Venezia U20

25 Apr 2027
Sunday
Process
38 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Farji

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Venezia may not be able to give Thierry Rendall Correia what he wants

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.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Filip Stanković

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Andrea Adorante

Marked 8.31 — 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 110% 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.

Squad

The manager has not finished forgetting Emil Bohinen's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Squad

Filip Stanković has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Venezia 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.

In brief

Back issues
37 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Market

Armel Bella-Kotchap wants to know where this is going

“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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Venezia and Mantova in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

Armel Bella-Kotchap is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.28 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Venezia find a way past Mantova

Mantova made Venezia work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Armel Bella-Kotchap at his very best

Marked 9.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Venezia.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kike Pérez

Marked 8.70 — 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 ratings

Andrea Adorante in the eights

A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

One of those days for John Yeboah

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

36 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Venezia are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 54 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Stanković

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Seid Korać says Venezia went back on their word

“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.

Market

Filip Stanković wants to know where this is going

“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.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kike Pérez

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Thierry Rendall Correia

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante in the eights

A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Þórir Jóhann Helgason in the eights

A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

35 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Both of them Armel Bella-Kotchap's — 8.97

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Filip Stanković keeps Venezia in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market

Thierry Rendall Correia wants to know where this is going

“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.

Squad

Real improvement from Vincenzo Damiano at Venezia

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vincenzo Damiano is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Armel Bella-Kotchap is carrying Venezia

13 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante keeps on missing

Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near John Yeboah

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Marin Šverko 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Armel Bella-Kotchap rescues a point for Venezia

It needed Armel Bella-Kotchap to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Carrarese, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

  • Player ratings The chances came and went for Kike Pérez
  • The terraces The spotlight tightens on Matteo Dagasso
  • Boardroom The Venezia board put their names to it
34 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

Alfred Duncan 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.

Match

Venezia see off Cesena

Three points for Venezia, 2‑1 the final word against Cesena in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Andrea Adorante at his very best

Marked 8.48. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Venezia.

Squad

Antonio Casas stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Casas and Venezia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Alfred Duncan

“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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 110% 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.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Toma Bašić

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Emil Bohinen could not find anything

4.78. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.

In brief

33 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Marko Farji out for 16 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Filip Stanković keeps Venezia in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Player ratings

Kike Pérez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Armel Bella-Kotchap was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.43. 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Armel Bella-Kotchap

11 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Armel Bella-Kotchap rescues a point for Venezia

It needed Armel Bella-Kotchap to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Juve Stabia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante keeps on missing

Shots: 13, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

Market

The Marko Farji story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Farji signs something — a contract at Venezia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

32 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Marko Farji out for 23 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Chastening afternoon for Venezia

A 0‑3 beating by Monza was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Match

Venezia are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 48 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Toma Bašić

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Antoine Hainaut 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 ratings

Andrea Adorante leaves them behind him

Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Venezia dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

Boardroom

Venezia release $363.3K for the manager

The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.

In brief

31 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Marko Farji breaks a bone — 31 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Both of them Toma Bašić's — 9.17

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Filip Stanković keeps Venezia 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Match

6 unbeaten for Venezia

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Venezia did not have in the autumn.

Match

Toma Bašić sends Venezia past Pescara

It finished 2‑1, and it was Toma Bašić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Venezia.

Squad

Thierry Rendall Correia 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 ratings

Kike Pérez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante leaves them behind him

Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

In brief

30 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Marko Farji out for 39 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Stanković

There were 10 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.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Boardroom

Wages eat 110% 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.

Squad

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.

Match

Andrea Adorante rescues a point for Venezia

It needed Andrea Adorante to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sampdoria, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Player ratings

Bartol Franjić never got going

5.72 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

Player ratings

Antoine Hainaut never got going

5.77 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

In brief

29 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Filip Stanković keeps Venezia in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Market

Armel Bella-Kotchap wants more than Venezia are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

No hiding place for Kike Pérez

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kike Pérez, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Andrea Adorante at his very best

Marked 8.59. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Venezia.

Market

Waasland-Beveren 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.

Squad

When it matters, Filip Stanković plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Match

Honours even between Venezia and Avellino

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

28 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Venezia are in among the leaders

Position 1 and 43 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Gianluca Busio

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.

Squad

Filip Stanković keeps Venezia 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.

Market

Filip Stanković wants more than Venezia are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kike Pérez

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

The manager makes an example of John Yeboah

“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.

Squad

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.

Boardroom

Venezia release $363.3K for the manager

The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.

Squad

Ahmed Sidibé 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

27 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Stanković

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 ratings

A defender's afternoon for Gianluca Busio

Defensive actions: 29. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Market

Lapo Fondi 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 Venezia can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Waasland-Beveren 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.

Market

Thierry Rendall Correia raises the bar for Venezia

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Venezia heard it as anything else.

