Marked for Ilan Curis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Oct 2028
40 days out for Alieson Kamara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Bakaridjan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Oct 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bangaly Diawara will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Bakaridjan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market2 Oct 2028
Ilan Curis 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 AS Bakaridjan can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
AS Bakaridjan moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Boubacar Keita, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Aboubacar Haïdara 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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
6 academy players handed senior numbers at AS Bakaridjan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brahima Koné and AS Bakaridjan agree another 1 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Prince Eda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Oct 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Adama Sacko 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Bakaridjan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Aboubacar Haïdara 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 targets12 Jun 2028
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at AS Bakaridjan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Prince Eda 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilan Curis commits to AS Bakaridjan for another 4 years.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Antoine Wenck gets picked when it counts
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 Antoine Wenck is on it.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Sory Traoré knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sory Traoré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I want to play”: Salia Traoré speaks
“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.
Market12 Jun 2028
The Rui Dabó talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Bakaridjan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Bakaridjan have done the hard part with Stade Malien, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Mattéo Nkurunziza 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 targets5 Jun 2028
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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Aboubacar Haïdara 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and AS Bakaridjan know it.
Market5 Jun 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market5 Jun 2028
Mathis Gaudin is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AS Bakaridjan has been clear about where Mathis Gaudin stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Alieson Kamara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Bakaridjan 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 dugout5 Jun 2028
Bourama Diallo 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
Uneasy
Market22 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Bakaridjan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 May 2028
Aboubacar Haïdara 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at AS Bakaridjan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Prince Eda 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.
Squad22 May 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS Bakaridjan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout22 May 2028
Bangaly Diawara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Bakaridjan 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 dugout22 May 2028
“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.
Market22 May 2028
The name of Makan Camara keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS Bakaridjan say nothing, which says plenty.
Market22 May 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
Christ Lago and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aboubacar Haïdara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Mamadou Sidibé
“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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aboubacar Haïdara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Boubacar Keïta’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS Bakaridjan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market27 Mar 2028
The name of Makan Camara keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS Bakaridjan say nothing, which says plenty.
Match27 Mar 2028
AS Bakaridjan have something to play for
Position 4 on 34 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.
Market27 Mar 2028
AS Bakaridjan have made Sory Traoré available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Bourama Diallo damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Bakaridjan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Christ Lago 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Aboubacar Haïdara 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Kossi Comlan
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Bangaly Diawara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Bakaridjan 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ilan Curis is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Sory Traoré knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sory Traoré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Oct 2027
Bourama Diallo damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Ilan Curis, 19, steals the show — 7.77
Marked 7.77 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad4 Oct 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 AS Bakaridjan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AS Bakaridjan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Samuel Prince Eda 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
106 days out for Bangaly Diawara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Bakaridjan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Rui Dabó 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nicolas Aiello 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. Nicolas Aiello has, at AS Bakaridjan, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at AS Bakaridjan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Prince Eda 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
US Forces Armees left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Salia Traoré 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Boubacar Keita left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 18, and nobody at AS Bakaridjan signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.