Marked for Hector Mejia
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Oct 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristhian Valencia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valledupar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hector Mejia commits to Valledupar for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Hugo Medina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Diaz, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Julian Restrepo 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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Alfredo Sanchez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Valledupar 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Freddy Rodriguez keeps the shirt for now, at Valledupar's convenience rather than his own.
Market4 Oct 2027
Valledupar have made Pablo Barrios available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Valledupar
Position 10 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market26 Jul 2027
So close: Mateo Méndez’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Deportivo Cali moved on, Mateo Méndez reports back to Valledupar, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Valledupar close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Millonarios is saying, and nobody at Valledupar is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Hector Mejia 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
102% of the income goes out in wages at Valledupar
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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Mateo Méndez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Valledupar 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Murillo, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Jaider Pérez 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
Upbeat
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Francisco Cordoba has gone, the accounts have $690.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valledupar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jul 2027
Millonarios paid $690.0K and Valledupar took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Hector Mejia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Millonarios: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market19 Jul 2027
Ivan Lemos told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ivan Lemos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Valledupar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout24 May 2027
Alfredo Sanchez: 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.” Valledupar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match22 May 2027
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Bogota. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad24 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Julian Restrepo 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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julian Restrepo, and the manager let it.
Match22 May 2027
Three points for Valledupar, 1‑0 the final word against Bogota in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Julian Restrepo at his very best
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Valledupar.
Player ratings24 May 2027
17 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, James Palacios could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Apr 2027
1‑5 to Fortaleza CEIF, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A one-man rearguard from Andrés Tovar
There were 7 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
4 matches without a win for Valledupar
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Valledupar are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Cristhian Valencia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Apr 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Valledupar and Fortaleza CEIF in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Hector Mejia 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Nobody could get near Kevin Diaz
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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 1‑5 James Palacios left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Cristhian Valencia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Kevin Diaz beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Valledupar
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fabian Rodriguez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alfredo Gomez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Brian Romero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Johan Gomez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Hector Mejia 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 ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 8.40 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
9 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Atletico Nacional go through and Valledupar go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valledupar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Francisco Cordoba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Cristian Berrio has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Valledupar have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Mateo Méndez 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 dugout17 Aug 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 0‑2 James Palacios left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Romero 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
Hector Mejia 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.