Marked for Sid Ahmed Lahmer
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ben Ahmed Kohili decided nobody was going anywhere. Olympique Akbou had no time left to answer.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Saïmon Bouabré at 20 — 8.42
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Saïmon Bouabré did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Saïmon Bouabré 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Olympique Akbou made Paradou work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Adel Bouzida in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Benali Benamar damages knee ligaments — 111 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Market31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Luke Baartman gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luke Baartman has just signed for Paradou, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Adel Bouzida in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Imad Reguieg for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Paradou will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Paradou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Oggadi 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.
Market10 Aug 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.