Marked for Johan Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rafael Rodriguez
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valledupar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Barrios 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Carlos Vega in a row with a teammate
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alejandro Rangel 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Johan Ramirez 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Victor Cuadrado, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Valledupar
1‑6 against Atletico Nacional, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
It finished 1-6. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Johan Ramirez 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Valledupar and Atletico Nacional in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentino López, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Beaten 6 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Twente pay $4.1M, 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Johan Ramirez commits to Valledupar for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Johan Ramirez 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
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Twente have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Daniel Gonzalez. The answer from Valledupar has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Daniel Gonzalez 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Johan Ramirez 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.