Marked for Derlis Riveros
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikolay Krastev
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Septemvri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Septemvri may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 May 2027
Frédéric Maciel 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Derlis Riveros damages knee ligaments — 61 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 61 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ayoub Abou: 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.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Derlis Riveros damages knee ligaments — 68 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 68 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Septemvri have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Derlis Riveros
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Septemvri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
Derlis Riveros damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yanko Georgiev commits to Septemvri for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Frédéric Maciel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Derlis Riveros
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Septemvri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Jhon Cabal
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Derlis Riveros damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market22 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Septemvri they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Robin Schouten 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Derlis Riveros
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Septemvri lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Gonzalo Ontivero out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
24 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad9 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 Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Septemvri did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Cabal 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Faiz Mattoir at his very best
Marked 8.87. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Septemvri.
Squad9 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Faiz Mattoir’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Septemvri.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 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 Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
7 new faces, and Septemvri are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Septemvri
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match29 Aug 2026
The goals have deserted Septemvri
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Septemvri can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Derlis Riveros 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Faiz Mattoir
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Septemvri
6 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.