Marked for Adrián Parra
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
Carlos Rivas 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 Deportes Tolima can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Gali Balanta
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gali Balanta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportes Tolima the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jorge Cabezas Hurtado 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportes Tolima can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jan Carlos Ángulo and Deportes Tolima agree another 4 years.
Match30 Jan 2027
Deportes Tolima make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Carlos Rivas
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I want to play”: Ivo Mammini speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Deportes Tolima
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Cristian Trujillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Cabezas Hurtado has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market25 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hugo Quintero has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market25 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Garcia has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market25 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Santos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luis Bacca is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Transfer targets11 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ivo Mammini 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 Deportes Tolima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
No place for Ivo Mammini in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Deportes Tolima are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan Pablo Torres is on it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Jáder Valencia asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market11 Jan 2027
The Adrián Parra story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Parra signs something — a contract at Deportes Tolima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad11 Jan 2027
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Edwar López has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Edwar López has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atletico Nacional keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
$42.0K was the most the club would pay and Once Caldas were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Deportes Tolima asked and Toluca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market14 Dec 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Deportes Tolima has been clear about where Junior Hernández stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Edwar López 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.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A loan move for Iván Morales is in the works
Deportes Tolima have made the call to Argentinos Juniors. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Guillermo Celis asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market14 Dec 2026
The Adrián Parra story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Parra signs something — a contract at Deportes Tolima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportes Tolima have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Juan Pablo Torres has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportes Tolima 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Kelvin Flórez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportes Tolima have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Oct 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportes Tolima can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alejandro Aranda, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Something was said to Bryan Rovira and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market19 Oct 2026
The Adrián Parra story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Parra signs something — a contract at Deportes Tolima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Neto Volpi commits to Deportes Tolima for another 2 years.
Match10 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Deportes Tolima can tell you which week it ends in.
Match10 Oct 2026
Deportivo Pasto left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Adrián Parra beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Jáder Valencia
Nobody at Deportes Tolima is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 30 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at Deportes Tolima are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Luis Sandoval was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gustavo Santos on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad21 Sep 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Luis Sandoval has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Juan Pablo Torres has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportes Tolima 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The Adrián Parra story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Parra signs something — a contract at Deportes Tolima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 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 Deportes Tolima, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Adrián Parra beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cristian Arrieta and Deportes Tolima agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Miguel Ortega 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 Deportes Tolima, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. America de Cali will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Guillermo Celis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Deportes Tolima needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Michael Martínez out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportes Tolima will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Neto Volpi
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Guillermo Celis pops up at the right end — 7.68
7.68, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Edwar López beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.68 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jáder Valencia has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.” Gustavo Santos, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Guillermo Celis. Deportes Tolima will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Adrián Parra beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market24 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Edwar López wants continental football; whether Deportes Tolima can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. David Contreras has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Deportes Tolima have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The dugout24 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.
The dugout24 Aug 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.” Gustavo Santos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Millonarios? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
Santa Fe next, and one man in the Deportes Tolima dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
The Adrián Parra story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrián Parra signs something — a contract at Deportes Tolima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Envigado will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Guillermo Celis and Deportes Tolima agree another 2 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Adrián Parra beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Cabezas Hurtado has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Adrián Parra 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Wilmar Duque has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Leonardo Mejia has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Victor Cuadrado has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rafael Uribe is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.