22 Aug 2026
Saturday
Process
3 Edition

The Tondela Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Tondela pay Sporting CP $12.1M for a proper upgrade

Sporting CP did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $12.1M for Fotis Ioannidis, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Player ratings

Dany Mota scores twice — 8.51

Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

A move Dany Mota would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dany Mota is living that version at Tondela, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Lucas Cañizares keeps Tondela in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Kevin Chamorro

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tondela have done the hard part with Rio Ave, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

André turns down Tondela

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Corinthians keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Words exchanged at Tondela

Dodô and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The terraces

$12.1M for Fotis Ioannidis, and Tondela supporters approve

Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Fotis Ioannidis from Sporting CP for $12.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.

Market

Tondela add cover with Dany Mota

It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Dany Mota is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.

In brief

Back issues
2 Edition

The Tondela Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Darlan Mendes arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Darlan Mendes has, at Tondela, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on André

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tondela have done the hard part with Corinthians, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Makan Aïko stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Makan Aïko and Tondela agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Dodô 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Tondela

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Makan Aïko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Tondela promote Manuel Pinto from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Manuel Pinto 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.

Market

Tondela promote David Simoes from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. David Simoes 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.

Market

Samuel Ferreira steps up from the Tondela academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Ferreira has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Rui Conceicao steps up from the Tondela academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rui Conceicao has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

In brief

1 Edition

The Tondela Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Tondela bid $3.7M for Dany Mota

The offer went to Monza 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.

Squad

Tomané signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tomané commits to Tondela for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Tondela

Brayan Medina 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.

Squad

Words at Tondela training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Marques 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 targets

Tondela rebuffed over Tiago Gabriel

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Tondela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Talks stall between Tondela and Tomané

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Transfer targets

Tondela ask about Sékou Gassama

A loan enquiry to Universitario: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

Tondela try to borrow Moctar Diop

KAA Gent 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.

Squad

Tondela are still strangers to each other

6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief