From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Léo Teixeira 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
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Felgueiras did not have in the autumn.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulinho Boia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of João Costa at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Felgueiras.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Lucas Duarte 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nuno Santos: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Sep 2026
4‑1, and Fábio Martins took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Felgueiras tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Fábio Martins takes the afternoon — 8.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fábio Martins provided it, and the 8.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match12 Sep 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Paulinho Boia 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 targets14 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Fernando Silva deal
Felgueiras ran out of time with Vitoria Guimaraes. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout14 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Felipe Machado 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Fábio Martins in the middle of it, and Penafiel unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Sep 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A day João Costa will not forget
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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Vitoria Guimaraes; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Felgueiras close the window on a squad of their own making
30 in and 24 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Léo Teixeira beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
João Costa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.46. 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Felgueiras asked and Boca Juniors 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
Ítalo 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.
Market7 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
3‑0, and João Costa took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Felgueiras tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and João Costa takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. João Costa provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Felgueiras had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Boca Juniors, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Kévin Rodrigues and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Paulinho Boia 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Felgueiras asked and Estoril Praia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Santa Clara: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Paulinho Boia 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santa Clara have kept their man, and Felgueiras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Felgueiras
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Beni Jetour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Milton Delgado is in the works
Felgueiras have made the call to Boca Juniors. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Semeu Commey is in the works
Felgueiras have made the call to Leixões. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andre Mendes commits to Felgueiras for another 3 years.
Match22 Aug 2026
It needed Tiago Leite to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Leiria, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Half-satisfied: Nuno Santos on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Pacos de Ferreira, and it could have been more.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Both of them João Costa's — 8.89
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.89, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Felgueiras did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Paulinho Boia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benfica have kept their man, and Felgueiras go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
16 new faces, and Felgueiras 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Léo Teixeira 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 Felgueiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Afonso Peixoto commits to Felgueiras for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Paulinho Boia 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Diogo Cunha 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. Leonardo Machado 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. Paulo Mendes 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. Nuno Carvalho 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
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
No place for Paulinho Boia in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Felgueiras are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
André Moreira 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. André Moreira has, at Felgueiras, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Afonso Freitas and Felgueiras agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Léo Teixeira 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Kévin 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.
Transfer targets3 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.
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.
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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for José Machado is in the works
Felgueiras have made the call to Famalicao. 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
Tiago Leite 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.