From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Feb 2027
Arzignano sink to position 19
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arzignano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rosen Bozhinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
Still nobody in the Arzignano dugout
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
The dugout15 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 24 days on the sidelines for Luigi Castegnaro, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
18 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Arzignano will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Valerio Santoro clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Market8 Feb 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Mario Serafini recited it perfectly.
Match6 Feb 2027
The drought breaks for Arzignano
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Alcione Milano were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nikita Contini 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Dinamo Batumi are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Arzignano will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Damiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Nicola Nanni’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arzignano.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
Joshua Ntumba damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 Feb 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 Arzignano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pineto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arzignano is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match30 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Arzignano
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arzignano can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Arzignano close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
Squad1 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Damiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Arzignano board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad25 Jan 2027
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arzignano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
Market25 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for Eddy Lanzi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eddy Lanzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arzignano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market25 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Arzignano
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arzignano can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Südtirol, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Eddy Lanzi has agreed terms with Juve Stabia for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Arzignano
Position 19 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Arzignano
8 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.
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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arzignano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The deal with Foggia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match16 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Arzignano
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arzignano can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Arzignano
Nikita Contini 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mattia Damiani 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 targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Arzignano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for Arzignano
A 0‑3 beating by Vicenza was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 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 Arzignano can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Arzignano
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Arzignano are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nikita Contini 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
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Damiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match9 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Arzignano
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arzignano can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Arzignano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Contini
“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
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
11 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Arzignano
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Arzignano is running low.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Valerio Santoro has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market4 Jan 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 Arzignano can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Alessio Milillo 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Arzignano asked and Vicenza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match2 Jan 2027
Lecco left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Stefano Rossoni
“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
Crisis
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Anger at Arzignano spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arzignano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Arzignano
Alessio Milillo 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
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Damiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Pro Patria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Dec 2026
Arzignano are in real trouble now
Position 19, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Arzignano
4 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Arzignano
Nikita Contini 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Erald Lakti scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Triestina, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Arzignano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Damiani 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Milillo, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Valerio Santoro to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mattia Minesso
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alessio Milillo commits to Arzignano for another 3 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nikita Contini 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Riccardo Grasso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Flavio Santos
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Renate leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valerio Santoro after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Filippo Manfrin
Nobody at Arzignano is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nobody at Arzignano 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
Crisis
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.
Squad7 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Arzignano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Damiani 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Eros De Santis has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 Dec 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
Crisis
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The mood at Arzignano has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Nov 2026
Nikita Contini 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
Mattia Damiani 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Erald Lakti 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Pergolettese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 94% of everything Arzignano 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arzignano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match23 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Arzignano
Position 18 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match21 Nov 2026
It had gone 12 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabio Cariolato and Arzignano agree another 4 years.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Arzignano
Nikita Contini 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 dugout23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Andrea Mattioli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arzignano.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.77. 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 dugout23 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, Valerio Santoro could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arzignano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nikita Contini 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Damiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Mattia Minesso
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Flavio Santos 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 Flavio Santos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dolomiti Bellunesi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Nicola Nanni talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arzignano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arzignano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Alessio Milillo 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
1‑3 to Novara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mattia Damiani 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Contini, and the manager let it.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Simone Rinaldi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicola Marini 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Arzignano spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arzignano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
Cittadella left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Milillo, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Valerio Santoro to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 94% of everything Arzignano 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Arzignano
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Arzignano are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arzignano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Arzignano
Nikita Contini 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Arzignano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Damiani 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 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Manfrin, and the manager let it.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Ospitaletto, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 Valerio Santoro to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Alessio Milillo 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.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Arzignano take on the side everybody is chasing
Cittadella arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
Market19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Nikita Contini 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Pro Vercelli left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabio Cariolato, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Eddy Lanzi 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Arzignano
Something was said to Nikita Contini and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valerio Santoro after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Arzignano
8 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.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Christian Gatti 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.
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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Filip Marković
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Arzignano
10 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Arzignano
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Flavio Santos commits to Arzignano for another 2 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nikita Contini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Arzignano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erald Lakti 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mattia Minesso
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 126% of everything Arzignano 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
No place for Flavio Santos in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Arzignano are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.74 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Arzignano had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2026
The small margins put Arzignano out
Out, 1‑2 to Casertana, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Arzignano
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.
Squad28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
23 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alessio Milillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eddy Lanzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eddy Lanzi, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Arzignano
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Arzignano are no longer polite ones.
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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Arzignano
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Filippo Manfrin
“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 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.18, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Valerio Santoro chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Filippo Manfrin
Nobody at Arzignano is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Match19 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. AlbinoLeffe came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Matteo Locatelli 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alfonso De Simone is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Milillo, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Edoardo Bernardi 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 Sep 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout14 Sep 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 0‑2 Valerio Santoro left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Eddy Lanzi 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 Arzignano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Arzignano close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 0 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nikita Contini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Edoardo Bernardi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Arzignano 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessio Milillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Matteo Bassi dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Andrea Mattioli takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrea Mattioli provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad31 Aug 2026
7 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
15 days out for Romano Lombardi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arzignano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 53 days on the sidelines for Mattia Damiani, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match29 Aug 2026
Vicenza left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Quilmes have kept their man, and Arzignano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nicolò Bianchi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Bianchi, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Valerio Santoro after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Romano Lombardi out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arzignano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mattia Damiani 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 targets24 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Arzignano have made the call to Progreso. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Arzignano say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Erald Lakti in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Damiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Arzignano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Eddy Lanzi 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 Arzignano can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Nantes is saying, and nobody at Arzignano is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicola Nanni commits to Arzignano for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Arzignano
Erald Lakti 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.
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jacopo Valentini 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. Mario Paganelli 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. Franco Medici 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Nanni, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Erald Lakti and Arzignano agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Erald Lakti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Damiani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Arzignano, another week without a signature from Mattia Minesso.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Andrea Mattioli’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.