From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 31 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thierry Rendall Correia wants continental football; whether Venezia can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Venezia do not lose
7 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oleksandr Dragan is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 9.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
627% of the income goes out in wages at Venezia
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to Marko Farji
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
3 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.
Match23 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Venezia
A 0‑0 win over Triestina, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Alberto Olteanu could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.23
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.23, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Andrea Adorante 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 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Venezia do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea Adorante. 2‑1 against Frosinone, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Kike Pérez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.97. 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Ahmed Sidibé
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Kike Pérez
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
Venezia make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Venezia have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Toma Bašić 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
Vincenzo Damiano is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Armel Bella-Kotchap’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Venezia.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.96, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Player ratings
Andrea Adorante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Marko Farji
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Squad
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
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Squad
Marin Šverko knocks on the manager’s door
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Venezia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market14 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Matteo Grandi to Picerno has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Venezia with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 9.10 — 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.80 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Armel Bella-Kotchap. 1‑0 against Bari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Antoine Hainaut 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ahmed Sidibé 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
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Lion Lauberbach damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Catanzaro, and it could have been more.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.57, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Marko Farji among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Marko Farji on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Venezia and Catanzaro.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 485% of everything Venezia 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.94 — 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of John Yeboah at his very best
Marked 8.91. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Venezia.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.42 — 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
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Lion Lauberbach damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Empoli paid $1.6M and Venezia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad31 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Venezia supporters have found a favourite in Marko Farji
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marko Farji has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.75 — 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marko Farji was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Catania will make the call about Alessandro Pietrelli this week. Venezia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Kike Pérez is still paying for one afternoon at Venezia
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lion Lauberbach damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Parma pay $4.6M, 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Venezia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Avellino come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Venezia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Venezia
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Ascoli come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Venezia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andrea Adorante 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Michael Venturi again, and this time the name on the line is Modena. Venezia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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 Aug 2026
Parma are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Venezia will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market17 Aug 2026
The shop window has Nunzio Lella in it
Venezia have let the market know Nunzio Lella can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Stanković and Venezia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Andrea Adorante 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filip Stanković, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Venezia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market10 Aug 2026
No place for Emil Bohinen in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Emil Bohinen has his answer from Venezia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Venezia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thierry Rendall Correia commits to Venezia for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Toma Bašić 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Venezia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andrea Adorante has his answer from Venezia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Venezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marin Šverko 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.