From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Kalamata is enjoying the guessing.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Iraklis wanted more than $36.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets5 Jul 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“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 Kalamata know it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odysseas Lyberakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Kalamata academy
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$1.7M on the table at AEK. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalamata is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Kalamata asked and AEK 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 targets28 Jun 2027
The deal with Olympiacos 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Jovanny Bolívar 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
PAOK wanted more than $85.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odysseas Lyberakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marius Adamonis has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kalamata can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$1.6M on the table at AEK. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$1.7M was the most the club would pay and AEK were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Volos NPS keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market21 Jun 2027
The fee is $450.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Iraklis drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad21 Jun 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 Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Kalamata have gone to Iraklis 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Kalamata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikos Vafeas 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 Jun 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jun 2027
Juan Cataldi 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 Kalamata can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to AEK this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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 targets14 Jun 2027
$85.0K on the table at PAOK. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets14 Jun 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Panagiotis Tachtsidis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Jun 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vasileios Ioannidis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Jun 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vasileios Tsimikas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kalamata can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jun 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 Kalamata, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Jovanny Bolívar in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marius Adamonis and Kalamata agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Kalamata go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
$604.2K on the table at Kalamata
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Kalamata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odysseas Lyberakis 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Panetolikos 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 targets7 Jun 2027
Olympiacos 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
Upbeat
Market31 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalamata they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 May 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 Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Nikos Vafeas 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 May 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 dugout31 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kalamata. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom24 May 2027
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Squad24 May 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Kalamata will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad24 May 2027
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odysseas Lyberakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
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
Upbeat
Match17 May 2027
First, on 38 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Mariano Penepil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Marius Adamonis
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Odysseas Lyberakis 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.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Iosifov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 May 2027
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
Upbeat
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Jovanny Bolívar 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.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikos Vafeas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marius Adamonis has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Market3 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Bakayoko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalamata the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2027
Voices raised on the Kalamata training ground
Two players, one bad tackle and a session that had to be stopped. It was over in a minute; it was outside the gates in an hour.
Squad3 May 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 Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kalamata can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market3 May 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximiliano Moreira, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julián Bonetto
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kalamata lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Apr 2027
38 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Gonzalo Piñeiro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Marius Adamonis
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikos Vafeas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
Julián Bonetto damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Apr 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 Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kalamata are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Kalamata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odysseas Lyberakis 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikos Vafeas, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kalamata. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market5 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalamata is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nikos Vafeas 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
Nikos Vafeas 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kalamata. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ahmad Mendes Moreira signs something — a contract at Kalamata or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Mariano Penepil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Everybody at Kalamata 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Kalamata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Czornomaz 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Mar 2027
38 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market22 Mar 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 Kalamata, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Mar 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 Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odysseas Lyberakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market22 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kalamata know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
Jovanny Bolívar 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Marius Adamonis
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kalamata can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Odysseas Lyberakis 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.
Squad15 Mar 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 Kalamata would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kalamata. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalamata is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maximiliano Moreira and Kalamata agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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 Kalamata know it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikos Vafeas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kalamata can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A last season at home is what Maximiliano Moreira is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odysseas Lyberakis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Vasilis Mantzis is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kalamata has been clear about where Vasilis Mantzis stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kalamata, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
Gonzalo Piñeiro damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match22 Feb 2027
First, on 38 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
This league is too small for Robert Mizo
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. Kalamata will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Carmelo Algarañaz 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
Nikos Vafeas 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kalamata know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marius Adamonis has written the date down.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market15 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 Kalamata, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kalamata may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 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 Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad15 Feb 2027
42 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kalamata are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marius Adamonis has written the date down.
Market15 Feb 2027
A season-long audition: Apollon still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Kalamata's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalamata they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Mariano Penepil 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 targets8 Feb 2027
Kalamata asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dimitris Chatsidis 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kalamata told Mariano Penepil something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marius Adamonis has written the date down.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Gonzalo Piñeiro damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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 Kalamata, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Kalamata close the window on a squad of their own making
2 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Jovanny Bolívar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and Kalamata go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Chatsidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Robert Mizo is in the works
Kalamata have made the call to Apollon. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dimitris Chatsidis, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Sven Köhler has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match25 Jan 2027
38 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Jan 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 Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aris Thessaloniki have kept their man, and Kalamata go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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. Kalamata will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nikos Vafeas 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market25 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kalamata know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jan 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Panargiakos, and it could have been more.
Match18 Jan 2027
Full time on the season at Kalamata
Position 1 on 38 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kalamata can pretend not to have heard.
Match16 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Kalamata do not lose
8 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Jovanny Bolívar 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
15 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Nikita Iosifov at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kalamata.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Bakayoko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalamata the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match9 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Kalamata did not have in the autumn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Savvas Mouzakis is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and Kalamata go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Chatsidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Atromitos 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
Triumph
Market4 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 Kalamata, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Kalamata had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.19, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Kalamata
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giorgos Pamlidis. 3‑1 against Hellas Syros, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Kalamata go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Dec 2026
First, on 31 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.05, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Gonzalo Piñeiro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 3‑2 win over Egaleo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.22 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mariano Penepil 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 68 days on the sidelines for Nicolás Czornomaz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings21 Dec 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marius Adamonis will call it something else in private.
