Marked for Ivan Mandić
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Famalicao, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Famalicao may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 22 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Hugo Oliveira has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Famalicao they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tamás Szűcs 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Famalicao
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Pinheiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Rudi Almeida again, and this time the name on the line is Burton Albion. Famalicao are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 24 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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
Hugo Oliveira 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 Famalicao can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Famalicao
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gustavo Garcia wants continental football; whether Famalicao can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Realpe 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Gabriel Cabral has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ian Custódio and Famalicao agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Rodrigo Pinheiro has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Famalicao 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
No place for Rudi Almeida in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rudi Almeida has his answer from Famalicao; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Famalicao, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Realpe 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tom van de Looi, and the manager let it.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I watch every Famalicao game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Melbourne Victory runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Too much change too quickly at Famalicao
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Rodrigo Pinheiro has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Famalicao 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Riccieli 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 Famalicao, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Famalicao know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Riccieli 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Finn van Breemen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Nobody could get near Gil Dias
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Ivan Zlobin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Famalicao 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Half-satisfied: Fabio Martins on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Match13 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Arouca will be the happier side with the point.
Market15 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Famalicao know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.17, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market18 Jan 2027
Business is business: Ivan Mandić goes
Famalicao paid $950.0K and Casa Pia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Abdu Conté 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 Casa Pia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Casa Pia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérémy Livolant 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Tondela made Casa Pia work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Ivan Mandić ended with $950.0K changing hands and Casa Pia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $600.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Estrela da Amadora drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mésaque Djú has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Famalicao have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match16 Jan 2027
Three points for Famalicao, 1‑0 the final word against Santa Clara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Famalicao
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Realpe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Famalicao know it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Moctar Diop was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Casa Pia
Abdu Conté 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ivan Mandić is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Cassiano gets it from the manager
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Francisco Pereira is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Casa Pia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro Carvalho 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
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad24 Aug 2026
João Pereira breaks a bone — 31 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Luís Santos arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luís Santos has, at Casa Pia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Braga wanted more than $970.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Casa Pia
Abdu Conté and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Antonio Dias left the room before anybody could ask which.