Marked for Wilfried Kouassi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Gonzalo Godoy 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luigi Gaspar and US Bougouba agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at US Bougouba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Koné 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Jan 2027
14 unbeaten for Djoliba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Djoliba did not have in the autumn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Djoliba have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Djoliba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Boulkassoum Diarra 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Bakary Kouma again, and this time the name on the line is Onze Createurs. Djoliba are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Djoliba have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 7.88. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Moro Traoré 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
$730.0K — a new record at Djoliba
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Djoliba can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Djoliba spend $730.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $730.0K for Moro Traoré, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
US Bougouba will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mamoutou Berthé has pre-agreed a move to Djoliba, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Soumaré 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
US Bougouba come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Djoliba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Djoliba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sékou Diarra 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Bourama Fomba
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Djoliba will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market17 Aug 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lamine Diakité signs something — a contract at Djoliba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Djoliba have let the market know Wilfried Kouassi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.