Marked for Wesley Assis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Daniel Rodriguez 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Pisciotti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wesley Assis, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Daniel Rodriguez 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Rodriguez, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wesley Assis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Dec 2026
Wesley Assis hands in a written request
“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.
Squad7 Dec 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard Martinez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Wages eat 102% of everything Valledupar earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market7 Dec 2026
No place for Jose Moreno in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jose Moreno has his answer from Valledupar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Open for business: Valledupar enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Nov 2026
Edwin Duque hands in a written request
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 64 days on the sidelines for Jorge Herrera, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market30 Nov 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Valledupar can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Daniel Rodriguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
David Ospina 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Duvan Murillo 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
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Daniel Rodriguez 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Rafael Vargas knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valledupar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 2026
Edwin Duque hands in a written request
“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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at Valledupar: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Daniel Rodriguez 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
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Herrera 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Valledupar will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market2 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Wesley Assis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 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.
Squad12 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jorge Herrera 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Wilmar Cordoba keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Valledupar say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Duvan Murillo knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valledupar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Valledupar the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valledupar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brian Zapata breaks a bone — 39 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Richard Martinez damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Wilmar Cordoba has come up in conversations Valledupar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Daniel Rodriguez 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
Atletico Nacional ended it 0‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Market17 Aug 2026
Wesley Assis hands in a written request
“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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Aug 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Ruiz, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Ospina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.