2026/2027 season

Serie A

Team page
Serie A · Team page
Lecce
Head coach: Eusebio Di Francesco · 4-3-3
Rank
11th
Pts
9
P
7
Form
🟠 Poor

The essentials at a glance

The summary of this page: estimated level of play, form trend and qualitative verdict. For the details, head to the other tabs.

Editors' ratings
3/10
Attack
4/10
Defence
2/10
Form
4/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:High

11th with 9 pts from 7 matches: 3 wins, 0 draws, 4 defeats.

8 goals scored, 12 conceded.

Good afternoon and welcome to the live narrative of the Series A football game that faces the Udinese against the Lecce corresponding to Day 7. From the Sports World, we offer you all the coverage minute to minute, the previous, the alignations, the best games and goals of the encounter and the result with all the reactions to the post match.

Mundo Deportivo · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The technician of Lecce: "Dubbi in the offensive department, Ilic will miss for a while"

ANSA Sport · 17 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

Accept the requests of the club of Salento, now awaits the decision Fifa

ANSA Sport · 16 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The final praise of the proceeding initiated against the 25-year-old Zambian attacker after the roaring farewell to the club of Salento: the details

Corriere dello Sport · 16 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

Match-by-match results, record and rhythm of the current season.

Latest matches
⚠ This team's latest match may not be reflected below yet (football-data.org can lag slightly between the table and the match details) — the table's points/goals are up to date, but momentum, rest and the home/away split may be one match behind. Run a refresh again in a few minutes if needed.
Lvs Bologna FC 1909 (H) · 1-2
Lvs AC Milan (A) · 0-3
Wvs AC Monza (H) · 3-2
Lvs Cagliari Calcio (A) · 0-1
Lvs AS Roma (H) · 0-4
WWWLLLL
8 scored / 12 conceded over 7 matches played
Rest: 7 days since the last match · 1 match played in the last 15 days
Home form
1W - 0D - 2L
Away form
1W - 0D - 2L
Statistics

Computed from this season's scores, every time the page is shown.

Goals scored per match
0.8
Goals conceded per match
2.4
At home
4 scored · 8 conceded in 3 matches
Away
0 scored · 4 conceded in 2 matches
Over 2.5 goals
4 of 5
Both teams score
2 of 5
Clean sheets
0 of 5
Failed to score
3 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

Not enough matchdays recorded yet for this curve — history builds up with every standings refresh.

How Lecce play

System, playing identity, and what sets the team apart at both ends of the pitch.

Playing identity
Preferred system
4-3-3
Philosophy
Di Francesco generally relies on his traditional 4-3-3 to exploit the width and pace of the wingers, but experimented with a five-man defence (3-5-2) against Roma in an attempt to better contain Dybala and Soulé — without success.
Attacking strengths
Attacking trio based on Konan N'Dri, Nikola Štulić and Santiago Pierotti; new signing Willem Geubbels had played an active part in the start of the season before his injury.
Defensive solidity
Clean sheet secured at Venezia (2-0 win) on matchday 1, but the defence was torn apart (0-4) by Roma on matchday 2.
Pressing
For his debut against Venezia (matchday 1), Di Francesco had his team press high from kick-off (“subito i giallorossi in pressing alto”, corrieresalentino.it), but that intensity quickly faded (“un fuoco di paglia”); fantacalcio.it corroborates that Lecce had “tremendous difficulty” getting up the pitch throughout the first half.
Transitions
Di Francesco's Lecce rely on quick transitions rather than possession: against Venezia, two independent sources (corrieresalentino.it and fantacalcio.it) describe a team that leaves the ball to the opposition in the second half and then “tenta le chance in contropiede”, with both goals in the 0-2 win coming from that type of sequence after a spell of opposition pressure.
StrengthVery good away result on matchday 1 (2-0 at Venezia, goals from Gorter and Tiago Gabriel).
WeaknessHeavy 0-4 home defeat against Roma as early as matchday 2, with a first half heavily criticised by the head coach himself; loss of new signing Geubbels to an ankle injury.

The mood around the club, and who is missing

Internal climate, relationship with the supporters, and known absences before the next match.

