From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
48 days out for Aílson Tavares after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chaves will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Suéliton wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Suéliton found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Lusitânia Lourosa went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Chaves — 7.52
1 for Suéliton, marked 7.52, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Chaves
Zaidu Sanusi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A move Bayanda Zulu 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. Bayanda Zulu is living that version at Chaves, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Chaves
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bruno Rodrigues 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Lusitânia Lourosa made Chaves work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Diogo
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Chaves
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Player ratings
Ibson Melo takes the honours
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
56 days out for Aílson Tavares after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chaves will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Chaves
Zaidu Sanusi 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.
Squad12 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
João Valido 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Afonso Mendes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Oliveirense, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.02 — 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Chaves
Zaidu Sanusi 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bruno Rodrigues 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gonçalo Moreira is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Chaves will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Paulo Filho gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Edson Júnior
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.24. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Chaves
João Valido 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Chaves
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
João Valido gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Kiki Silva
7.03, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Chaves had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ruben Goncalves was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chaves dressing room was either.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Gabriel Souza dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Gonçalo Moreira, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Chaves would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Aílson Tavares out for 79 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chaves 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
Marked 7.94 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Chaves
Zaidu Sanusi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
João Valido 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Diogo
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diogo, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chaves will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Kiki Silva is still paying for one afternoon at Chaves
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Farense leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Aílson Tavares out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chaves will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Sep 2026
4‑1, and Gonçalo Moreira took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Chaves tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Gabriel Souza takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Souza provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Gonçalo Moreira takes the afternoon — 8.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gonçalo Moreira provided it, and the 8.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Chaves
Zaidu Sanusi 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Chaves training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Rodrigues is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 20 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lucas Ferreira is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bruno Almeida 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.
In brief
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Squad
19 new faces, and Chaves are still learning each other
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Market
Chaves sign Jorge Martínez, one for the future
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 27 in, 27 out at Chaves
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 27 arrived, 27 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Player ratings7 Sep 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Chaves
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Chaves are no longer polite ones.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Xabier Huarte deal
Chaves ran out of time with Tondela. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Chaves
Zaidu Sanusi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bruno Rodrigues 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Chaves
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Chaves asked and Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Sep 2026
Felgueiras left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Chaves have gone to Tondela 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Chaves
Mattheus Oliveira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
João Valido 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
No hiding place for Suéliton
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Suéliton, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chaves will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Albion: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ruben Goncalves was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chaves dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Chaves can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Chaves
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 Aug 2026
Santa Clara pay $82.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match22 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Chaves against Vizela
0‑2 to Vizela, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad24 Aug 2026
No place for Suéliton in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Chaves are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Benfica 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
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Gabriel Souza, 21, steals the show — 7.78
Marked 7.78 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Chaves asked and Santa Clara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No thanks: Bouke Boersma rejects the move
Chaves had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at KV Mechelen, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Chaves
Mattheus Oliveira 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
João Teixeira has left for Moreirense in a $490.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Chaves
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 21 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of João Valido
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Chaves will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chaves have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Rafael Barbosa arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Rafael Barbosa has, at Chaves, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Académico de Viseu have kept their man, and Chaves go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rafael Barbosa and Chaves agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Chaves
João Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Chaves training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Valido 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexandre Teixeira 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. Eduardo Almeida 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. Fabio Tavares 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
Market3 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 Chaves, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
João Valido 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 Chaves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ricardo Alves and Chaves agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
João Teixeira 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 are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The formation has left Kiki Silva behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chaves will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Freddy Noguera is in the works
Chaves have made the call to Cerro Porteno. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Bouke Boersma is in the works
Chaves have made the call to KV Mechelen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
João Teixeira asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.