Marked for Maurice Beboum
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aigle Royal de la Menoua have done the hard part with Victoria United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Ulrich Lobé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Aigle Royal de la Menoua offered $19.0K; Fauve Azur Elite 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blaise Fuh Ndiforchu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Something was said to Rodrigue Ele and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Match29 Jan 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maurice Beboum, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Ismaël Fansu
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eden Creol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Paul Phillips to a room that had heard them before.
Looking ahead22 Nov 2027
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Cotonsport Garoua.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Franck Kom speaks, and the room listens
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Aigle Royal de la Menoua was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Seini Hamit and Aigle Royal de la Menoua agree another 3 years.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Ulrich Lobé in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Elton Ndzeryuy 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
A 2‑0 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Marked 7.73. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Paul Phillips kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Elton Ndzeryuy is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Oct 2027
Dynamo Douala ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Ulrich Lobé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Oct 2027
1‑2 to Fauve Azur Elite, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ismaël Fansu, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eden Creol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Oct 2027
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Paul Phillips left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Franck Kom and Aigle Royal de la Menoua agree another 2 years.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Ulrich Lobé 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Aliana Fossi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Habdoullah Lifab has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
25 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aigle Royal de la Menoua. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
André Nkong knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and André Nkong trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match26 Apr 2027
Position 10, 31 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Benjamin Kunde out for 25 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aigle Royal de la Menoua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ulrich Lobé 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Franck Kom knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franck Kom trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Ngom Echabe 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Maurice Beboum is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ulrich Lobé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Jacques Ganago could afford to be generous.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Ngom Echabe 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.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Cotonsport Garoua 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Maurice Beboum is on it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.90, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Cecil Meyeke, 21, steals the show — 8.00
Marked 8.00 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
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.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jacques Ganago, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Samuel Ngom Echabe 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bryan Ramses Wirsiy did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
1 for Franck Ntsague, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
7.60, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lucien Ntolo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Bryan Ramses Wirsiy 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.