From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AlbinoLeffe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Mauro Aguirre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Jan 2027
AlbinoLeffe keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Potop 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 targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and AlbinoLeffe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match23 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jacopo Desogus. 2‑1 against Dolomiti Bellunesi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Michele Ambrosini 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 ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Estudiantes: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
AlbinoLeffe and Empoli have settled on $220.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market18 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Lorenzo Facchetti 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Andrea Mandelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and AlbinoLeffe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match16 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Union Brescia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match18 Jan 2027
The half-term report on AlbinoLeffe
Position 7, 32 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 Emanuele Vannucci left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AlbinoLeffe people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
AlbinoLeffe had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Empoli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Enis Ujkaj is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Lombardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Simone Panada is in the works
AlbinoLeffe have made the call to Venezia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. AlbinoLeffe will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Transfer targets4 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Gabriele Baldi
“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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. AlbinoLeffe have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Emanuele Vannucci to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Jacopo Desogus takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jacopo Desogus provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jacopo Desogus. 2‑1 against Novara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match26 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for AlbinoLeffe. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 120% of the AlbinoLeffe income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
“I watch every AlbinoLeffe game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ternana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Dec 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.” Emanuele Vannucci, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Alessandro Lombardi 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Desogus
“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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Jacopo Desogus at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AlbinoLeffe.
Match19 Dec 2026
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon AlbinoLeffe had all but put away. Vicenza will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AlbinoLeffe told Simone Potop something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Emanuele Vannucci chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Jacopo Desogus takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jacopo Desogus provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Dec 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 AlbinoLeffe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Dec 2026
Cittadella made AlbinoLeffe work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Simone Potop
“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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Emanuele Vannucci kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Jacopo Desogus knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jacopo Desogus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Jacopo Desogus keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AlbinoLeffe say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 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 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Giacomo Sali 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Garattoni, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mauro Aguirre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Lombardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Nov 2026
Three points for AlbinoLeffe, 2‑0 the final word against Ospitaletto in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 118% of everything AlbinoLeffe earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Giacomo Sali
7.95, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. AlbinoLeffe had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I watch every AlbinoLeffe game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ternana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout30 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.26, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Andrea Mandelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.99, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Emanuele Vannucci kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
No hiding place for Sevo Ciko
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sevo Ciko, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Mihai Gusu 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.
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 AlbinoLeffe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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 terraces16 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
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.
Match14 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market16 Nov 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AlbinoLeffe has been clear about where Lorenzo Facchetti stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Mihai Gusu
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 AlbinoLeffe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Lombardi 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 terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Giacomo Sali 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Desogus, and the manager let it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giacomo Sali. 1‑0 against Triestina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Emanuele Vannucci could afford to be generous.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Gabriele Boloca has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AlbinoLeffe 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Jacopo Desogus out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AlbinoLeffe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
After 8 games, AlbinoLeffe finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Trento; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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 dugout2 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
AlbinoLeffe hit back inside 3 minutes
Trento held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. AlbinoLeffe answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 118% of the AlbinoLeffe income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Giacomo Sali beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Jacopo Desogus out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AlbinoLeffe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play AlbinoLeffe right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Andrea Mandelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Aguirre 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.81. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market19 Oct 2026
Nicolò Gamba 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 AlbinoLeffe can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation AlbinoLeffe did not have in the autumn.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Lombardi 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Giacomo Sali’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AlbinoLeffe.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mattia Angeloni 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Jacopo Desogus out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AlbinoLeffe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten AlbinoLeffe
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessandro Lombardi. 1‑0 against Virtus Verona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AlbinoLeffe.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Emanuele Vannucci could afford to be generous.
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Jacopo Desogus out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AlbinoLeffe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Oct 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 AlbinoLeffe can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Facchetti is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 148% of everything AlbinoLeffe earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I watch every AlbinoLeffe game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ternana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match3 Oct 2026
A point taken on 87 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Sep 2026
The small margins put AlbinoLeffe out
Out, 0‑0 to Lecco, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Sep 2026
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Simone Potop 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over Pergolettese, 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Jacopo Desogus out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AlbinoLeffe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 22 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.
Squad21 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 AlbinoLeffe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Sevo Ciko
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Emanuele Vannucci after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Arzignano will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Mihai Gusu pops up at the right end — 7.96
7.96, 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Venezia is saying, and nobody at AlbinoLeffe is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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 Sep 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Aguirre 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
AlbinoLeffe rescue it on 87 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Dolomiti Bellunesi had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Mihai Gusu 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Dolomiti Bellunesi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The pass was always on for Giacomo Sali
Chances created: 11. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑5 against Union Brescia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market7 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 AlbinoLeffe can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$120.0K settles it between the clubs for Mohamed Malang Touré
Venezia have accepted the money. What AlbinoLeffe do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
AlbinoLeffe close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 2 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Salvatore Di Chiara reports back to AlbinoLeffe with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mauro Aguirre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AlbinoLeffe and Union Brescia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacopo Desogus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Campobasso waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AlbinoLeffe is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market31 Aug 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 AlbinoLeffe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
AlbinoLeffe had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spezia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Andrea Mandelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mauro Aguirre 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.
Transfer targets31 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 targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Iam González is in the works
AlbinoLeffe have made the call to Universidad de Concepcion. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AlbinoLeffe would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Simone Potop 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 Simone Potop has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Universitatea Craiova keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Filippo Faggi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Aug 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 AlbinoLeffe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
3 academy graduates step up at AlbinoLeffe
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Aguirre 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergio Mancini 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Enrico Lombardo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market24 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manuel Bonetti 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Lombardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
AlbinoLeffe have made the call to Stevenage. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market17 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AlbinoLeffe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Nicola Serra 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 AlbinoLeffe, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 Aug 2026
“He needs to be playing at a level that matches him, and we are open to conversations.” Nobody says that by accident, and nobody at AlbinoLeffe misheard it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Nicola Serra is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Market17 Aug 2026
The minutes were not coming at AlbinoLeffe, so they will be looked for at Ternana. A loan out is not a goodbye, but it is always a question: about the player, or about the plan.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ternana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AlbinoLeffe is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
AlbinoLeffe had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ajax, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Andrea Mandelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
AlbinoLeffe asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adriano Barone 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. Marco Zangari 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
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrea Mandelli commits to AlbinoLeffe for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andrea Mandelli 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Lombardi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Ajax: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.