Marked for Kamel Belmiloud
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 The request is on a desk at JS Saoura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Laid Ayad is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Adel Bouchiba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 31 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Paradou wanted more than $54.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
JS Saoura asked and ASO Chlef 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 dugout23 Aug 2027
Fayçal Mebarki 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 JS Saoura, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Kamel Belmiloud has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at JS Saoura 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
JS Saoura say no — this time
The offer from JS Kabylie for Alimi Sikiru 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.
Market12 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at JS Saoura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Ben Aknoun waiting with a shirt. Nobody at JS Saoura is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad12 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 JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The offer went to Olympique Akbou this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad12 Jul 2027
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets12 Jul 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Riyane Akacem
“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
Market21 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and JS Saoura did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jun 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with MC Oran, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at JS Saoura
Adel Bouchiba 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 targets21 Jun 2027
Olympique Akbou wanted more than $28.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
JS Saoura asked and CR Belouizdad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market21 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Khaled Mounir Allaoui has his answer from JS Saoura; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Alimi Sikiru has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at JS Saoura 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.
The dugout21 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
JS Saoura say no — this time
The offer from MC El Bayadh for Abdelkader Boutiche 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.
Market14 Jun 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 JS Saoura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Adel Bouchiba 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
An offer of $28.0K for Ahmed Alili
JS Saoura have gone to Olympique Akbou with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LOSC Lille have kept their man, and JS Saoura go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anas Yusuf 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Anas Yusuf is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at JS Saoura has been clear about where Anas Yusuf stands, which is more than many ever get.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan move for Anes Mokhtar is in the works
JS Saoura have made the call to CR Belouizdad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mostapha Badaoui, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JS Saoura is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Adel Bouchiba 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 May 2027
Anas Yusuf 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 dugout17 May 2027
Riyane Akacem asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Kamel Belmiloud has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at JS Saoura 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at JS Saoura. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad17 May 2027
Semelo Gueï is starting to look at home
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager plants his flag on Constant Wayou
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Constant Wayou’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khaled Mounir Allaoui will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Saoura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market19 Apr 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at JS Saoura
Adel Bouchiba 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juba Oukaci 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kamel Belmiloud has his answer from JS Saoura; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout19 Apr 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 Kamel Belmiloud is on it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khaled Mounir Allaoui trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
$310.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CS Constantine waiting with a shirt. Nobody at JS Saoura is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Juba Oukaci: 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.” JS Saoura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $310.0K sale of Abdenasser Djoudar
He is going to ASO Chlef, the club has $310.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market25 Jan 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 JS Saoura can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with MC Oran, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Angers SCO is saying, and nobody at JS Saoura is enjoying the guessing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at JS Saoura
Adel Bouchiba 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
0‑1 to MC Oran, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kamel Belmiloud damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for JS Saoura
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around JS Saoura are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Constant Wayou 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Saadi 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
JS Saoura caught on 94 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Olympique Akbou scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match14 Nov 2026
It needed Alimi Sikiru to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Olympique Akbou, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fayçal Mebarki, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 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.” Ismail Brahimi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JS Saoura lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match9 Nov 2026
JS Saoura are in real trouble now
Position 14, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to JS Saoura's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at JS Saoura has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 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 JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ismail Saadi 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
JS Saoura cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑2 to JS Kabylie, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ismail Brahimi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kamel Belmiloud
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to JS Saoura's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at JS Saoura has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at JS Saoura
Adel Bouchiba 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to CR Belouizdad, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
Laid Ayad wants to come home
“I did not go to USM Khenchela to sit and watch. I want to come back to JS Saoura and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
The leaders are next for JS Saoura
JS Kabylie top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kamel Belmiloud
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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
Adel Bouchiba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdeldjalil Ould Ammar is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to USM Alger, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ismail Brahimi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juba Oukaci, and the manager let it.
Market26 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Khaled Mounir Allaoui has his answer from JS Saoura; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Kamel Belmiloud damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdenour Barkat is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 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 JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Saadi 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adel Bouchiba, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at JS Saoura.
Match17 Oct 2026
It needed Nour El Islam Fettouhi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against ASO Chlef, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Ismail Brahimi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kamel Belmiloud
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Anas Yusuf runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Adel Bouchiba 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Achraf Kaddouri is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Oussama Bentaleb was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.35. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The terraces12 Oct 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 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
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Metz is saying, and nobody at JS Saoura is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at JS Saoura
Constant Wayou 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 targets10 Aug 2026
JS Saoura asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Said Ghoulam 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Youcef Bellahcene 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aissa Slimani 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdelkader Brahimi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
JS Saoura are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Le Havre AC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.