Marked for Léon Dilane Balomog
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Fortuna Mfou
Position 12 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market22 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Marc Tsala Ndi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marc Tsala Ndi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Mfou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match20 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Bertrand Essiane Ndjongolo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aminou Bouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout22 Feb 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Franck Toko-Ekambi to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Fortuna Mfou may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Raphaël Anaba 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match13 Feb 2027
The goal that put Dynamo Douala ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Fortuna Mfou equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A mark of 7.80, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Elisha Feugna
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Léon Dilane Balomog 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aminou Bouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael Fokou and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Aigle Royal de la Menoua scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sebastian Arnaud is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gérard Zanga, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Franck Toko-Ekambi chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Anger at Fortuna Mfou spills outside the ground
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Gérard Zanga hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Fortuna Mfou have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Fortuna Mfou until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Zaharaddeen Bello 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Aminou Bouba 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Gazelle Garoua to sit and watch. I want to come back to Fortuna Mfou and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Jan 2027
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad25 Jan 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Junior Patrick Akongo Evouna did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market25 Jan 2027
Marc Tsala Ndi has one foot out of the door
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Fortuna Mfou did not have in the autumn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bertrand Essiane Ndjongolo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Raphaël Anaba 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.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
He is 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.56, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Léon Dilane Balomog will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Mfou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Léon Dilane Balomog has agreed terms with Canon Yaounde for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Bertrand Essiane Ndjongolo 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aminou Bouba 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Fortuna Mfou asked and Gazelle Garoua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
He is 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Stéphane Bekolo: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match30 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 win over Cotonsport Garoua, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match4 Jan 2027
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Fortuna Mfou did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A mark of 7.98 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba 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 terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aminou Bouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Sebastian Arnaud 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” George Alalabang and Fortuna Mfou agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Fortuna Mfou know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Gislain Abianda
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Point won or two lost for Fortuna Mfou?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Victoria United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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 George Alalabang is on it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. 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
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Fortuna Mfou — 7.97
1 for Marc Lafleur Essono, marked 7.97, 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Panthere du Nde. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Zaharaddeen Bello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aminou Bouba 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 terraces21 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sebastian Arnaud and Fortuna Mfou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Raphaël Anaba 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Colombe du Dja et Lobo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Gérard Zanga 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Fortuna Mfou told Shahin Edougue something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Gérard Zanga
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Fortuna Mfou's wait for a win
5 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Bertrand Essiane Ndjongolo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Aminou Bouba 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Gazelle Garoua scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.67 on the card, and the Fortuna Mfou support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market23 Nov 2026
Marc Tsala Ndi has one foot out of the door
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Bertrand Essiane Ndjongolo 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Fortuna Mfou can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raphaël Anaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Cotonsport Garoua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Stéphane Bekolo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Nov 2026
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Zaharaddeen Bello 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aminou Bouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every Fortuna Mfou game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle Garoua runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marc Lafleur Essono, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Franck Toko-Ekambi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Fortuna Mfou dressing room was either.
Match7 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Dynamo Douala defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Oct 2026
Marc Tsala Ndi has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aminou Bouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Stéphane Bekolo
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Gérard Zanga 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
He came on with the match going nowhere and left it settled. Fortuna Mfou had the right man on the bench, and for once the timing was right too.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raphaël Anaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Fortuna Mfou, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bertrand Essiane Ndjongolo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Fortuna Mfou
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aminou Bouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Franck Toko-Ekambi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Shahin Edougue named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Shahin Edougue is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Marc Lafleur Essono has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Fortuna Mfou did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aminou Bouba 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Victoria United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bertrand Essiane Ndjongolo, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
George Alalabang 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Fortuna Mfou game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle Garoua runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Franck Toko-Ekambi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 25 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Fortuna Mfou until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Afrique Foot Elite for Léon Dilane Balomog 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Zaharaddeen Bello 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
2 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aminou Bouba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Fortuna Mfou asked and Aiglons said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Maxime Kunde has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market7 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Emmanuel Kunde has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.