Marked for Patrick Clovert
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 May 2028
This is not rotation. Zilkifilu Rabiu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise.
Market8 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 May 2028
At 20, Patrick Clovert is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Fortuna Mfou have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joel Obi and Fortuna Mfou agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Jean Simplice Mbang 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 May 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Apr 2028
“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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Zilkifilu Rabiu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise.
Market10 Apr 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kazobar Kasongo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Mfou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Apr 2028
At 20, Patrick Clovert is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Fortuna Mfou have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Jean Simplice Mbang 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Williams Yikat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Junior Patrick Akongo Evouna trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 Apr 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Aliou Souleyman Hendji may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout13 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Zilkifilu Rabiu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise.
Market13 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Mfou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Mar 2028
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marc Tsala Ndi commits to Fortuna Mfou for another 4 years.
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raphaël Anaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Mar 2028
0‑1 to Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jean Simplice Mbang, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Landry Toko-Ekambi to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Yikat 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 terraces28 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Suleiman Mojereola 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match26 Feb 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Marc Tsala Ndi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Fortuna Mfou.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Patrick Clovert ran the middle of the pitch — 7.09
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.09, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“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 ratings28 Feb 2028
Marked 7.83 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Fortuna Mfou had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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.” Landry Toko-Ekambi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Feb 2028
“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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.75 for the rest of it.
Market14 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kazobar Kasongo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fortuna Mfou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Feb 2028
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Jean Simplice Mbang 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Raphaël Anaba 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 ratings14 Feb 2028
Both jobs done by Vini Lontsi — 7.64
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. 11 actions, 7.64, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adama Ngom and Fortuna Mfou agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Jan 2028
“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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.26, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Patrick Clovert, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.04
A mark of 8.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Jean Simplice Mbang and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphaël Anaba 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 terraces24 Jan 2028
At 22 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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Léon Dilane Balomog, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jan 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 Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fortuna Mfou have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Fortuna Mfou had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Jean Simplice Mbang 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Raphaël Anaba 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Fortuna Mfou who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.65 on the card, and the Fortuna Mfou support went home talking about one name.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
The form table has caught Joel Obi
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adama Ngom, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Dec 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 Fortuna Mfou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Zaharaddeen Bello 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Yikat 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 dugout27 Dec 2027
“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.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.71 on the card, and the Fortuna Mfou support went home talking about one name.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Landry Toko-Ekambi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Suleiman Mojereola trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Nobody at Fortuna Mfou 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Dec 2027
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Fortuna Mfou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Williams Yikat 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Raphaël Anaba 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
Panthere du Nde left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“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.
Match20 Dec 2027
Position 11, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Landry Toko-Ekambi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“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.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Benjamin Mani
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fortuna Mfou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
No sign of nerves from Patrick Clovert at 20 — 7.76
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrick Clovert did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The step up is real for Ari Tiente
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad13 Dec 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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jason Moulle, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
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 Landry Toko-Ekambi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Joel Obi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Dec 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fortuna Mfou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Patrick Clovert, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joseph Mbock is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Zaharaddeen Bello 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Yikat 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 terraces6 Dec 2027
At 22 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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“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 dugout6 Dec 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Landry Toko-Ekambi could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Zaharaddeen Bello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Williams Yikat 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
A test against the best for Fortuna Mfou
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Cotonsport Garoua.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kévin Nzokou, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Edgar Toko-Ekambi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fortuna Mfou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 7.92 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Williams Yikat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Raphaël Anaba 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
Vini Lontsi ran the middle of the pitch — 7.13
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 7.13, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
At 20 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad25 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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Williams Yikat 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
1‑2 to Canon Yaounde, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Something was said to Suleiman Mojereola and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Joel Obi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Fortuna Mfou have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fortuna Mfou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Fortuna Mfou's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fortuna Mfou has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Joel Obi signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joel Obi commits to Fortuna Mfou for another 2 years.
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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Patrick Clovert 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
Fauve Azur Elite left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jean Simplice Mbang, and the manager let it.
Market4 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fortuna Mfou, another week without a signature from Jean Simplice Mbang.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Sep 2027
Léon Dilane Balomog had done his part in building a 4-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Unisport Bafang were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad20 Sep 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.22 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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.
Match18 Sep 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Clinton Abongmese is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 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 Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 9.50 — 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Williams Yikat 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
Squad13 Sep 2027
A move Patrick Clovert would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Patrick Clovert is living that version at Fortuna Mfou, and it tends to show in the first month.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Fortuna Mfou may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match11 Sep 2027
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Zaharaddeen Bello 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Victoria United left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Williams Yikat 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Marc Tsala Ndi
“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 dugout13 Sep 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Aug 2027
PWD Bamenda are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 43 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad30 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 PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market30 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. PWD Bamenda have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Wonah 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Aug 2027
Blaise Loïc Tsagué damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Market23 Aug 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 PWD Bamenda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The offer went to Fortuna Mfou this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
$350.0K was the most the club would pay and Stade Renard de Melong 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Robert Ndip Tambe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Williams Wonah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Yaya Aluyu
“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 dugout23 Aug 2027
Febe Fritz Gilles has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at PWD Bamenda 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Blaise Loïc Tsagué damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Match2 Aug 2027
PWD Bamenda refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 43 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market2 Aug 2027
The offer from Panthere du Nde for Alain Sifor was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
An offer of $190.0K for Yves Mbappe
PWD Bamenda have gone to Dynamo Douala with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Blaise Loïc Tsagué 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Wonah 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Destiny Geneneke and PWD Bamenda agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Destiny Geneneke has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at PWD Bamenda 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
Blaise Loïc Tsagué 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Christian Fai breaks a bone — 19 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Robert Ndip Tambe 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Fernande and PWD Bamenda agree another 3 years.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Alain Sifor has come up in conversations PWD Bamenda were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“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 dugout12 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
David Fernande 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 David Fernande trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Blaise Loïc Tsagué signs something — a contract at PWD Bamenda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 May 2027
Joseph Atangana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Wonah 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 dugout17 May 2027
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 Robert Ndip Tambe is on it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pierre Daniel Épée Ngango, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Joseph Atangana 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.
Market17 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Blaise Loïc Tsagué signs something — a contract at PWD Bamenda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad17 May 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and PWD Bamenda will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Loan watch17 May 2027
44 days of the agreement remain and 26 appearances sit behind him. Somebody has to decide what happens next.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Dec 2026
A 3‑1 win over Aigle Royal de Moungo, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match30 Dec 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. PWD Bamenda scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and PWD Bamenda did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Panthere du Nde is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Odrick Bisah is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Robert Ndip Tambe 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
Triumph
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Robert Ndip Tambe takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Ndip Tambe provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match3 Oct 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now PWD Bamenda have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Robert Ndip Tambe 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Patrick Clovert is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Aigle Royal de la Menoua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
At 21 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kammonke Willie 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 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Blaise Loïc Tsagué
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Blaise Loïc Tsagué has come out of that comparison in the side, and PWD Bamenda have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A move Williams Wonah would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Williams Wonah is living that version at PWD Bamenda, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 PWD Bamenda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
PWD Bamenda close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 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 PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Wonah 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Junior Nguimbat is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
PWD Bamenda say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Home comforts ahead for PWD Bamenda
Fauve Azur Elite, position 13, come to town on Saturday. Nobody will call it a big game and nobody at the club will be treating it as anything else.