Marked for Walid Cheddira
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Nov 2026
Lecce through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Catania, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Nuno Santos 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 Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Lecce
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Lecce did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 9.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 9.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match7 Nov 2026
Botev Vratsa made Lecce work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Nuno Santos 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 Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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.
Match10 Oct 2026
AC Milan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Lecce game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Padova runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Lecce
Nuno Santos 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.82, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Pierotti. 3‑2 against Parma, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match3 Oct 2026
Pogon made Lecce work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
185% of the income goes out in wages at Lecce
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The team sheet said everything about Riccardo Sottil
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Riccardo Sottil.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Lecce get their man
The chase for Massimiliano Mangraviti ended with $1.9M changing hands and Cesena out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $430.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Casertana drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Lecce come up short against Como
Como left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.23, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nuno Santos 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 Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market24 Aug 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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Padova come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Lecce did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Lecce
Kialonda Gaspar 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lameck Banda, and the manager let it.
Loan watch24 Aug 2026
“I did not go to Juventus to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lecce and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 0 matches say the rest.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.