Marked for Walid Khermouche
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Nov 2027
First, on 20 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Ahmed Mammeri: 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 Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match20 Nov 2027
Nobody wants to play JS Kabylie right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
At 19 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
JS Kabylie keep winning on the road
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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Billal Messaoudi. 1‑0 against MB Rouissat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Achille Anani
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Walid Khermouche and JS Kabylie agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Nov 2027
4‑0, and Achille Anani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything JS Kabylie tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market8 Nov 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 The request is on a desk at JS Kabylie, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Nov 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” JS Kabylie may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match6 Nov 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now JS Kabylie have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Alexis Guendouz 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Fashion Sakala 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 ratings8 Nov 2027
Achille Anani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JS Kabylie they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Fashion Sakala 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at JS Kabylie, another week without a signature from Alexis Guendouz.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Oualid Malki 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexis Guendouz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at JS Kabylie
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oussama Haroun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
ES Setif next, and one man in the JS Kabylie dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market11 Oct 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aly Abeid’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Alexis Guendouz wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and JS Kabylie have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Sep 2027
The match ball belongs to Fashion Sakala, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match11 Sep 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against ES Ben Aknoun, and it could have been more.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” JS Kabylie may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
$5.2M was the most the club would pay and Deportivo Cali were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets13 Sep 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Walid Khermouche will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Kabylie the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Sep 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 Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Fashion Sakala at his very best
Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at JS Kabylie.
Match11 Sep 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about JS Kabylie and ES Ben Aknoun in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JS Kabylie they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. JS Kabylie have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market16 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. JS Kabylie have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Fashion Sakala 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.
Squad16 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Rayan Amari 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Billal Messaoudi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. JS Kabylie say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad16 Aug 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at JS Kabylie has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MB Rouissat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mohamed Réda Hamidi 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 targets2 Aug 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fashion Sakala 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 dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Gaya Ait Hamou
“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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The name of Fashion Sakala keeps appearing in other people's back pages. JS Kabylie say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 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 Kabylie, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Toulouse FC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Mohamed Réda Hamidi 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Fashion Sakala 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique de Marseille have kept their man, and JS Kabylie go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market26 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Walid Khermouche again, and this time the name on the line is MB Rouissat. JS Kabylie are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market26 Jul 2027
The name of Aimen Mahious keeps appearing in other people's back pages. JS Kabylie say nothing, which says plenty.
Match26 Jul 2027
JS Kabylie have something to play for
Position 4 on 59 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes Lahlou Akhrib a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at JS Kabylie. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
JS Kabylie asked and Orlando Pirates said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JS Kabylie is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Mohamed Réda Hamidi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market12 Jul 2027
Gaya Merbah has left for MC Alger in a $300.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market12 Jul 2027
ES Mostaganem paid $290.0K and JS Kabylie took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. JS Kabylie have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Fashion Sakala 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
JS Kabylie 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 dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Youcef Izem
“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
Upbeat
Market28 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. JS Kabylie have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Aimen Lahmeri: 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 Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Jun 2027
Gaya Merbah 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 JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Fashion Sakala and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market28 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Nadir Yakoubi again, and this time the name on the line is ES Setif. JS Kabylie are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market28 Jun 2027
ES Setif are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. JS Kabylie will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at JS Kabylie
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaredi Teixeira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Koceila Ait Idir, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Achille Anani 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad19 Apr 2027
51 days out for Célestin Écua after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. JS Kabylie will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The match ball belongs to Fashion Sakala, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Fashion Sakala
21 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Walid Khermouche: 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 Kabylie have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fashion Sakala. 3‑2 against MC Oran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 9.49 — 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.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Oualid Malki 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for JS Kabylie. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Reda Benchaa
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
No place in the plan for Ryad Boudebouz
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Aimen Mahious out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Kabylie will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Fashion Sakala 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulelah Al-Malki, and the manager let it.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match5 Dec 2026
After 4 games, JS Kabylie finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against ASO Chlef; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the JS Kabylie 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Walid Khermouche commits to JS Kabylie for another 4 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaredi Teixeira 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Aimen Mahious out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Kabylie will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Nov 2026
4 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Fashion Sakala 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Billal Messaoudi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to JS Kabylie.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.93 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, JS Kabylie had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Yacine Medjani, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout30 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Fashion Sakala’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Reda Benchaa 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 Kabylie, and both men came out saying it was fine.