Marked for Aziz Sabiri
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Abdramane Doungous damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Bicto Tyonga 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 dugout10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“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 dugout10 May 2027
Adam Moustapha 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 Adam Moustapha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Ahmat Ndoram keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS Etat Major say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
Aziz Sabiri 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hasnaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Hassane Boudina has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gazelle 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
Uneasy
Match17 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Gazelle
7 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Mahamat Mbaiguedem, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Gazelle
Osée Natoyoum 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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 terraces19 Apr 2027
At 18 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Aziz Sabiri 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
No place for Mahamat Abba on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Gazelle pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
A Gazelle teenager takes the young player award
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Market
The Osée Natoyoum question follows Gazelle around
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Abdramane Doungous damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Galactik left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Marius Oumar 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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AS Etat Major, and 11 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout12 Apr 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 Ezechiel Ndoram left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market12 Apr 2027
The Ahmat Ndoram story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ahmat Ndoram signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Gazelle
Position 12 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad5 Apr 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.22, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match3 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Gazelle
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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
This is not rotation. Adoum Fachir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Abdelaziz Makine 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Aziz Sabiri has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hasnaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at AS Etat Major has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Abdramane Doungous damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at AS Etat Major
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Real improvement from a squad player at AS Etat Major
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. a squad player is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bicto Tyonga 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Saleh Adoum 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 AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
The goals keep arriving from Marius Mbaiguedem’s exile
4 goals in 20 games at US Moursal — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AS Etat Major updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
Nobody is winning from the Aziz Sabiri loan
21 appearances at Gazelle, an average of 6.17, and two clubs quietly wishing they had not bothered. Loans are supposed to answer questions; this one only added them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Hassane Boudina, 33, rolls back the years — 8.10
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Aziz Sabiri 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Adam Adoum: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Mahamat Abba 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 Mahamat Abba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Mar 2027
Every point is an argument now for Gazelle
Position 12 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
This is not rotation. Adoum Fachir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassane Boudina and Gazelle agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Aziz Sabiri has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hasnaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Abdramane Adoum 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
0‑1 to AS Algoy, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Aziz Sabiri
“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
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Osée Natoyoum 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 dugout1 Mar 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 Hassane Boudina is on it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Oumar Mahamat
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Aziz Sabiri moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Gazelle than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saleh Mbainaissem’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gazelle needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Gazelle would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market1 Mar 2027
The name of Abdelaziz Makine keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gazelle say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Brahim Mahamat 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 Brahim Mahamat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Gazelle the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to AS Algoy
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The dugout
The manager comes out for Aziz Sabiri
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2027
0‑4 to Renaissance, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Abdelaziz Makine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Transfer targets22 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Gazelle 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.
The dugout22 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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Adam Adoum to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahamat Abba, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Beaten 4 times: a bad day for Aziz Sabiri
2 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Gazelle man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Adoum Fachir was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Jan 2027
Gazelle sink to position 12
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market11 Jan 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 Gazelle, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with CotonTchad 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Aziz Sabiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Abdoulaye Bechir has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brahim Haroun 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
Nowhere to hide for Gazelle
0‑3 against Elect Sport, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Gazelle did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Osée Natoyoum 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hasnaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jan 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Gazelle 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
14 saves: Aziz Sabiri was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Gazelle
Abdelaziz Makine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdelaziz Makine. 1‑0 against Foullah Edifice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Adam Adoum, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 14 years old, Moussa Ngaradoumbe became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Market28 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdelaziz Makine signs something — a contract at Gazelle or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Dec 2026
Adoum Fachir 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 Gazelle can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A one-man rearguard from Aziz Sabiri
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Mahamat Mbaiguedem, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Gazelle
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Gazelle against Aiglons
1‑3 to Aiglons, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Adoum Fachir
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Abdelaziz Makine 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
Uneasy
Match14 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Gazelle
Position 12 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match12 Dec 2026
Gazelle cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saleh Mbainaissem is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Half-satisfied: Adam Adoum on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market14 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hassan Moustapha has his answer from Gazelle; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match12 Dec 2026
Point won or two lost for Gazelle?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against AS Etat Major? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Aziz Sabiri 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Hasnaoui and Gazelle agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Osée Natoyoum 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match5 Dec 2026
0‑1 to AS Algoy, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Aziz Sabiri
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Adam Adoum to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
AS Etat Major next, and one man in the Gazelle dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The plan did not have a place for Oumar Mahamat
Nobody at Gazelle 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
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Aziz Sabiri 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Moustapha, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saleh Mbainaissem’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gazelle needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdelaziz Makine signs something — a contract at Gazelle or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Moussa Hissein 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
Crisis
Market23 Nov 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 Gazelle, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gazelle
Osée Natoyoum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hasnaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Renaissance, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adam Adoum after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahamat Abba, and the manager let it.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Osée Natoyoum signs something — a contract at Gazelle or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
At 17 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gazelle may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Gazelle's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gazelle has to find a result from somewhere.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Gazelle
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Nov 2026
29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 1‑3 Adam Adoum left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad2 Nov 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS PSI runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market26 Oct 2026
The Issa Adoum talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Questions about Ali Tokindang on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The penny has dropped for Bicto Tyonga
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at AS Etat Major the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Aziz Sabiri: 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.” Gazelle have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Gazelle
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gazelle can tell you which week it ends in.
Match24 Oct 2026
Galactik left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Adam Adoum to a room that had heard them before.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahamat Abba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Gazelle are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahamat Abba, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Aziz Sabiri
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nowhere to hide for Gazelle
0‑3 against Stars Jeunes Talents, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gazelle may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 42, 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Osée Natoyoum 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.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Gazelle 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Adam Adoum to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Mohamed Hasnaoui for 21 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Gazelle will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Osée Natoyoum 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 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saleh Mbainaissem is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marius Moustapha is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Gazelle will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohamed Hasnaoui commits to Gazelle for another 1 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gazelle is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
US Moursal left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Aziz Sabiri 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Adam Adoum to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Aziz Sabiri
“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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
No investment in the facilities at Gazelle
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Abdoulaye Souleymane has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Idriss Souleymane is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Gazelle close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 0 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
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clock did what Stars Jeunes Talents would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Gazelle had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stars Jeunes Talents, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$13.0K on the table at Stars Jeunes Talents. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Gazelle asked and AS Algoy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market31 Aug 2026
There is a particular relief in a club addressing the thing its own crowd has been shouting about. Saleh Mbainaissem arrives for exactly that job, and now he has to do it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Gazelle are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Aziz Sabiri 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Wages are the one subject a dressing room never discusses and always knows. Saleh Mbainaissem has signed terms at Gazelle that will be quietly noted by everybody who trains beside him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmat Ndoram and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Hassan Allamine 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 Aug 2026
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. AS Etat Major will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$15.0K was the most the club would pay and US Moursal 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmat Haroun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Foullah Edifice have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to US Moursal: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Ahmat Ndoram 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
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Aigle Royal de Moungo 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
César Abaya 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hassan Moustapha is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brahim Mahamat 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marius Bechir is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oumar Ngaradoumbe is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Hassan Allamine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Gazelle have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aziz Sabiri. The answer from AS Etat Major has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to AS PSI: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Ahmat Ndoram 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 Ahmat Ndoram trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” César Abaya commits to Gazelle for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
César Abaya 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Hassane Boudina’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Aziz Sabiri is in the works
Gazelle have made the call to AS Etat Major. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
AS Etat Major have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.