Squad

Alfred Duncan 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Armel Bella-Kotchap was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The terraces

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.

Match

Venezia see off Südtirol

Three points for Venezia, 2‑0 the final word against Südtirol in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

26 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The small margins put Venezia out

Out, 0‑1 to Juventus, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Farji

Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Gianluca Busio shuts the door

Defensive actions: 31, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Armel Bella-Kotchap

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

Match

4 matches without a win for Venezia

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Venezia are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Emil Bohinen 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 108% 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.

Squad

Toma Bašić 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.

In brief

25 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Stanković

There were 9 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.

Market

Sparta Prague 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Farji

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Squad

No hiding place for Andrea Adorante

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Adorante, and the manager let it.

Squad

Marin Šverko 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.

Match

Venezia and Catanzaro take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The terraces

Everybody has an opinion about Emil Bohinen

He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.

Player ratings

Off the pace: Matteo Dagasso

A mark of 5.67 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.

In brief

24 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Venezia are in among the leaders

Position 1 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Farji

Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Sparta Prague watching Lion Lauberbach

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Venezia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Marko Farji signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marko Farji commits to Venezia for another 4 years.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Matteo Dagasso is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Squad

Thierry Rendall Correia 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.

Match

Venezia come up short against Empoli

Empoli left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante leaves them behind him

Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.

In brief

23 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Filip Stanković keeps Venezia in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Market

Cagliari 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.

Squad

Marko Farji is named among the best

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. Venezia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Market

Þórir Jóhann Helgason puts it in writing

“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.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Match

Venezia get the job done against Modena

A 2‑1 win over Modena, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Toma Bašić

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante in the eights

A performance of 8.74 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

22 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Stanković

There were 9 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 ratings

Armel Bella-Kotchap shuts the door

Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Farji

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

141% 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.

Match

Venezia get the job done against Padova

A 1‑0 win over Padova, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kike Pérez

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.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Toma Bašić

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

In brief

21 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Farji

Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Gianluca Busio

Defensive actions: 36. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 15 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Millonarios 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.

Match

5 matches without a win for Venezia

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Venezia are no longer polite ones.

Market

Thierry Rendall Correia wants to know where this is going

“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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of John Yeboah

“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.

Squad

Marin Šverko 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Toma Bašić takes the honours

Marked 7.55 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Venezia had the best player on the pitch.

In brief

20 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 22 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Cup progress for Venezia

A 2‑2 win over Torino, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Venezia

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Torino kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Venezia will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Match

Venezia up to position 2

30 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Player ratings

Antonio Casas scores twice — 8.58

Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Filip Stanković is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Filip Stanković: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

Venezia are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Match

The wait goes on for Venezia

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

Alfred Duncan 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.

In brief

19 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 29 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Match

Venezia are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Match

Palermo take the points off Venezia

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Loan watch

Stefano Maiorana counts the days

“I watch every Venezia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Crotone runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Squad

No hiding place for Lion Lauberbach

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lion Lauberbach, and the manager let it.

Squad

Marin Šverko 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.

Boardroom

$363.3K on the table at Venezia

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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 37 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Venezia let it slip despite Armel Bella-Kotchap

Armel Bella-Kotchap had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Mantova were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.

Player ratings

Armel Bella-Kotchap scores twice — 8.47

Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Venezia

The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Market

Venezia may not be able to give Thierry Rendall Correia what he wants

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.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marko Farji

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Filip Stanković 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.

Boardroom

131% 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.

In brief

17 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 45 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Venezia refuse to lose, and Andrea Adorante leads them

The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Andrea Adorante was at the centre of it, Virtus Entella were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.

Player ratings

Both of them Andrea Adorante's — 8.47

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Venezia

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Match

Venezia see off Virtus Entella

Three points for Venezia, 3‑2 the final word against Virtus Entella in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Armel Bella-Kotchap

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.

Squad

Costly mistake from Filip Stanković

An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Filip Stanković knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.

In brief

16 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 53 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Venezia are in among the leaders

Position 1 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.

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Venezia

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Carrarese kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Venezia will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

6 unbeaten for Venezia

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Venezia did not have in the autumn.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Thierry Rendall Correia

“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 terraces

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.

Player ratings

Bjarki Bjarkason in the eights

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 ratings

A masterclass from Armel Bella-Kotchap

Marked 8.19 — 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.

In brief

15 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 60 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Antonio Casas sends Venezia through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Antonio Casas obliged against Spezia. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Venezia.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Stanković

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 ratings

Gianluca Busio shuts the door

Defensive actions: 31, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

Nunzio Lella was immovable

28 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.

Player ratings

Armel Bella-Kotchap shuts the door

Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

Toma Bašić shuts the door

Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Market

Filip Stanković wants more than Venezia are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Toma Bašić 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

14 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 68 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Thierry Rendall Correia wants to know where this is going

“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.

