Marked for Alfredo Montero
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Nicolas Ramirez out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cortulua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Julian Restrepo: 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.” Cortulua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Alfredo Montero 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of David Valencia
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Erik Vásquez and Cortulua agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Kevin Romero has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cortulua 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Nicolas Ramirez out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cortulua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Gabriel Zapata: 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.” Cortulua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Cortulua
Alfredo Montero 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
12 new faces, and Cortulua are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cortulua told Fabian Perez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market16 Nov 2026
Gabriel Zapata is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cortulua has been clear about where Gabriel Zapata stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Jan Vega has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cortulua 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Cortulua bring in an old head
Jonathan Lozano is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
103 days out for Nicolas Ramirez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cortulua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Cortulua
Alfredo Montero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Cortulua
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Wilmar Hurtado, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Duvan Cordoba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cortulua 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market9 Nov 2026
Cortulua bring in an old head
Diego Arismendi is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market9 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alfredo Montero signs something — a contract at Cortulua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Nicolas Ramirez out for 111 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cortulua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Cortulua's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cortulua has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Cortulua
Carlos Mosquera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gonzalo Godoy commits to Cortulua for another 1 years.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Persis to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cortulua and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Diego Bacca: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Market2 Nov 2026
Experience through the door at Cortulua
Gonzalo Godoy arrives at 38 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Nicolas Ramirez out for 137 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cortulua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 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 Cortulua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Manuel Granados commits to Cortulua for another 1 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Cortulua are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Duvan Cordoba gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Duvan Cordoba is on it.
Market12 Oct 2026
David Montero is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cortulua has been clear about where David Montero stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market12 Oct 2026
Cortulua bring in an old head
César Horst is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Atletico Nacional ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kevin Romero 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Nicolas Ramirez
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Deportivo Cali, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. David Montero wants continental football; whether Cortulua can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hugo Muriel and Cortulua agree another 1 years.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market28 Sep 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 Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.14, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Cortulua
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alfredo Montero 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Martinez wants continental football; whether Cortulua can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Kevin Romero 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Santa Fe, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market28 Sep 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Guilherme Alves has his answer from Cortulua; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Diego Bacca on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Cortulua
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Cortulua
Alfredo Montero 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Romero. 1‑0 against Independiente Medellin, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Kevin Romero at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cortulua.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Diego Bacca on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
When it matters, Jan Vega plays
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Cortulua will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Guilherme Alves 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for David Valencia
Nobody at Cortulua is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kevin Romero 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Alfredo Montero
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alfredo Montero has come out of that comparison in the side, and Cortulua have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Alfredo Montero has moved up it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Cortulua man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Kevin Romero was the best thing in any of them.
Market7 Sep 2026
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Kevin Romero talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cortulua know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Cortulua march on in the cup
Deportivo Pasto are out and Cortulua go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Julian Restrepo takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Julian Restrepo provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market24 Aug 2026
Feyenoord pay $19.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Kevin Giraldo at 19 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kevin Giraldo did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Giraldo again, and this time the name on the line is Atalanta. Cortulua are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Cortulua
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Gustavo Sinisterra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.81. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match22 Aug 2026
Cortulua keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Giraldo. 1‑0 against Deportes Tolima, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Cortulua
A 3‑2 win over Alianza Petrolera, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Borneo had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Kevin Giraldo has come up in conversations Cortulua were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 9.75. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cortulua.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Cortulua
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Cortulua
Alfredo Montero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Jan Vega
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Business is business: Ivan Cardona goes
Sporting CP paid $19.5M and Cortulua took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Duvan Zapata commits to Cortulua for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Duvan Cordoba 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alfredo Montero 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Ramirez, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
Envigado left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market10 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. David Montero wants continental football; whether Cortulua can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Diego Bacca to a room that had heard them before.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The formation has left David Valencia behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Cortulua will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.