Marked for Samuel Giovane
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.88, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mirko Pigliacelli 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Edgar Segovia 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. Edgar Segovia has, at Catanzaro, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Catanzaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Petriccione was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pietro Iemmello. 1‑0 against Carrarese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Brighenti, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Marco Bonetti, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 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 Catanzaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
Spezia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Marco Imperiale 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 dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 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 Marco Bonetti left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Cristian Aloisio dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emanuele Pecorino trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market16 Nov 2026
The name of Marco Imperiale keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Catanzaro say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
42 days out for Marco Ferraro after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Catanzaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 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 Catanzaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Edoardo Borrelli is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match17 Oct 2026
Catanzaro rescue it on 86 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Carrarese had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Catanzaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Giovane 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.65 on the card, and the Catanzaro support went home talking about one name.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Marco Bonetti chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Marco Ferraro out for 87 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Catanzaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.93, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Hellas Verona wanted more than $2.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Catanzaro close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AC Milan have kept their man, and Catanzaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Catanzaro
Marco Imperiale 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.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Late, late show earns Catanzaro a point
Minute 88, against Venezia, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Catanzaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Giovane 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
Steady
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Tommaso Cassandro has gone, the accounts have $2.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market17 Aug 2026
Empoli paid $2.1M and Catanzaro took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mirko Pigliacelli 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Ivan Saio at that price
Catanzaro offered $240.0K; Pescara said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Samuel Giovane 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.