Marked for Malick Traoré
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Onze Createurs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timothy Atamenwan, and the manager let it.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Malick Traoré. 1‑0 against AS Korofina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.48 — 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market11 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Onze Createurs, another week without a signature from Timothy Atamenwan.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I want to play”: Joshua John speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Onze Createurs know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Idrissa Guindo 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“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 ratings4 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.58, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market4 Jan 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Malick Traoré 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 196% of everything Onze Createurs 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Victor Peter 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Afrique Foot Elite left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Joshua John knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joshua John trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Shots: 10, 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 5.57, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 5.78, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Lassana Samaké, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 Dec 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 Onze Createurs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joshua John, and the manager let it.
Match19 Dec 2026
AS Police made Onze Createurs work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dramane Souabou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
5 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Malick Traoré 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 ratings14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with FC Diarra leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market14 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Onze Createurs know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Onze Createurs are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He is 20, he is averaging 7.04, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 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 Onze Createurs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Dec 2026
Real Bamako left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
Idrissa Guindo 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joshua John, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Stade Malien leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mamadou Diallo knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Onze Createurs, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 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 Onze Createurs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
Etoiles du Mande left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Onze Createurs know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match4 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over US Bougouni, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
5 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Idrissa Guindo 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Malick Djiguiba’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Onze Createurs.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
Malick Djiguiba: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Onze Createurs have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Onze Createurs right now
3 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Malick Traoré 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 214% of everything Onze Createurs 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mamadou Diallo. 1‑0 against US Bougouni, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 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 Onze Createurs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Malick Traoré. 2‑1 against Djoliba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.67 — 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.58 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Sani Ibrahim asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Timothy Atamenwan is not enjoying his job description
Played out of position, hooked on the hour, asked to be somebody he is not — the details vary and the mood does not. Onze Createurs have a player doing his work under protest.
Market26 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dramane Souabou’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 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 Onze Createurs, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Malick Traoré 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Onze Createurs are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Joshua John 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 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 Onze Createurs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Victor Peter
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Onze Createurs, another week without a signature from Mahamadou N'Diaye.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. AS Korofina will be the happier side with the point.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahamadou N'Diaye trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Moussa Mariko keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Onze Createurs say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces5 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 22 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Onze Createurs are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Malick Traoré 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
306% of the income goes out in wages at Onze Createurs
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Binga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market5 Oct 2026
He is 16, and nobody at Onze Createurs signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market5 Oct 2026
Falaye Diarra is 16, and Onze Createurs have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 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 Onze Createurs this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.