Marked for Michel Mbeleck
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Colombe du Dja et Lobo scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Jean Hugues Eyango takes the afternoon — 9.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jean Hugues Eyango provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 2‑1 win over PWD Bamenda, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 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 Colombe du Dja et Lobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Michel Mbeleck 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Achille Bekale, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad23 Nov 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Jean Hugues Eyango has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Steeve Lima 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
At 19 years old, Axel Bakoude became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Jean Hugues Eyango was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Randy Ntume 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Edmond Sindjo at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Yvan Mvondo Olama 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stanley Nnaemeka, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Colombe du Dja et Lobo have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
The decline has begun for Randy Ntume
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Colombe du Dja et Lobo is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Yvan Mvondo Olama and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Axel Bakoude
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jean Hugues Eyango 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Achille Bekale chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Colombe du Dja et Lobo have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jean Hugues Eyango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Cotonsport Garoua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Achille Bekale to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
No place in the plan for Randy Ntume
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Fouls conceded: 6. Some of it was commitment and some of it was frustration, and the free-kick count did not distinguish between the two.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 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 Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Colombe du Dja et Lobo close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Colombe du Dja et Lobo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Randy Ntume 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.
Squad7 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 Colombe du Dja et Lobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panthere du Nde waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Michel Mbeleck had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market24 Aug 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 Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jean Hugues Eyango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Colombe du Dja et Lobo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Colombe du Dja et Lobo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jean Hugues Eyango 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Colombe du Dja et Lobo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, another week without a signature from Randy Ntume.