  We present a covariant description of non-vacuum static spherically symmetric
spacetimes in $f(R)$-gravity applying the (1+1+2) covariant formalism. The
propagation equations are then used to derive a covariant and dimensionless
form of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations. We then give a solution
strategy to these equations and obtain a new exact solution for the particular
case $f(R)=R+\alpha R^{2}$.
