Marked for Stéphane Bekolo
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
4 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Karim Bello is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Zacharie Ndongo Foé 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Canon Yaounde training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issa Bangfome 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Canon Yaounde had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Georges Etame could afford to be generous.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Alfred Meyong yet — 8.17
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Stéphane Bekolo to Cotonsport Garoua has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Canon Yaounde with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bryan Nokoue 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Jean Ousama is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joël Paten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Canon Yaounde, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Georges Etame, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Joseph Tombi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Canon Yaounde can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Cotonsport Garoua for Stéphane Bekolo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Bryan Nokoue in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Canon Yaounde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Samuel Ezekiel is in the works
Canon Yaounde have made the call to Ikorodu City. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stéphane Bekolo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Canon Yaounde did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market24 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 Canon Yaounde can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Liberty Professionals, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Bryan Nokoue and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issa Bangfome was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Patrick Kameni commits to Canon Yaounde for another 3 years.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrick Kameni, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Canon Yaounde people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Bryan Nokoue 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Canon Yaounde offered $35.0K; Cotonsport Garoua said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Canon Yaounde asked and Asante Kotoko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issa Bangfome was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Stéphane Bekolo has come up in conversations Canon Yaounde were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Canon Yaounde did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martin Ako Assomo and Canon Yaounde agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Junior Dande 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 Issa Bangfome was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Martin Ako Assomo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Canon Yaounde.