Marked for Osborn Maluleke
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Sep 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Afrique Foot Elite, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cebo Mchunu and Afrique Foot Elite agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Mhlanga 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
6 new faces, and Afrique Foot Elite 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Jun 2028
Djoliba ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces3 Jul 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Moussa Ballo goes up and wins it — 7.36
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.36 for the rest of it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martín López and Afrique Foot Elite agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Cristián Magaña was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Cebo Mchunu 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.
Market3 Jul 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
6 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jun 2028
“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 Afrique Foot Elite, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Afrique Foot Elite may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Cristián Magaña 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Milton Blanco 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.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Cebo Mchunu gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Marked 4.93, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Mar 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Cheick Soumare, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad20 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Ini 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 terraces20 Mar 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Soumare 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Marked 5.78, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match19 Jan 2028
AS Korofina are out and Afrique Foot Elite go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Paul Mhlanga: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Afrique Foot Elite have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Milton Blanco 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 terraces24 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Soumare 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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jan 2028
“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 Afrique Foot Elite, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Jan 2028
5 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Comfort Ngubo 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Blanco 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Moussa Ballo gets it from the manager
“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.
Match15 Jan 2028
It needed Emmanuel Ini to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against FC Diarra, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Nobody at Afrique Foot Elite 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.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
4.78 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Dec 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 Afrique Foot Elite, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Martín López 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Blanco 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Onze Createurs left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Osborn Maluleke
“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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Milton Blanco knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Afrique Foot Elite, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Marked 5.49, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
An afternoon Paul Mhlanga will want back
Marked 5.56. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Marked 5.68, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces20 Dec 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad20 Dec 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Ini 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Moussa Ballo gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Afrique Foot Elite may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match11 Dec 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Afrique Foot Elite did not have in the autumn.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Martín López 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dimpho Madalane and Afrique Foot Elite agree another 4 years.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Marked 9.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Blanco 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Comfort Ngubo. 1‑0 against US Bougouba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
17 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Keagan Furman and Afrique Foot Elite agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Dec 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Dec 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Afrique Foot Elite did not have in the autumn.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Milton Blanco 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 terraces6 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Soumare 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Paul Mhlanga gets it from the manager
“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
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Comfort Ngubo. 3‑1 against US Forces Armees, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Milton Blanco 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristián Magaña, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes of Moussa Ballo at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Afrique Foot Elite.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Arrieta
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Afrique Foot Elite lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Nov 2027
Emmanuel Ini 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 Afrique Foot Elite can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Mohamad Ramadan: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Afrique Foot Elite have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Milton Blanco 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Stade Malien left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milton Blanco, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Marked 5.40. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Arrieta
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Afrique Foot Elite lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match16 Oct 2027
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Afrique Foot Elite are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Keagan Furman, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Milton Blanco 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Emmanuel Ini 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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Oct 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. FC Diarra defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Marked 5.60. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Arrieta
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Afrique Foot Elite lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Sep 2027
50 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oscar Gqeke is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Arrieta
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Afrique Foot Elite lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Aug 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 Afrique Foot Elite, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Renato Osorio
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Renato Osorio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Afrique Foot Elite the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oscar Gqeke is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Comfort Ngubo 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Osborn Maluleke has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
Alejandro Arrieta damages knee ligaments — 73 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
0‑3 against Etoiles du Mande, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad22 Mar 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Ini 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Moussa Ballo gets it from the manager
“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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Afrique Foot Elite dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market22 Mar 2027
Edmund Appiah is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
5.54 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Arrieta
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Afrique Foot Elite lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Martín López 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Blanco 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Eugene Amankwah
“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.
Match13 Mar 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
5.48. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 5.48, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alejandro Arrieta
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Afrique Foot Elite lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Eugene Amankwah 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Emmanuel Ini 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eugene Amankwah, and the manager let it.
Match13 Feb 2027
A 1‑1 draw with AS Korofina leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Ignacio Zabal out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Afrique Foot Elite will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 23 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Afrique Foot Elite may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Eugene Amankwah 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
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Blanco 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 5.32. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A mark of 5.40 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Ignacio Zabal out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Afrique Foot Elite will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Afrique Foot Elite — 7.37
1 for Dimpho Madalane, marked 7.37, 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad25 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 Afrique Foot Elite this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Ini 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 terraces25 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Dimpho Madalane 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Ignacio Zabal out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Afrique Foot Elite will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Afrique Foot Elite have had the benefit of it.
Match2 Jan 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Milton Blanco 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over AS Bakaridjan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Keagan Furman
“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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A mark of 7.96, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market4 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emmanuel Ini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Ignacio Zabal out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Afrique Foot Elite will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Eugene Amankwah 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Afrique Foot Elite training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Blanco 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 2‑0 win over Etoiles du Mande, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.