Alessandro Pina

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Afrique Foot Elite
1 Mar 2027
Monday
Process

Marked for Alessandro Pina

28 Edition

The Afrique Foot Elite Sentinel

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Abraham Faruk arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Abraham Faruk has, at Afrique Foot Elite, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Words exchanged at Afrique Foot Elite

Dokou Dodo 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 targets

Afrique Foot Elite rebuffed over Brahim Goudja

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS PSI have kept their man, and Afrique Foot Elite go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

AS Police take the points off Afrique Foot Elite

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bourama Togola

“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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Afrique Foot Elite

7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sekou Toure to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

No place for Alessandro Pina in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Afrique Foot Elite are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

Market

Afrique Foot Elite buy the years ahead of Gabriel Beauvillain

He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

In brief

Back issues
27 Edition

The Afrique Foot Elite Sentinel

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Window shuts: 4 in, 1 out at Afrique Foot Elite

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

A falling-out at Afrique Foot Elite

Dokou Dodo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Danilo stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Danilo and Afrique Foot Elite agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Transfer targets

Afrique Foot Elite rebuffed over Sory Traoré

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Bamako have kept their man, and Afrique Foot Elite go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Bangaly Diawara

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.

Match

Bangaly Diawara the difference as Afrique Foot Elite beat FC Diarra

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bangaly Diawara. 1‑0 against FC Diarra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A row about effort at Afrique Foot Elite

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Pina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Moussa Ballo stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.73 on the card, and the Afrique Foot Elite support went home talking about one name.

Squad

No place for Danilo in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Afrique Foot Elite are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

In brief