From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Jaguares is saying, and nobody at Carrarese is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Stefano Mazzini has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Nicholas Bonfanti
14 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruzeiro have kept their man, and Carrarese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Lorenzo Bernardi out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Carrarese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Nicholas Bonfanti takes the afternoon — 9.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicholas Bonfanti provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Carrarese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Carrarese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Carrarese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Mattia Finotto yet — 7.90
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Carrarese close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad25 Jan 2027
109 days out for Lorenzo Bernardi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Carrarese will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market25 Jan 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 Carrarese, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout25 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
4 matches without a win for Carrarese
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Carrarese are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The offer went to Lumezzane this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets25 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.24 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Carrarese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with PSV, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boston River have kept their man, and Carrarese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match16 Jan 2027
Palermo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Carrarese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Schiavi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
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 Carrarese people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Mattia Finotto, 34, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mattia Saitta has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$470.0K on the table at Lumezzane. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nikola Sekulov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Carrarese asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.14, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nikola Sekulov 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Carrarese
Filippo Oliana 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Carrarese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I watch every Carrarese game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Portsmouth runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match2 Jan 2027
A point taken on 92 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
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Nicolás Schiavi pops up at the right end — 7.54
7.54, 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Nikola Sekulov 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 3‑2 win over Avellino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.28 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.59 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 101% of the Carrarese 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Cesena, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Carrarese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Schiavi 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Carrarese
Nicola Ravaglia 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luca Cassano after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
A promise honoured at Carrarese
Something was said to Fabio Andrea Ruggeri and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Julián Illanes’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Carrarese needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market21 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Carrarese know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Dec 2026
Juve Stabia will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Carrarese were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Mattia Finotto, 33, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match12 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Carrarese
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Juve Stabia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Carrarese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Sekulov 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Filippo Oliana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bruno Piras is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martino Messina 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Nicholas Bonfanti was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.60. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 14 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 146 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.
Market7 Dec 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 Carrarese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Carrarese's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Carrarese has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Carrarese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Sekulov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Carrarese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
155 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market30 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Carrarese
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Carrarese are no longer polite ones.
Match28 Nov 2026
Pescara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Carrarese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Schiavi 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Jacopo Martini 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.
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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Carrarese 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.
The dugout30 Nov 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
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by Sampdoria, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Carrarese
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Nikola Sekulov 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.
Squad23 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 Carrarese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.21 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Carrarese 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Carrarese
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Carrarese are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Matthias Braunöder and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
Venezia left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nicolás Schiavi 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Nikola Sekulov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The 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.
The dugout16 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 Luca Cassano to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Fabio Andrea Ruggeri's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
3.90 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Mattia Finotto yet — 8.33
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Carrarese
Nikola Sekulov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Carrarese and Frosinone in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 8.73 — 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Umberto Bruno 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mirko Bianco 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tommaso Rubino 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market2 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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Portsmouth to sit and watch. I want to come back to Carrarese and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jacopo Martini 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Carrarese 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.94, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Vujević 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Achille Damico and Carrarese agree another 3 years.
Match31 Oct 2026
It needed Nicholas Bonfanti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Südtirol, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 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 Carrarese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Carrarese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Schiavi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giovanni Gabriele Garofani, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabio Andrea Ruggeri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Südtirol next, and one man in the Carrarese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match17 Oct 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nicholas Bonfanti scored in the 86th minute, Catanzaro had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Carrarese took the lot.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.89, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match17 Oct 2026
Catanzaro made Carrarese work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Carrarese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Schiavi 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Nicola Ravaglia 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Luca Cassano could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Oct 2026
There were 10 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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Filippo Melegoni commits to Carrarese for another 3 years.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Rubino 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manuel Lucchesi 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nicolò Monti 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Empoli made Carrarese work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
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.
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 Carrarese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market5 Oct 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 Carrarese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nikola Sekulov 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Modena, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Carrarese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Schiavi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 119% of everything Carrarese 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.
The dugout5 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Carrarese 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 dugout5 Oct 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
Squad28 Sep 2026
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match23 Sep 2026
Vis Pesaro ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Carrarese scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad28 Sep 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.55, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Filippo Reale at 20 — 7.75
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Filippo Reale did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 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 Carrarese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Carrarese do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Federico Accornero damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Gonçalo Esteves pops up at the right end — 7.36
7.36, 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Carrarese
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Carrarese are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Matthias Braunöder and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
A point taken on 97 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It needed Nicholas Bonfanti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Reggiana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luca Cassano was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Carrarese dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Sep 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Carrarese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Federico Accornero damages knee ligaments — 73 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabio Andrea Ruggeri and Carrarese agree another 4 years.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giacomo De Carli 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Achille Damico 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nicolás Schiavi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luca Cassano after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match12 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Spezia defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 8 in, 3 out at Carrarese
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Nueva Chicago is saying, and nobody at Carrarese is enjoying the guessing.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Stefano Mazzini reports back to Carrarese with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Carrarese asked and Hamburger SV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Carrarese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Schiavi 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 Sep 2026
Late, late show earns Carrarese a point
Minute 95, against Palermo, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout7 Sep 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
Squad31 Aug 2026
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carrarese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Nicholas Bonfanti at his very best
Marked 8.58. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Carrarese.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Nicolás Schiavi
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A goal on 93 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Carrarese
Nicola Ravaglia 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Carrarese are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Match29 Aug 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Carrarese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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: Aguilas Doradas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Carrarese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Sekulov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Carrarese asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabio Abiuso commits to Carrarese for another 4 years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nicola Ravaglia 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Defensores 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Carrarese
Nikola Sekulov 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Carrarese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Nicolás Schiavi 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 targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Aguilas Doradas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to LOSC Lille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market17 Aug 2026
Carrarese have made Stefano Mazzini available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Como come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Carrarese did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 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 Carrarese can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Port Vale had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad10 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 Carrarese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Carrarese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ruggero Zorzi 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
The manager makes an example of Niccolò Belloni
“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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Porto: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Carrarese would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Carrarese did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matthias Braunöder and Carrarese agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Carrarese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matthias Braunöder is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jonas Rouhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Carrarese
11 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Sporting CP: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stefano Mazzini has his answer from Carrarese; what he does with it is the next window’s story.