From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Forli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Forli's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Forli has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Forli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Feb 2027
A bad afternoon for Forli against Latina
0‑1 to Latina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Feb 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Francesco Menarini will call it something else in private.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
4.94 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 2027
Luca Martelli has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Forli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Forli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match13 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Forli's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Forli has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Forli
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gabriele Perretta'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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ronald Peralta commits to Forli for another 3 years.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentino Coveri, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets8 Feb 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
0‑2 to Guidonia Montecelio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Carlo De Risio
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Diego Rossi named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Diego Rossi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Forli lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Forli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Forli people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Forli may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Forli until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Match30 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Forli against Ravenna
1‑2 to Ravenna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Luca Martelli
“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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Forli have made the call to All Boys. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Forli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Forli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicola Farinelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Forli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Forli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Empoli, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market25 Jan 2027
The Luca Martelli conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Benevento will make the call about Luca Martelli this week. Forli have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Matías Pérez 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jan 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Carlo De Risio: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Forli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 8.56. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Forli.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Riyad Idrissi is in the works
Forli have made the call to Cagliari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Pisa have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdel Rachid Zagré, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The plan did not have a place for Luca Martelli
Nobody at Forli 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
Picerno come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Forli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alessandro Giovannini did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad11 Jan 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Hellas Verona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Forli
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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 terraces11 Jan 2027
He is 21 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 2‑0 win over Vis Pesaro, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Paolo Fabbri on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Jan 2027
Luca Martelli hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Forli can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Diego Rossi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alessandro Giovannini is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Forli
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Forli asked and All Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match2 Jan 2027
Sambenedettese left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Menarini, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Paolo Fabbri left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Robertino Giacomini takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robertino Giacomini provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Riccardo Gaiola: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Forli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 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 Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
At last: Forli win one
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Pineto. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Robertino Giacomini’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Forli.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 148% of everything Forli 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Gabriele Perretta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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 dugout28 Dec 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.
Match28 Dec 2026
Halfway: Forli sit in position 7
20 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for Forli
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Forli are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Dec 2026
Campobasso left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paolo Fabbri after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Forli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Mandrelli 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
A promise honoured at Forli
Something was said to Nicola Farinelli 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
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Pineto in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Nobody at Forli 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Forli were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Forli
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Forli
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Forli can tell you which week it ends in.
Match12 Dec 2026
Pescara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Forli needed to.
The dugout14 Dec 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 Dec 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 Forli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Forli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Forli are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Forli
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Forli can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Forli against Reggiana
0‑1 to Reggiana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Paolo Fabbri left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Forli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicola Mandrelli 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Luca Martelli makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market7 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 147% of the Forli 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacopo Scaccabarozzi, and the manager let it.
Match28 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Forli against Perugia
0‑1 to Perugia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Nov 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Nicola Mandrelli 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Forli know it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Forli will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Forli
Robertino Giacomini 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Forli 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.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
Forli supporters have found a favourite in Matías Pérez
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Matías Pérez 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.48 on the card, and the Forli support went home talking about one name.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Theiner
“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 dugout23 Nov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Point won or two lost for Forli?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Torres? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Forli
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Davide Macrì 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nicola Mandrelli’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Forli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Matteo Onofri knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Forli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Alessandro Giovannini, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Forli
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Martelli, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Giacomo Verdi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match7 Nov 2026
Forli and Gubbio take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Paolo Fabbri was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Forli dressing room was either.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nobody at Forli 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nicola Mandrelli 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Chances created: 6. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Davide Macrì: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Forli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 147% of the Forli 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.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 22 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Abdel Rachid Zagré’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Forli.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.72 on the card, and the Forli support went home talking about one name.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Paolo Fabbri could afford to be generous.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Francesco Menarini. Forli will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alessandro Giovannini did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Jacopo Scaccabarozzi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Forli.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Giovannini 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.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
7.92, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Forli had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Forli 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Matteo Onofri makes the position his own
At 22 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at Forli are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Forli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Forli are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Diego Ripani 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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
A promise honoured at Forli
Something was said to Matías Pérez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.47 on the card, and the Forli support went home talking about one name.
Match17 Oct 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Paolo Fabbri chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout19 Oct 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
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 49 days on the sidelines for Giacomo Verdi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Mandrelli, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Forli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Nicola Farinelli keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Forli say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Giulio Veliaj knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giulio Veliaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Luca Martelli is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
There were 7 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Carlo De Risio, 35, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 21 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.
Squad5 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 Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 200% of everything Forli 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Elia Petrelli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicola Farinelli, and the manager let it.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Ravenna leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Diego Rossi makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Sep 2026
Forli out of the cup
Cosenza ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Forli
Robertino Giacomini 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 dugout28 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Forli 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 dugout28 Sep 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Luigi Palomba is still paying for one afternoon at Forli
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Forli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A mark of 4.42 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Forli
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Robertino Giacomini. 1‑0 against Livorno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Sep 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
7.72, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Forli had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Luca Martelli may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Forli have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
8 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Carlo De Risio yet — 7.83
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gornik Zabrze have kept their man, and Forli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alessandro Selvini. 2‑1 against Vis Pesaro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Paolo Fabbri could afford to be generous.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Elia Petrelli hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Forli can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Forli close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 0 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The name of Nicola Farinelli has come up in conversations Forli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Maldonado have kept their man, and Forli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luigi Palomba’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Forli needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market7 Sep 2026
The market said no: Luca Martelli stays put
Forli opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Luca Martelli stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Market7 Sep 2026
Forli have made Giulio Veliaj available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 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 targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Forli have done the hard part with Union SG, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Forli asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Forli 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Deportivo Maldonado 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.30 on the card, and the Forli support went home talking about one name.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Forli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Forli 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Forli 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
Sambenedettese next, and one man in the Forli dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Forli know which stage they are at.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Francesco Menarini keeps the shirt for now, at Forli's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Forli
Jacopo Scaccabarozzi 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
Forli asked and Farul Constanța 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
A new face in his position, and Francesco Menarini suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Forli have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Brasil de Pelotas is saying, and nobody at Forli is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luca Martelli commits to Forli for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Forli
Robertino Giacomini 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Mirko Bruni joins the Forli first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mirko Bruni is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marcello Di Stefano 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. Luigi Gamberini 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. Riccardo Parisi 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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. Forli will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Luca Martelli knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Martelli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jacopo Scaccabarozzi and Forli agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 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 Forli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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
“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
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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Farul Constanța 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Dinamo 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 targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Brasil de Pelotas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Forli are still strangers to each other
6 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.