Mood
Squad confidence
The Salento squad went back to work on 2 September at the Martignano training centre after a day off, with a deliberately blunt message from the head coach: Di Francesco judged that his team had come up short “above all in terms of character” against Roma. He nonetheless accepts the idea that a hiding of that scale can serve as a wake-up call before a trip to Cagliari that already looks like a direct duel. The loss of Willem Geubbels, with a left ankle injury for two to four weeks, deprives the attack of its most expensive signing at the worst moment. Conversely, the integration of Joel Monteiro and Ali Dembélé, who have only just completed their first full session, gives the head coach fresh options on the flanks.
Coach / players / board relationship
The relationship between the dressing room, the head coach and the sporting directors appears aligned. Stefano Trinchera, head of the technical area, held an end-of-window press conference on 2 September in which he thanked the ownership for its support during two months “intense and complicated” for every Serie A club. He owned the decision to reject offers judged unfavourable for his senior players, explaining that sporting results came before an immediate profit. Di Francesco, for his part, never used the window as a mitigating circumstance after the 0-4 and preferred to take aim at his players' attitude.
Mood with the supporters
The trip to Cagliari will mobilise a small contingent: the away section at the Unipol Domus holds only 415 places, on general sale at 25 euros before fees, with no loyalty card required, closing on Sunday 6 September at 19:00. The club stressed that no away tickets will be sold at the ground on matchday and passed on the option of requesting forty parking spaces from Cagliari's SLO. After the boos at the Via del Mare against Roma, it is therefore the most loyal who will accompany the team to Sardinia, for a fixture seen as a first turning point in the survival campaign. The small allocation and the cost of the journey mechanically limit the scale of away support.
Pressure on the head coach
Di Francesco is not under threat, but he raised the level of expectation himself in public after the hiding from Roma. His phrase about a lack of character, backed by the example of opposition players “still aggressive at 4-0”, implicitly places responsibility on the dressing room as much as on his bench. The trip to Cagliari, against a direct rival, will be the first real examination of his ability to get a reaction from a squad kept 90% intact. No signal of mistrust has come from the board, which has on the contrary highlighted the project's continuity.
Club objectives
Survival remains the stated horizon, but Trinchera set out a slightly wider ambition at his briefing on 2 September: reconciling financially sustainable management with results on the pitch, repeating that “you can always do better”. He claimed to have turned down offers for his best players in order to prioritise the pitch, and pointed out that 90% of the squad is last season's, complemented by targeted gambles: Dembélé on the right, Ilić in midfield, wingers and the forward Geubbels. The first concrete objective is to take points off direct rivals, starting with Cagliari.
Recent internal tensions
No open conflict is reported, but two matters remain pending. Tiago Gabriel's extension, after his goal in Venice, is not signed and is still being negotiated, when the defender has had opportunities at bigger clubs. The case of Kaba, kept in the squad but with a few days to find a way out while some leagues are still signing, sustains uncertainty about the group's final make-up. On the pitch, the fragility of the defensive block against a top-half side remains the real worry.
Absences
InjuredWillem Geubbels — Left ankle sprain confirmed by MRI on 1 September; two to four weeks announced by the club, absent at Cagliari.

Before kick-off

What to know before the next match: statistical form, qualitative analysis, and a computed estimate of the 1/X/2 probabilities.

Next match

Lecce — Juventus

At homeSunday 25 October at 18:00Matchday 8
In 7 days. Kick-off time confirmed by the league. Paris time · football-data.org fixtures.

Prediction, odds and form of both teams →

What the press says

No preview found for this fixture. The press mostly covers the big games, and usually the day before.

