From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Cavese
Axel Juárez 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Time is catching up with Axel Juárez
Everybody at Cavese saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Axel Juárez, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pierpaolo Bellucci after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco D'Amore trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Cavese
Axel Juárez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Xavier Báez
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Cavese is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
This league is too small for Axel Juárez
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Cavese will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Umberto Germano and Cavese agree another 2 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lassine Diarra, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
No mercy from Cavese
Potenza will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Cavese were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Giuseppe Fella takes the afternoon — 8.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giuseppe Fella provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Axel Juárez and Cavese agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Axel Juárez 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gerardo Fusco is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cavese and Potenza in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
153% of the income goes out in wages at Cavese
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Cavese
0‑2 against Perugia, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Thomas Alberti takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thomas Alberti provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.96 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Cavese, 3‑1 the final word against Casarano in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Leonardo Ubaldi
“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 Cavese 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Cavese
Gerardo Fusco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
A hiding for Cavese
Beaten 0‑3 by Foggia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Cavese
Alessio Luciani 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 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Cavese 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Valerio Boffelli knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pierpaolo Bellucci after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Valerio Boffelli is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thomas Alberti. 2‑0 against Casertana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
13 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.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Francesco Orlando’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cavese needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Camillo Ciano
Nobody at Cavese 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Riccardo Turicchia arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cavese can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Cavese close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cavese have done the hard part with Rapid Bucharest, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Cavese than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Cavese will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Cavese man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Thomas Alberti was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Thomas Alberti takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thomas Alberti provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market31 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 Cavese can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rapid Bucharest is saying, and nobody at Cavese is enjoying the guessing.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 3‑1 win over Giugliano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad31 Aug 2026
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Squad31 Aug 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout31 Aug 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
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cavese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IFK Goteborg have kept their man, and Cavese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Rapid Bucharest 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Lassine Diarra is in the works
Cavese have made the call to Olympique Lyonnais. 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
Cavese 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.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Moustapha Yabré’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cavese needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Cavese know which stage they are at.
Market24 Aug 2026
Cavese have let the market know Giuseppe Fornito can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Cavese asked and Padova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to IFK Goteborg: 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 move for Lassine Diarra is in the works
Cavese have made the call to Olympique Lyonnais. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cavese has been clear about where Giuseppe Fornito stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Cavese know which stage they are at.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Cavese have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Market17 Aug 2026
A season-long audition: Virtus Entella still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Cavese's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniele Bolcano may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Cavese asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Cavese
Camillo Ciano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicolò Monti 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Emanuele Bosco 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Orazio Galli 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. Marcello Bianco 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giuseppe Fella and Cavese agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Cavese
Alessio Luciani 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
Theophilus Awua 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
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cavese, another week without a signature from Alessio Luciani.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Giuseppe Fella's contract
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Virtus Entella: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.