From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Bari
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Bari
Mehdi Dorval 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giacomo Stabile is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match10 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Bari
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bari can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad12 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valerio Mantovani 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
An afternoon Matthew Craig will want back
Marked 5.53. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Bari
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mehdi Dorval 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 Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Giuseppe Sibilli 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
324% of the income goes out in wages at Bari
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Match3 Oct 2026
Monza take the points off Bari
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
44 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valerio Mantovani, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Bari dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Bari
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Bari are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Bari
Mehdi Dorval 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Giuseppe Scarano is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Dorval, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Bari come up short against Pescara
Pescara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valerio Mantovani 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Riccardo Burgio out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Riccardo Pagano at 21 — 8.81
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Riccardo Pagano did not need any: 8.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Bari
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Bari are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mehdi Dorval 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 Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giacomo De Pieri is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Riccardo Pagano 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.
Match19 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giacomo Stabile is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Bari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Sibilli 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
A bad afternoon for Bari against Venezia
0‑1 to Venezia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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 Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Bari
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 4.09. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
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. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Bari against Frosinone
1‑2 to Frosinone, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 261% of everything Bari 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
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Riccardo Burgio out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Bari
Mehdi Dorval was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michele Cerofolini, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Bari
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Riccardo Burgio out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market24 Aug 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 Bari can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A move Matthew Craig would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matthew Craig is living that version at Bari, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market24 Aug 2026
The fee is $780.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Union Brescia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mehdi Dorval 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 Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Bari
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Max Conway would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Max Conway is living that version at Bari, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Bari
Mehdi Dorval was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Riccardo Burgio out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bari will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matthias Verreth and Bari agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Bari
Mehdi Dorval 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matthias Verreth has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Bari.
Squad10 Aug 2026
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market10 Aug 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mehdi Dorval and Bari agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mehdi Dorval 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 Bari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Giuseppe Sibilli 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bari has been clear about where Michele Cerofolini stands, which is more than many ever get.
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
Still no offer on the table, and Giuseppe Sibilli’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.