Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
José Martínes 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivo Marcelinho is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yesid Valbuena, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Bojidar Popov left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Beroe told Stefan Gavrilov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Beroe 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.
0‑4 to Ludogorets, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caio Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Beroe prefer.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bojidar Popov after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Beaten 4 times, 5 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Botev Vratsa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Caio Lopes 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beroe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It needed Chidera Micheal to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dobrudzha, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Nov 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.” Bojidar Popov chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until José Martínes signs something — a contract at Beroe or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Beroe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Santiago Brunelli 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.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: José Martínes. 4‑3 against Botev Plovdiv, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Beroe and Botev Plovdiv, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Santiago Brunelli 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caio Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stelian Georgiev commits to Beroe for another 3 years.
The dugout16 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.” Bojidar Popov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Georgi Delev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caio Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 11, 16 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beroe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bojidar Popov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yesid Valbuena trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
José Martínes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caio Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is José Martínes’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Beroe needing him to play as if none of it matters.
0‑3 to Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caio Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bojidar Popov after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Stanislav Yovkov 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Radoslav Bodurov 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.
Marked 8.54 — 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.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 49. 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and José Martínes takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. José Martínes provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beroe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: José Martínes. 2‑0 against Montana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caio Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Bojidar Popov could afford to be generous.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Santiago Brunelli 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Caio Lopes 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.
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Beroe 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bojidar Popov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Septemvri kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Beroe will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Santiago Brunelli 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Beroe will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rúben Ribeiro has just signed for Beroe, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dragomir Slavchev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miroslav Aleksandrov 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.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
In brief
SquadCaio Lopes falls out with a teammate over standards
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Beroe until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Beroe asked and Botev Vratsa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beroe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Caio Lopes 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 offer from Pandurii for Jaume Valens was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cherno More have kept their man, and Beroe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.4M for José Martínes, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Beroe 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.
Stanislav Yovkov 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.
1‑4 to Ludogorets, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Beroe have gone to CSKA 1948 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Beroe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sporting Cristal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Zapro Dinev 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beroe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A brace, and Emir Kuhinja takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Emir Kuhinja provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Beroe offered $1.0M; Arda said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Beroe had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rudes, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Dobrudzha made Beroe work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Zapro Dinev 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.
Sporting Cristal have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Bojidar Popov could afford to be generous.
0‑3 against Botev Plovdiv, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
$2.8M was the most the club would pay and Levski were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Santiago Brunelli 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Atanas Grudev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bistra Iliev 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Atanas Bojinov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Boyan Nedyalkov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Beroe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beroe asked and Waasland-Beveren said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Zapro Dinev 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Juan Carlos Pineda’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Beroe 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.