Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alvin Binsto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around PWD Bamenda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Igbunu Evwierhurhoma 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.
In brief
SquadWords at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
Nobody at PWD Bamenda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee PWD Bamenda could ask drops and the wages German Fankam Tala can ask rise.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. PWD Bamenda found something the first half had given no notice of, and Canon Yaounde could not hold what they had.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PWD Bamenda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Kadad Ning Che 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Igbunu Evwierhurhoma 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kadad Ning Che will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around PWD Bamenda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAbdoullahi Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
BoardroomPWD Bamenda release $4.2M for the manager
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.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Unisport Bafang, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Pérez, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Junior Nguimbat's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PWD Bamenda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Destiny Geneneke and PWD Bamenda agree another 4 years.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Naledi Hlongwane 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.
Cotonsport Garoua arrived with $240.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
He is going to Cotonsport Garoua, the club has $240.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Igbunu Evwierhurhoma 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.
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
21 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The phone has started ringing about Alvin Binsto again, and this time the name on the line is Panthere du Nde. PWD Bamenda are listening politely and promising nothing.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Blamdi Cays has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means PWD Bamenda have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Naledi Hlongwane. 2‑0 against Cotonsport Garoua, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Serge Daura, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.82
A mark of 8.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Position 3, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Marked 7.96. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Naledi Hlongwane. 2‑0 against Fortuna Mfou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Serge Daura, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.57
A mark of 8.57 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Divine Onourah is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Junior Nguimbat 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Position 3, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Joel Ezra 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 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Serge Daura, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.72
A mark of 8.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alvin Binsto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around PWD Bamenda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Serge Daura 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serge Daura. 2‑0 against Panthere du Nde, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at PWD Bamenda who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Junior Nguimbat 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Junior Nguimbat 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fon Boris Kache. 1‑0 against Gazelle Garoua, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PWD Bamenda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Odrick Bisah 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Divine Onourah 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Naledi Hlongwane provided it, and the 8.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. PWD Bamenda rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Stade Renard de Melong had no answer to any of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“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 PWD Bamenda, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
In brief
SquadAbdoullahi Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
In brief
SquadAbdoullahi Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
The chase for Joël Bakanda ended with $70.0K changing hands and Canon Yaounde out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at PWD Bamenda, another week without a signature from Yaya Aluyu.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PWD Bamenda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Stade Renard de Melong for Alvin Binsto 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.
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. German Fankam Tala has just signed for PWD Bamenda, and for once the answer mattered.
In brief
SquadAbdoullahi Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Bogard Agbor 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.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PWD Bamenda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Victoria United kept coming because nothing stopped them, and PWD Bamenda will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Naledi Hlongwane did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PWD Bamenda can pretend not to have heard.
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 PWD Bamenda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Serge Daura 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at PWD Bamenda pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The offer from Aigle Royal de la Menoua for Kadad Ning Che 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.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
Terence Ambe Ngufor 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.
Nobody at PWD Bamenda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Paul Ombolo
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
107 minutes played. Fon Boris Kache found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Aigle Royal de Moungo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. PWD Bamenda will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alvin Binsto 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNdonwie Filding was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Serge Daura, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Dieudonne Alex Essono Omgba, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Serge Daura 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.
Marked 8.56 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Junior Nguimbat. 1‑0 against Fortuna Mfou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PWD Bamenda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 33 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Bogard Agbor 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
“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 PWD Bamenda, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
A 1‑0 win over Colombe du Dja et Lobo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. PWD Bamenda will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 16 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PWD Bamenda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Destiny Geneneke did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Gonzalo Pérez 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 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 PWD Bamenda, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PWD Bamenda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Bogard Agbor 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PWD Bamenda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.33 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
A mark of 8.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PWD Bamenda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Naledi Hlongwane did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
A 2‑1 win over Stade Renard de Melong, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PWD Bamenda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Gonzalo Pérez 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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Christian Njie is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Maxime Embolo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 PWD Bamenda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Naledi Hlongwane is living that version at PWD Bamenda, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Naledi Hlongwane and PWD Bamenda agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Add another name to the list: Gazelle Garoua have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Stephane Noah. The answer from PWD Bamenda has not changed — yet.
Junior Nguimbat 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Romeo Mfeng Nanga and PWD Bamenda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fon Boris Kache and PWD Bamenda agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at PWD Bamenda has been clear about where Ali Nsangou stands, which is more than many ever get.