Marked for Rafa Benevides
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giana Erminio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 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 Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommaso Duca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Gabriele Bertolini, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Giana Erminio would like this to lead.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Giana Erminio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Camillo Ciano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rafa Benevides commits to Giana Erminio for another 2 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Altamura have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ciro Schiavone is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giulio Fortunato 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Giorgio Marino 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Angelo D'Amico is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Camillo Ciano has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Giana Erminio know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
10 new faces, and Giana Erminio 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.