The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Fauve Azur Elite; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Fortuna Mfou close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 9 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luc Bide Ndohoungar commits to Fortuna Mfou for another 3 years.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Fortuna Mfou
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
$5.0K was the most the club would pay and Colombe du Dja et Lobo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Fortuna Mfou will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fortuna Mfou, another week without a signature from Samuel Ngom Echabe.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Colombe du Dja et Lobo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Carlitos Djapa is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Joel Obi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Lafleur Essono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Victoria United for Frédérick Ntsama 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 deal with Colombe du Dja et Lobo is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Colombe du Dja et Lobo wanted more than $10.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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 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.
Claude Kayibanda 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Fortuna Mfou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
$84.0K settles it between the clubs for Serge Bogam
Victoria United have accepted the money. What Fortuna Mfou do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fortuna Mfou have gone to Colombe du Dja et Lobo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Claude Kayibanda and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 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 Fortuna Mfou 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Mfou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Kazobar Kasongo again, and this time the name on the line is Unisport Bafang. Fortuna Mfou are listening politely and promising nothing.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Unisport Bafang have kept their man, and Fortuna Mfou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Fortuna Mfou can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Mfou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Carlitos Djapa is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frédérick Ntsama will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Mfou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Lafleur Essono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marc Lafleur Essono trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Supporters organise against the Fortuna Mfou board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Serge Eloundou 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Victoria United have kept their man, and Fortuna Mfou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marc Tsala Ndi is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Mani Onguene trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Fortuna Mfou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fortuna Mfou and Dynamo Douala have settled on $140.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Everything agreed with Aigle Royal de la Menoua, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The deal that would have taken Kazobar Kasongo to Panthere du Nde has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Fortuna Mfou with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Serge Eloundou and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marc Lafleur Essono 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.
Jerzino 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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 Fortuna Mfou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marc Tsala Ndi is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Mfou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Mfou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rami Bouaouiche is living that version at Fortuna Mfou, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Fortuna Mfou told Luc Bide Ndohoungar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fortuna Mfou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Carlitos Djapa is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Mfou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Lafleur Essono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jerzino 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Frédérick Ntsama trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Fortuna Mfou 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.
Supporters organise against the Fortuna Mfou board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
Armel Ndong Nze 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marc Tsala Ndi is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Mfou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marc Lafleur Essono was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Mani Onguene trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Fortuna Mfou the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The mood at Fortuna Mfou has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Joseph Mbock is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ndzi Yaouba has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Mfou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Fortuna Mfou 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Mfou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Daniel Edeh’s negotiating for him
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
8 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Fortuna Mfou will try again when the window opens; Stade Renard de Melong may not be selling by then.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Marc Tsala Ndi 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Michel Ondoa after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 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.
The deal that would have taken Frédérick Ntsama to Fauve Azur Elite has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Fortuna Mfou with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marc Lafleur Essono and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fortuna Mfou asked and Colombe du Dja et Lobo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fortuna Mfou ran out of time with Colombe du Dja et Lobo. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Supporters organise against the Fortuna Mfou board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Mfou have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with Stade Renard de Melong, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Aliou Souleyman Hendji reports back to Fortuna Mfou with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Fortuna Mfou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Mfou have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The mood at Fortuna Mfou has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Out, 0‑1 to Cotonsport Garoua, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Unisport Bafang waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Mfou have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with Stade Renard de Melong, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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. Fortuna Mfou will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Mfou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nurudeen Araromi 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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 23 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 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 Fortuna Mfou 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.
“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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michel Ondoa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Fortuna Mfou dressing room was either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Claude Kayibanda and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 years.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Michel Ondoa after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Armel Ndong Nze 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fortuna Mfou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Mfou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Akam Moses 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Mfou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Mfou 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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Fortuna Mfou take on the side everybody is chasing
Panthere du Nde arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Something was said to Ndzi Yaouba and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Mfou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Nobody at Fortuna Mfou 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Joel Obi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Ntsague was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Michel Ondoa after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Cotonsport Garoua next, and one man in the Fortuna Mfou dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutAustin Daniel knocks on the manager's door
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Marc Tsala Ndi
The mood at Fortuna Mfou has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michel Ondoa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Fortuna Mfou dressing room was either.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Claude Kayibanda is on it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Armel Ndong Nze 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
6 new faces, and Fortuna Mfou are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michel Ondoa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Fortuna Mfou dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Mfou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Mfou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Junior Patrick Akongo Evouna and Fortuna Mfou agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Unisport Bafang were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Victoria United have kept their man, and Fortuna Mfou go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aigle Royal de la Menoua waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have shaken hands with Stade Renard de Melong; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with Stade Renard de Melong, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Fortuna Mfou can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with Canon Yaounde, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jerzino and Fortuna Mfou agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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 words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Everything agreed with Stade Renard de Melong, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Unisport Bafang have kept their man, and Fortuna Mfou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kehinde Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Supporters organise against the Fortuna Mfou board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Fortuna Mfou
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Serge Eloundou and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with Fauve Azur Elite, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Fortuna Mfou offered $410.0K; 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Renard de Melong have kept their man, and Fortuna Mfou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kehinde Lawal 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Brian Leroy Onana is living that version at Fortuna Mfou, and it tends to show in the first month.
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. Fortuna Mfou will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fortuna Mfou have done the hard part with Canon Yaounde, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Fortuna Mfou have gone to Cotonsport Garoua with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fortuna Mfou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Fortuna Mfou will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Fortuna Mfou can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Kehinde Lawal was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léon Dilane Balomog trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Fortuna Mfou could ask drops and the wages Kehinde Lawal can ask rise.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Karl Bekale has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Joel Obi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kehinde Lawal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Junior Patrick Akongo Evouna is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Fortuna Mfou would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Supporters organise against the Fortuna Mfou board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Fortuna Mfou
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Mfou have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Morel Ondobo Abena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Mfou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fortuna Mfou has been clear about where Frédérick Ntsama stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fortuna Mfou, another week without a signature from Kehinde Lawal.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kehinde Lawal 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.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
Philippe Essama 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léon Dilane Balomog trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nurudeen Araromi 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
Nobody at Fortuna Mfou 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.
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fortuna Mfou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Fortuna Mfou 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.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Fortuna Mfou could ask drops and the wages Kehinde Lawal can ask rise.
Joel Obi has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 27 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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 23 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.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fortuna Mfou has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joel Obi 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.
16 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fortuna Mfou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Léon Dilane Balomog reports back to Fortuna Mfou with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Fortuna Mfou close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Mfou 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.
Marked 6.51 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Claude Kayibanda 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.