Marked for Gustavo Vargas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Universitario Popayan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Victor Diaz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Universitario Popayan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Caicedo 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Fabian Cordoba has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Nicolas Borja
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Universitario Popayan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Diego Perez is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Diego Perez has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Universitario Popayan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camilo Lemos 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
Squad31 Aug 2026
Victor Diaz 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Caicedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Universitario Popayan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Victor Diaz 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Hector Cuadrado
“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 Aug 2026
Words at Universitario Popayan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Caicedo 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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 Universitario Popayan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Giraldo and Universitario Popayan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Victor Diaz 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.