Marked for Ali Ehab
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Hamdi Labidi 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Rayane Yesli
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Olympique Akbou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merouane Mehdaoui 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Rayane Yesli knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Riyad Zeffane after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Oussama Darfalou’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Olympique Akbou needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Oussama Darfalou 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 dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Hatem El Fegoun 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
MC El Bayadh next, and one man in the Olympique Akbou dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Nov 2026
Ahmed Alili is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Olympique Akbou has been clear about where Ahmed Alili stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Mohammed El Hachami Chacha is on it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Ahmed Alili 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 Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Fethallah Tahar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Hamdi Labidi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Olympique Akbou.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.87, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Riyad Zeffane kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Amran was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Hamdi Labidi finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Olympique Akbou have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The formation has left Ali Ehab behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Olympique Akbou will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique Akbou can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 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 Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Hamza Mouali
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.64 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Olympique Akbou had the best player on the pitch.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ali Ehab signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Ehab and Olympique Akbou agree another 4 years.
Market14 Sep 2026
Ali Ehab is 20, and Olympique Akbou have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Hatem El Fegoun 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.