Marked for Raphael Tchaptchet
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Joe Cole Mbella out for 70 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.15, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Junior Rostand M'baï and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
At 23 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
A 2‑0 win over Panthere du Nde, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match20 Nov 2027
Unisport Bafang settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Panthere du Nde spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Armhel Yandeme
“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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gérard Zanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Elie Junior Bamal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Joe Cole Mbella out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Serge Andoulo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Oct 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Unisport Bafang and Gazelle Garoua, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match23 Oct 2027
2‑4 to Gazelle Garoua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 dugout25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tony Ngani Kameni and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Armhel Yandeme 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
Squad11 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Joe Cole Mbella out for 114 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout11 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gérard Zanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Unisport Bafang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Unisport Bafang will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market11 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Terence Ngankam may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Joe Cole Mbella out for 122 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Oct 2027
Armhel Yandeme has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Unisport Bafang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Serge Andoulo and Unisport Bafang agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Serge Andoulo 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Rostand M'baï was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Oct 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 0‑1 Patrick Mbia left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Something was said to Becker Tcheuani and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout4 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Unisport Bafang — 7.67
1 for Terence Ngankam, marked 7.67, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Jacques Ekolowa: 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.” Unisport Bafang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Serge Andoulo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Raphael Tchaptchet and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Marked 7.84 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Unisport Bafang had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Unisport Bafang and Stade Renard de Melong in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tony Ngani Kameni is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Raphael Tchaptchet 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.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Unisport Bafang ran out of time with Dynamo Douala. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Armhel Yandeme, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑4 by Fauve Azur Elite, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match22 Mar 2027
Position 8 on 32 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Serge Andoulo 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Rostand M'baï was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Unisport Bafang 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Mar 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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Patrick Mbia to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raphael Tchaptchet, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Unisport Bafang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Mar 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Terence Ngankam delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Terence Ngankam scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.25 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Junior Rostand M'baï and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Junior Rostand M'baï and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces8 Mar 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Serge Andoulo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Gérard Zanga 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 dugout8 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 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 Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
Colombe du Dja et Lobo left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Gérard Zanga 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout15 Feb 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 Patrick Mbia to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Frederic Koloto
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Richepin Tchokou has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Unisport Bafang 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
He came on with the match going nowhere and left it settled. Unisport Bafang had the right man on the bench, and for once the timing was right too.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The plan did not have a place for Divane Tchameni
Nobody at Unisport Bafang is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.32 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Serge Andoulo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 terraces8 Feb 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Unisport Bafang ran out of time with Victoria United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 7.97 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Unisport Bafang had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Fauve Azur Elite 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. Raphael Tchaptchet is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Unisport Bafang will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Renard de Melong have kept their man, and Unisport Bafang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
David Ngameni was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.