Marked for Frédéric Djoeta
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Oct 2027
4‑1, and Frédéric Djoita took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Elect Sport tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.15, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Match2 Oct 2027
Whatever happens, Elect Sport do not lose
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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adoum Defallah commits to Elect Sport for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Seydina Keïta 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Elect Sport
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market4 Oct 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Abdramane Bechir 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.
The dugout4 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Aug 2027
The fee is $6.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. CotonTchad drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad23 Aug 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.
The dugout23 Aug 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout23 Aug 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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Elect Sport, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Mahamat Tchari again, and this time the name on the line is Renaissance. Elect Sport are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad26 Jul 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Mahamat Tchari
“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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Mahamat Harouna has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Elect Sport 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The name of Frédéric Djoeta keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Elect Sport say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 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.
The dugout31 May 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.
Market31 May 2027
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
Squad3 May 2027
Mohamed El Ouardi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 May 2027
CotonTchad will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mahamat Adda has pre-agreed a move to Elect Sport, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The dugout3 May 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.
Squad3 May 2027
No place for Seydina Keïta in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Elect Sport are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Mohamed El Ouardi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mohamed El Ouardi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Elect Sport have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout3 May 2027
Frédéric Djoita has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Elect Sport 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.
Market3 May 2027
Experience through the door at Elect Sport
Seydina Keïta arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market3 May 2027
The name of Frédéric Djoeta keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Elect Sport say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad3 May 2027
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Elect Sport have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Apr 2027
Renaissance are out and Elect Sport go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 8.14 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad12 Apr 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.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. David Diazayisua Mamona 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.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Gazelle leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Idriss Mahamat was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Elect Sport dressing room was either.
Squad12 Apr 2027
One booking too many, and Frédéric Djoeta sits out. Elect Sport lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Ousmane Hissein has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Elect Sport 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
Salim Abubakar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Salim Abubakar. 2‑1 against CotonTchad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Mohamed El Ouardi at his very best
Marked 8.33. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Elect Sport.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Salim Abubakar at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Elect Sport.
Squad5 Apr 2027
7 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Elect Sport are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout5 Apr 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.” Idriss Mahamat kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout5 Apr 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
Crisis
Market8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adoum Defallah commits to Elect Sport for another 2 years.
Squad8 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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adoum Defallah, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Elect Sport are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Elect Sport, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Elect Sport lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Elect Sport this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
Renaissance left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salim Abubakar, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Idriss Mahamat to a room that had heard them before.
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Feb 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Salim Abubakar keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Elect Sport say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout15 Feb 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
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Salim Abubakar 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
Yannick Ndilabaye ran the middle of the pitch — 6.91
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.91, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 113% 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Idriss Mahamat chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Dec 2026
Point won or two lost for Elect Sport?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CotonTchad? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Gazelle in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 11. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.74, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Idriss Mahamat could afford to be generous.
The dugout21 Dec 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 ratings21 Dec 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohamed El Ouardi signs something — a contract at Elect Sport or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 Dec 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
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Salim Abubakar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Mahamat Tchari has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Elect Sport 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Salim Abubakar signs something — a contract at Elect Sport or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at Elect Sport: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Salim Abubakar 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 102% of the Elect Sport income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Market2 Nov 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 Salim Abubakar.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Mohamed El Ouardi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mohamed El Ouardi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Elect Sport have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 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 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
A test against the best for Elect Sport
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 Renaissance.
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.
Market28 Sep 2026
The name of Frédéric Djoeta keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Elect Sport say nothing, which says plenty.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Next up at home: Stars Jeunes Talents, who go into it in position 11. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 8 in, 1 out at Elect Sport
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Mahamat Tchari, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$37.0K on the table at Foullah Edifice. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Frédéric Djoeta 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Elect Sport offered $21.0K; Aigle Royal de Moungo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$20.0K on the table at Aigle Royal de Moungo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 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.