The Leiria Courier
Market16 Aug 2027
Ibrahima Guirassy 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 Leiria can pretend not to have heard.
Match14 Aug 2027
Nobody wants to play Leiria right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market16 Aug 2027
As if he never left: Santi returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Santi is a Leiria player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Alessandro Pagliari is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A late step up for Christian Joel Sánchez
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Leiria
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Pasquale Mazzocchi 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Maga 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 Leiria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Aug 2027
Leiria get the job done against Tondela
A 2‑0 win over Tondela, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
- Market Leiria promote David Goncalves from within
- Market One of our own: Simao Pinto joins the Leiria first team
- Player ratings Ninety minutes of Jordan van der Gaag at his very best