Prediction
EstimateLecce — Juventus
28 %
1 · Lecce
26 %
X · draw
46 %
2 · Juventus
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 7 matches played by Lecce, 6 matches by Juventus. Confidence: medium
The match details of at least one of the two teams may be one match behind at football-data.org — the home/away split and the home advantage may depend on it.
The formula, in plain words — with this match's figures
  1. League average. 187 goals scored over 130 team-matches played (20 teams taken into account), i.e. μ = 1.44 goal scored per team per match. This is the reference point: everything that follows is expressed relative to it.
  2. Attacking and defensive strengths. Goals scored (or conceded) per match, divided by μ. 1.00 = exactly average; in defence, above 1.00 means “concedes more than average”.
    TeamGoalsRawKept
    Lecce — attack8 in 7 matches0.790.89
    Lecce — defence12 in 7 matches1.191.10
    Juventus — attack9 in 6 matches1.041.02
    Juventus — defence5 in 6 matches0.580.79
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.54 for Lecce and 0.50 for Juventus. The rest of the weight goes to the league average. This is what stops a lone 5-0 from producing an attack at 3.3 times the average — and hence a 95% probability.
  3. Home advantage (γ). Measured on the league itself: 1.65 goal scored on average by the host against 1.33 by the visitor, over the 52 fixtures present in each team's last 5 matches. Raw ratio 1.24; shrunk towards 1 (weight 0.44, on the log of the ratio) then capped at 1.25 → γ = 1.10. Shrinkage goes towards 1, i.e. no advantage at all: while the sample is small, the model does not assert a home advantage it cannot measure.
  4. Venue correction, specific to each team. Drawn from the home/away split: points per match at the venue concerned are compared to points per match over all fixtures, with stronger shrinkage (weight = P / (P + 8)) and a bound of ±12%.
    Lecce at home: 1.00 pts/match versus 1.00 overall over 3 matches → ×1.000
    Juventus away: 1.33 pts/match versus 1.83 overall over 3 matches → ×0.926
  5. Expected goals. One side's attack is set against the other's defence. γ applies to the host only: applying it the other way round too would count the home advantage twice.
    λLecce = 1.44 × 0.89 × 0.79 × 1.10 × 1.000 = 1.11
    λJuventus = 1.44 × 1.02 × 1.10 × 0.926 = 1.50
  6. Poisson grid. Probability of every exact score from 0-0 to 8-8, assuming the two goal totals are independent, then adding up the cells: home win 28.1%, draw 25.7%, away win 46.2% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 1-1 (only 12.2%, which says enough about how unpredictable an exact score is).
Limits of this model — they are not anecdotal.
  • It only knows goals and a venue. Neither absences, suspensions, line-ups, fatigue, stakes, weather nor club context enter the calculation — while the other tabs of this page show that they matter.
  • The assumption that the two goal totals are independent is false in reality: it slightly underestimates tight scores, hence the draw.
  • γ is measured over a rolling window (each team's last 5 matches), not over the whole season.
  • The shrinkage constants (6, 60, 8) and the bounds are choices, not measurements. They were tuned to be cautious early in the season; they were not calibrated on a results history, as none is available here.
  • No after-the-fact evaluation has been made: at this stage, nobody knows whether this model is better or worse calibrated than another.
What other sources say
No external source has been collected for this match. That is the normal state: readings are taken by hand, and an empty box is better than an unverified figure.
This block shows probability estimates, not predictions, and carries no advisory value. The in-house estimate is the result of a formula applied to a small sample; the figures from external sources are reproduced as they were collected, without their method having been verified.

The full squad

The professional squad by position, captain marked with an armband.

Goalkeepers
  • Wladimiro FalconeC
  • Marco Bleve
  • Plamen Penev
  • Christian Lupo
Defenders
  • Antonino Gallo
  • Kialonda Gaspar
  • Tiago Gabriel
  • Danilo Veiga
  • Jamil Siebert
  • Corrie Ndaba
  • Ali Dembélé
  • Christ-Owen Kouassi
  • Gaby Jean
  • Marlon Ubani
Midfielders
  • Lassana Coulibaly
  • Omri Gandelman
  • Medon Berisha
  • Ivan Ilić
  • Youssef Maleh
  • Mohamed Kaba
  • Olaf Gorter
  • Sadik Fofana
  • Niko Kovač
  • Oumar Ngom
Forwards
  • Santiago Pierotti
  • Willem Geubbels
  • Nikola Štulić
  • Konan N'Dri
  • Amar Fatah
  • Paco Esteban
  • Hjalte Lærke
  • Joel Monteiro
Squad last verified on 31 Aug 2026 — source: besoccer.com/team/squad/lecce/2027, cross-checked with sport.virgilio.it/calcio/squadre/lecce/rosa/ and leccenews24.it (2026-27 shirt numbers, which explicitly confirms “capitan Falcone”); Falcone's captaincy independently cross-checked by calciolecce.it, tuttocalciopuglia.com, fantacalcio.it, pianetalecce.it and tuttomercatoweb.com (Falcone interviews mentioning his armband). Contradiction between besoccer.com (Alex Borbei) and sport.virgilio.it + leccenews24.it (Christian Lupo) over the fourth goalkeeper: settled in favour of Christian Lupo, confirmed by two concurring sources against a single one for Borbei. Joel Monteiro (ex-Young Boys, left winger) added as a signing made official on 31/08/2026, deadline day, confirmed by alfredopedulla.com, tuttomercatoweb.com, calciolecce.it, antennasud.com and salentosport.net. Official uslecce.it page discarded (still displayed the outdated 2025-26 squad). Two additional names seen only once (Banda, Pérez) on leccenews24.it could not be cross-checked or positioned with certainty and were left out..

