
Fotis Chavos has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Campobasso they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Fotis Chavos has agreed terms with Trento for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad20 Dec 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 Campobasso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Matteo Rizzo 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
0‑1 to Ravenna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Campobasso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastião Leandro 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Dec 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Pontedera, and it could have been more.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.50, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad6 Dec 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 Campobasso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces6 Dec 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.
Squad6 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 8.17 — 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.
Market6 Dec 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
93% of the income goes out in wages at Campobasso
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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Campobasso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastião Leandro 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
Lorenzo Di Livio 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.
Squad29 Nov 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Sebastião Leandro 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessandro Pellitteri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match27 Nov 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Ternana came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Nov 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 Campobasso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Nov 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 Campobasso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Nov 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Riccardo Forte. 1‑0 against Bra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Marked 7.93. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Sebastião Leandro 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Nicolás Varela
“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 ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market15 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Campobasso know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Nov 2027
Palermo go through and Campobasso go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
A cup hiding at Palermo leaves Campobasso explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alfredo Bifulco 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Di Livio, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Campobasso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastião Leandro 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Oct 2027
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Alessandro Pellitteri decided nobody was going anywhere. Perugia had no time left to answer.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad25 Oct 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 Campobasso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Oct 2027
Perugia made Campobasso work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Campobasso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastião Leandro 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.
Squad25 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
5.22 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Alfredo Bifulco 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Campobasso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastião Leandro 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Davide Agazzi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Campobasso.
Squad19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Cerretelli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Campobasso can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 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 Campobasso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Campobasso are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom31 May 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Campobasso
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Campobasso is running low.
Squad31 May 2027
Francesco Forte: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Campobasso have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 May 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 Campobasso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Edoardo Olivieri damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market10 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.