Squad

No hiding place for Andrea Adorante

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Adorante, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

One of those days for John Yeboah

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Boardroom

131% 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

Marin Šverko 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

The manager has not finished forgetting Filip Stanković's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Loan watch

Stefano Maiorana wants to come home

“I did not go to Crotone to sit and watch. I want to come back to Venezia and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.

Match

John Yeboah rescues a point for Venezia

It needed John Yeboah to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Juve Stabia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

13 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 75 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Filip Stanković

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Alfred Duncan 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Venezia see off Monza

Three points for Venezia, 2‑1 the final word against Monza in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Bjarki Bjarkason at his very best

Marked 8.61. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Venezia.

Squad

Marin Šverko 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.

In brief

12 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 82 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Venezia throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Pescara the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Venezia will enjoy reviewing.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Matteo Dagasso is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Filip Stanković

“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.

In brief

11 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 89 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Squad

Bjarki Bjarkason signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bjarki Bjarkason commits to Venezia for another 4 years.

Match

Armel Bella-Kotchap’s goal not enough for Venezia

Armel Bella-Kotchap scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Sampdoria, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Thierry Rendall Correia

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

One moment undoes Armel Bella-Kotchap

There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante could have had three

7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.

Player ratings

Matteo Dagasso never got going

5.67 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

In brief

10 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 97 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Kike Pérez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Gianluca Busio

Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Market

Venezia may not be able to give Thierry Rendall Correia what he wants

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.

Match

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.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Armel Bella-Kotchap

Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

Alessandro Burlandi 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Toma Bašić

“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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 105 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Cup progress for Venezia

A 2‑1 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 ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Emil Bohinen wins it after the whistle should have gone

111 minutes played. Emil Bohinen found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Triestina went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Match

Venezia leave it late against Frosinone

Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Frosinone spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.

Match

Nobody wants to play Venezia right now

6 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.

Squad

Filip Stanković keeps Venezia 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Squad

Real improvement from Vincenzo Damiano at Venezia

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vincenzo Damiano is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

In brief

8 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 113 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Both of them Armel Bella-Kotchap's — 8.64

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.64, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Lion Lauberbach scores twice — 8.31

Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Venezia make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Venezia have 4 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Squad

Matteo Dagasso is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.

Match

Lion Lauberbach among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Lion Lauberbach on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Venezia and Südtirol.

Match

Venezia see off Südtirol

Three points for Venezia, 4‑2 the final word against Südtirol in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The terraces

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.

In brief

7 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 120 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Both of them Andrea Adorante's — 7.03

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.03, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Thierry Rendall Correia wants to know where this is going

“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.

Match

Venezia 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.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Kike Pérez

“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.

Match

Andrea Adorante sends Venezia past Bari

It finished 2‑0, and it was Andrea Adorante’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Venezia.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Armel Bella-Kotchap

Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

Marin Šverko 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.

In brief

6 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 127 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 127 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Gianluca Busio shuts the door

Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Armel Bella-Kotchap

Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Toma Bašić

Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

Alfred Duncan 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.

Match

Venezia find a way past Catanzaro

Catanzaro made Venezia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Lion Lauberbach

“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.

Squad

Words at Venezia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Casas 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.

In brief

5 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 135 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Andrea Adorante scores twice — 8.74

Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Venezia sell Simone Panada for $1.4M

Simone Panada has left for Avellino in a $1.4M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Market

Matteo Grandi moves on

Casertana pay $160.0K, 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.

Match

Venezia find a way past Empoli

Empoli made Venezia work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Filip Stanković

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

Marko Farji runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kike Pérez

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.23, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

4 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Alfred Duncan out for 142 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Venezia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Venezia turn down Atalanta for Toma Bašić

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Nunzio Lella puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Andrea Adorante 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

4 academy players handed senior numbers at Venezia

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Market

Venezia promote Mirko Raimondi from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mirko Raimondi 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.

In brief

3 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Alfred Duncan breaks a bone — 150 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 150 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Business is business: Alessandro Pietrelli goes

Hellas Verona paid $2.7M 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.

Market

Business is business: Michael Venturi goes

Sassuolo 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Armel Bella-Kotchap

“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.

Squad

Þórir Jóhann Helgason 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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

AC Milan 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.

Squad

Filip Stanković stays put

“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.

Market

Business is business: Richie Sagrado goes

Lecce paid $1.1M 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.

Squad

Lion Lauberbach 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 Venezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Venezia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Adorante 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.

Market

Crotone watching Stefano Maiorana

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Venezia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

In brief

1 Edition

The Venezia Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Thierry Rendall Correia wants to know where this is going

“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.

Squad

Thierry Rendall Correia signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thierry Rendall Correia commits to Venezia for another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Venezia

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.

Market

Ascoli watching Alessandro Pietrelli

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Venezia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Market

No place for Andrea Adorante in the plan

“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.

Squad

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.

In brief