From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Roland Galčík 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Samuel Alves: 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.” Rio Ave have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Anílson gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Anílson has just signed for Rio Ave, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Marios Vrousai 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 ratings14 Dec 2026
Tamble Monteiro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.59. 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Tamble Monteiro’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rio Ave.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Ole Pohlmann at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rio Ave.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Petros dropped after a run of poor form
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The dugout
When it matters, Ennio van der Gouw plays
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Banfield come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rio Ave did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
10 goals and a season average of 7.37. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.46 — 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
Kaio Mendes 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.
Match7 Dec 2026
Rio Ave at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 5, 32 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sebastian Clemmensen 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rio Ave may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Nov 2026
Rio Ave win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Arouca will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Three points for Rio Ave, 1‑0 the final word against Arouca in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Brabec 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
João Queirós gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.66. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against AVS, and it could have been more.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ole Pohlmann takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ole Pohlmann provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Rio Ave end the wait against AVS
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ole Pohlmann is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.33 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.66 — 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Francisco Petrasso 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Raúl Silva gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
The afternoon ran through Jalen Blesa
Chances created: 12. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Rio Ave's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rio Ave has to find a result from somewhere.
Match14 Nov 2026
Rio Ave cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Marios Vrousai 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Benfica left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jakub Brabec 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 dugout16 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout16 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Rio Ave
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Rio Ave are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a goal for Rio Ave
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Nov 2026
Sporting CP left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Brabec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Betão and Rio Ave agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout9 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.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match28 Oct 2026
Cup progress for Rio Ave
A 0‑0 win over Penafiel, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jakub Brabec in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Rio Ave
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rio Ave can tell you which week it ends in.
Match31 Oct 2026
Porto left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Francisco Petrasso 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Brabec, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
The kick that got away from Amine Rehmi
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Rio Ave
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Loan watch
João Tomé has seen enough of Arouca
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Oct 2026
Rio Ave are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Estoril Praia left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Jakub Brabec 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 ahead26 Oct 2026
Top-of-the-table clash for Rio Ave
Porto next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Match24 Oct 2026
After 4 games, Rio Ave finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Estoril Praia; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Ole Pohlmann
7 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Pedro Amaral 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Ave lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match17 Oct 2026
Rio Ave make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rio Ave have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Marios Vrousai 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tamble Monteiro. 1‑0 against Famalicao, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Petrasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hugo Correia on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diogo Bezerra
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rio Ave lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Rio Ave right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ole Pohlmann commits to Rio Ave for another 3 years.
Squad12 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tamble Monteiro. 1‑0 against Nacional, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Rio Ave training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Petrasso is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Ave lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match3 Oct 2026
Tamble Monteiro wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Tamble Monteiro found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Santa Clara went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match3 Oct 2026
Santa Clara made Rio Ave work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Samuel Alves 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Tamble Monteiro at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rio Ave.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Petros 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diogo Bezerra
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rio Ave lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ole Pohlmann at his very best
Marked 8.66. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rio Ave.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Estrela da Amadora, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Petrasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of João Queirós
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Sep 2026
7 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I watch every Rio Ave game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alverca runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Hugo Correia could afford to be generous.
In brief
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Petros
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Jakub Brabec
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Player ratings
Jalen Blesa could have had three
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diogo Bezerra
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rio Ave lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Pedro Pelágio deal
Rio Ave ran out of time with Chaves. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marios Vrousai 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 Sep 2026
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ole Pohlmann at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rio Ave.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Petrasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Sep 2026
Rio Ave rescue it on 95 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Gil Vicente had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
In brief
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Match
Rio Ave share the spoils with Gil Vicente
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Petros dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Diogo Bezerra damages knee ligaments — 61 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Rio Ave throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Braga the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Rio Ave will enjoy reviewing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
João Queirós gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. João Queirós has just signed for Rio Ave, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what Tondela would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
Braga left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Rio Ave asked and Belgrano 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 Rio Ave
Raúl Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Francisco Petrasso 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
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Ave lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 Sep 2026
21 days out for Jakub Brabec after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$3.1M settles it between the clubs for Rony Lopes
Tondela have accepted the money. What Rio Ave do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Ole Pohlmann takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ole Pohlmann provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Jalen Blesa beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$2.3M on the table at Chaves. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Match5 Sep 2026
Rio Ave make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rio Ave have 4 straight wins of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Rio Ave 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
AVS come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rio Ave did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Aug 2026
Diogo Bezerra damages knee ligaments — 80 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jakub Brabec breaks a bone — 30 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Jalen Blesa beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 31. 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
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$1.1M on the table at Portimonense. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match29 Aug 2026
Rio Ave make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rio Ave have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Julien Lomboto has left for Vizela in a $770.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Ave lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Aug 2026
39 days out for Jakub Brabec after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Ave will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vizela waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rio Ave is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
João Graça 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 Rio Ave can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
Cezary Miszta has left for Benfica in a $6.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Marios Vrousai 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
Diogo Bezerra damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jakub Brabec breaks a bone — 47 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Aug 2026
Tondela will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rio Ave were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Alan Varela joins from Porto in a deal worth $16.9M. Now comes the harder part.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lech have kept their man, and Rio Ave go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brandon Aguilera 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Rio Ave
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Petrasso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Porto 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Benfica come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rio Ave did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Matías Arezo rejects the move
Rio Ave had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Penarol, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tamble Monteiro and Rio Ave agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Nuno Dias joins the Rio Ave first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nuno Dias 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rodrigo Correia 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alexandre Reis 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
Tamás Nikitscher 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marios Vrousai commits to Rio Ave for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Rio Ave
Marios Vrousai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Diogo Nascimento falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Marios Vrousai’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Rio Ave 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Matías Arezo is in the works
Rio Ave have made the call to Penarol. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
João Graça is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rio Ave has been clear about where João Graça stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tamble Monteiro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.