Marked for Paulo Moreira
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Famalicao, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Famalicao may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market16 Aug 2027
Sorriso attracts admirers
The name of Sorriso has come up in conversations Famalicao were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match14 Aug 2027
5 matches without a win for Famalicao
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Famalicao are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Famalicao asked and Oliveirense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market16 Aug 2027
Gonzalo Pastor has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Famalicao they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Roméo Beney 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.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Famalicao are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
38 days out for Pedro Santos after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Famalicao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Jul 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Famalicao, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jul 2027
Famalicao say no — this time
The offer from Inter Turku for Otso Liimatta was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market26 Jul 2027
Riccieli wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Mathias De Amorim and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitoria Guimaraes have kept their man, and Famalicao go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Realpe 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.
The dugout26 Jul 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
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Famalicao can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Académico de Viseu; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market14 Jun 2027
Famalicao say no — this time
The offer from Farense for Umar Abubakar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mathias De Amorim 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Hugo Oliveira 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Leonardo Realpe 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Paulo Moreira
“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
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Gonzalo Pastor
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gonzalo Pastor will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Famalicao the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market24 May 2027
Famalicao may not be able to give Riccieli what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Riccieli wants continental football; whether Famalicao can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Famalicao
Mathias De Amorim 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Leonardo Realpe 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 dugout24 May 2027
Mathias De Amorim has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Famalicao 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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Umar Abubakar, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes Riccieli a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Famalicao. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market24 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Paulo Moreira signs something — a contract at Famalicao or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout17 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Famalicao may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 May 2027
Ivan Zlobin 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 Famalicao can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2027
Rodrigo Pinheiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 May 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 Famalicao can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad17 May 2027
Jorge 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Paulo Moreira
“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.
The dugout17 May 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 Rodrigo Pinheiro is on it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Famalicao, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Famalicao know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Apr 2027
“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 Famalicao, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Famalicao is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Apr 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 Famalicao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Mathias De Amorim has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Famalicao 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Famalicao, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Pedro Santos 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Paulo Moreira signs something — a contract at Famalicao or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I want to play”: Pedro Santos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Riccieli keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Famalicao may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Apr 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.
Squad19 Apr 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 Famalicao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Leonardo Realpe 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Famalicao know it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafael Venâncio, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Paulo Moreira 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lazar Carević’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Famalicao have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $2.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Leixões drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Famalicao had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lazio, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Famalicao
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Realpe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Gil Dias
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Famalicao asked and Sevilla said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market18 Jan 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Miguel Sousa, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Famalicao — 7.78
1 for Paulo Moreira, marked 7.78, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Famalicao — 7.93
1 for Finn van Breemen, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match2 Jan 2027
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market4 Jan 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 Famalicao can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Famalicao have done the hard part with Braga, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Rodrigo Pinheiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Tamás Szűcs has come up in conversations Famalicao were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Famalicao
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Realpe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
8 matches without a win for Famalicao
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Famalicao are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
There were 6 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Famalicao
Mathias De Amorim 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Gil Dias 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge 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.
The dugout28 Dec 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Sorriso 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaime Ortega and Famalicao agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Pedro Bondo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 55. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ivan Zlobin is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ivan Zlobin: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match16 Dec 2026
Famalicao march on in the cup
Alverca are out and Famalicao go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Famalicao
7 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Paulo Moreira goes up and wins it — 7.78
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.78 for the rest of it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jaime Ortega gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jaime Ortega has just signed for Famalicao, and for once the answer mattered.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Leonardo Realpe
“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
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Famalicao come up short in Europe
1‑2 away to the standard of IK Start. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Famalicao
5 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Leonardo Realpe 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 dugout14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Famalicao are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 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 1‑2 Felipe Pereira left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Lazar Carević wants out of the spotlight
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2026
Famalicao come up short in Europe
1‑2 away to the standard of Slavia Prague. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Mathias De Amorim at 21 — 7.86
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mathias De Amorim did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 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 Famalicao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Famalicao
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
One of those days for Sorriso
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The team sheet said everything about Paulo Moreira
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 Paulo Moreira.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Finn van Breemen and Famalicao agree another 4 years.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Casa Pia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Sorriso was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Tom van de Looi
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felipe Pereira on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Leonardo Realpe has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Famalicao 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Jorge was unplayable
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1 against Dinamo Minsk, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Giorgos Koutsias was at the centre of the description.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Famalicao — 7.82
1 for Paulo Moreira, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Famalicao may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mathias De Amorim 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tom van de Looi will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑0 against Dinamo Minsk, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Mathias De Amorim was at the centre of the description.
Match24 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Famalicao
A 0‑3 beating by Sporting CP was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad26 Oct 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Leonardo Realpe 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Lazar Carević
“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.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mathias De Amorim 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Famalicao 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
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Gonzalo Pastor at 20 — 7.63
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gonzalo Pastor did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Leonardo Realpe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market12 Oct 2026
As if he never left: Lucas Henrique returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Lucas Henrique is a Famalicao player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lucas Henrique 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. Lucas Henrique has, at Famalicao, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Gonzalo Pastor 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Paulo Moreira’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Famalicao.
Player ratings12 Oct 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Miguel Sousa
“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
Triumph
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Famalicao can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Pinheiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Realpe 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Famalicao asked and La Equidad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Estrela da Amadora, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Both jobs done by Rudi Almeida — 6.58
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.58, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout14 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.” Felipe Pereira, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market7 Sep 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.80 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Paulo Moreira goes up and wins it — 7.71
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.71 for the rest of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Famalicao close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 14 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
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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Famalicao will try again when the window opens; Tondela may not be selling by then.
Squad7 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 Famalicao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mathias De Amorim 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over Gil Vicente, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$4.9M settles it between the clubs for Vinícius Lopes
Santa Clara have accepted the money. What Famalicao do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Sorriso takes the afternoon — 8.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sorriso provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Estoril Praia wanted more than $11.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alverca have kept their man, and Famalicao go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Miguel Sousa joins from Leixões in a deal worth $1.7M. Now comes the harder part.
Market17 Aug 2026
Moreirense come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Famalicao did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Miguel Sousa would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Miguel Sousa is living that version at Famalicao, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market17 Aug 2026
The chase for Luís Bastos ended with $1.0M changing hands and Oliveirense out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market17 Aug 2026
Business is business: Lamine Bèye goes
Estoril Praia paid $1.3M and Famalicao took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Famalicao say no — this time
The offer from Leixões for Mathias De Amorim was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Estoril Praia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Famalicao have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Oliveirense, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Leixões this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.8M — a club that wants Miguel Sousa enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lazar Carević and Famalicao agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Famalicao
Paulo Moreira 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Paulo Moreira commits to Famalicao for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Paulo Moreira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Oostende have kept their man, and Famalicao go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Famalicao training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Realpe 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Famalicao are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.