Marked for Frédéric Djoeta
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Elect Sport can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
88 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad1 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match30 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abakar Haroun Mahamat. 1‑0 against Renaissance, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 8.51 — 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frédéric Djoeta, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Jan 2027
Foullah Edifice ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match23 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
175% of the income goes out in wages at Elect Sport
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Frédéric Djoeta 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Adoum Defallah
“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 ratings25 Jan 2027
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 5.71, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Nuhu, and the manager let it.
Match16 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. AS PSI will be the happier side with the point.
Squad18 Jan 2027
At 16 years old, Saleh Tokindang became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 10. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ferdinand Gassina 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
272% of the income goes out in wages at Elect Sport
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over US Moursal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mahamat Harouna
“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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad28 Dec 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Elect Sport have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Elect Sport
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Elect Sport are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.99 on the card, and the Elect Sport support went home talking about one name.
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Irfan Jaya runs at them all day
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Dec 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 22 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad7 Dec 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Dec 2026
Foullah Edifice left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market7 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mahamat Harouna signs something — a contract at Elect Sport or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A mark of 5.66 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 5.73, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Elect Sport may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ferdinand Gassina 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 307% of everything Elect Sport earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Irfan Jaya 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Aiglons leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market30 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mahamat Harouna 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 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahamat Harouna, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the Elect Sport support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benjamin Asiedu Kwesi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to AS DGSSIE, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
5.65 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
Triumph
Market5 Oct 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohammed Manga commits to Elect Sport for another 1 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Elect Sport know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ferdinand Gassina 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
460% of the income goes out in wages at Elect Sport
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.57 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ismaila Mayaki
“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
Squad28 Sep 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Elect Sport would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market28 Sep 2026
The name of Frédéric Djoeta keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Elect Sport say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
The name of Frédéric Djoeta keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Elect Sport say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A welcome sight on the training pitch: Gérard Nodjiram has come through recovery and is pushing for a place again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Irfan Jaya and Elect Sport agree another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ferdinand Gassina and Elect Sport agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ferdinand Gassina 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 Aug 2026
Irfan Jaya has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Elect Sport know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Elect Sport, another week without a signature from Ferdinand Gassina.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Adoum Defallah’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.