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Diguiny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Mariano Penepil 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dimitrios Samaris after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Kalamata lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kalamata scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market14 Dec 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalamata they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match12 Dec 2026
Kalamata cannot stop winning
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 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Jovanny Bolívar 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Kalamata are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match12 Dec 2026
Olympiacos B made Kalamata work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 7.85. 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dimitrios Samaris could afford to be generous.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nikos Vafeas falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 Dec 2026
3‑0, and Jovanny Bolívar took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Kalamata tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.95, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.95 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Kalamata
Jovanny Bolívar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Kalamata have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gonzalo Ávila
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kalamata lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match30 Nov 2026
The view from the top for Kalamata
21 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 2‑1 win over Panionios, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marius Adamonis, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Kalamata 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.94, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Mariano Penepil 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gonzalo Ávila
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kalamata lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2026
There were 8 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Giorgos Pamlidis, 33, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Appearance number 400 for Bruno Gama
400 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Athens Kallithea left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kalamata told Mariano Penepil something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dimitrios Samaris after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Marius Adamonis 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gonzalo Ávila damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market16 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kalamata they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nicolas Diguiny 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Athens Kallithea in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nicolas Diguiny has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kalamata will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kalamata. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikita Iosifov signs something — a contract at Kalamata or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Gonzalo Ávila damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match7 Nov 2026
3‑0, and Jovanny Bolívar took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Kalamata tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match9 Nov 2026
Kalamata at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 1, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kalamata are still strangers to each other
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gonzalo Ávila
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kalamata lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Nov 2026
Kalamata refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The award goes to Jovanny Bolívar, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Kalamata 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Ilioupoli leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market2 Nov 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
Squad26 Oct 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match26 Oct 2026
The view from the top for Kalamata
14 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mariano Penepil 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Hellas Syros, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Marius Adamonis
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dimitrios Samaris on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Kalamata
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Diguiny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kalamata lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kalamata may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Bakayoko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalamata the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dimitris Chatsidis is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Jovanny Bolívar 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dimitrios Samaris after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timos Tselepidis, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Gonzalo Ávila: 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.” Kalamata have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Kalamata
Jovanny Bolívar 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
Kalamata are still strangers to each other
11 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vasilis Mantzis, 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 Kalamata. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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
Savvas Mouzakis 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mariano Penepil
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 118% of everything Kalamata 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Maximiliano Moreira has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kalamata had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match23 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Kalamata
1‑2 against Kavala, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match26 Sep 2026
Olympiacos B will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Kalamata were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 38 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.23, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marius Adamonis, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.10 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kalamata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Junior Bakayoko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kalamata the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro 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
Chania made Kalamata work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match19 Sep 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Gonzalo Piñeiro in the middle of it, and Chania unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Marius Adamonis 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dimitrios Samaris on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Kalamata take on the side everybody is chasing
Olympiacos B arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Kalamata asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Kalamata
Mariano Penepil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Sep 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Kalamata have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match12 Sep 2026
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Kalamata had all but put away. Panionios will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Kalamata know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Josete Miranda to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Panionios, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Kalamata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Diguiny 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“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
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 20 in, 4 out at Kalamata
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jovanny Bolívar makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Independiente is saying, and nobody at Kalamata is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lanús have kept their man, and Kalamata go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Raised voices on the training ground at Kalamata
It involved Jovanny Bolívar, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Kalamata
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Kalamata take on the side everybody is chasing
Panionios arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Athens Kallithea spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Market31 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. Kalamata have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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
The deal with Independiente 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Kalamata did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Aug 2026
Athens Kallithea pay $820.0K, 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Kalamata asked and Astana 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
Jovanny Bolívar 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Athens Kallithea, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Juan Cataldi 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 Kalamata can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
Kalamata say no — this time
The offer from Marko for Carmelo Algarañaz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market24 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kalamata is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Kalamata had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Temperley, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Kalamata know which stage they are at.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nicolas Diguiny 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kalamata, another week without a signature from Rodrigo Borges.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kalamata people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Kalamata
Gonzalo Piñeiro and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veres have kept their man, and Kalamata go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Kalamata know which stage they are at.
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Temperley 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Kalamata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Ávila 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Bruno Gama told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bruno Gama has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Kalamata.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kalamata people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kalamata have done the hard part with Ludogorets, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kalamata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikita Iosifov and Kalamata agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Kalamata asked and Gimnasia y Esgrima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Evangelos Torosidis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Kampaniakos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kalamata did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Maximiliano Moreira commits to Kalamata for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gonzalo Piñeiro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Kalamata asked and Levski said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Veres: 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 enquiry to Ludogorets: 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
Words at Kalamata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Czornomaz 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.