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss18 Oct 2026
Udinese - Lecce, live - 124; Series A
Source: Mundo Deportivo
rss18 Oct 2026
Serie A: Udinese-Lecce in campo alle 12.30 DIRETTA
Source: ANSA Sport
rss16 Oct 2026
Serie A: Udinese-Lecce in campo Sunday alle 12.30 DIRETTA
Source: ANSA Sport
rss16 Oct 2026
The Arbitration College welcomes the requests of Lecce: maxi-multa per Banda
Source: Corriere dello Sport
rss16 Oct 2026
More than 250 thousand euros fine to former Lecce Banda from the arbitration board
Source: ANSA Sport
rss16 Oct 2026
Udinese-Lecce: likely formations and direct. Where to see on TV and streaming
Source: Tuttosport
Injury3 Sep 2026
Willem Geubbels will miss three league matches, starting with the trip to Cagliari, and his return to competition is not expected before the restart following the international break; Nikola Štulić is set to occupy the vacant position up front.
Source: Giornale di Puglia
Club2 Sep 2026
Back to work on Wednesday afternoon at the Martignano training centre after a day off: activation, aerobic power work, technical-tactical drills and a themed match. Joel Monteiro and Ali Dembélé played their very first session under Eusebio Di Francesco there, while Geubbels was receiving treatment.
Source: Calcio Lecce
Contract2 Sep 2026
At his end-of-window press conference, technical area head Stefano Trinchera confirmed that Tiago Gabriel's extension is “on the table” and that all parties are willing; he also claimed credit for keeping Falcone, Gaspar, Veiga, Siebert and Pierotti, calling that retention the summer's “hardest task”. The squad numbers 27 players, with the Jean and Kaba cases still open while other leagues are still signing.
Source: Calcio Lecce
Supporters2 Sep 2026
The club has opened general sale of the away section for Cagliari v Lecce: 415 places at 25 euros before fees, on ticketone.it and with no loyalty card required, closing on Sunday 6 September at 19:00 and with no sales at the ground on matchday. Forty parking spaces can be requested from Cagliari's SLO.
Source: Calcio Lecce
Other2 Sep 2026
Matchday 3 takes Lecce to Cagliari's Unipol Domus on Monday 7 September; the refereeing appointment has gone to Juan Luca Sacchi, assisted on VAR by Piccinini.
Source: Toro.it
Injury1 Sep 2026
On 1 September the club published an official statement confirming, after an MRI at the Quarta Colosso radiology practice in Lecce, Willem Geubbels's left ankle sprain, sustained against Roma; the club refers to an absence of between two and four weeks.
Source: Calcio Lecce
Head coach1 Sep 2026
Eusebio Di Francesco hardened his tone after the 0-4 conceded to Roma: “My team came up short in every respect, above all in terms of character,” before adding that “a hiding like that can help” and citing the aggression of Gasperini's players, still intact at 4-0, as a lesson to take away.
Source: Cagliari Calcio News
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Lecce invested around €9.5m, with Willem Geubbels for €4.6m, Joel Monteiro for €3m and Amar Fatah for €1.4m, complemented by the loans of Ivan Ilić and Ali Dembélé from Torino.
Source: Tuttomercatoweb
Result31 Aug 2026
A brutal return to reality on matchday 2: Lecce were swept aside 0-4 at home by Roma, with a Malen brace (3, 23) and then goals from Soulé (24) and Mora (65).
Source: Il Sussidiario
Result31 Aug 2026
Lecce lost 0-4 at home against Roma on matchday 2 (a brace from Malen, goals from Soulé and Mora), a heavy defeat that drops the club to 13th place.
Source: Virgilio Sport
News last verified on 18 Oct 2026. Sources: sports press (L'Équipe, Le Parisien, Foot Mercato, regional press…) and official club websites — see the link on each item.
Editorial content (playing style, mood, absences, external prediction sources) last verified on 3 Sep 2026. The standings/form data above are refreshed automatically — as is the 1/X/2 estimate, recomputed on every view.