Marked for Youssouf Doungous
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the AS Etat Major board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad26 Apr 2027
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major is running low.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Etat Major may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Bicto Tyonga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Ali Tokindang 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Allamine signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
24 starts now, an average of 6.80, and the team sheet at AS PSI has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 Mar 2027
4 matches without a win for AS Etat Major
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AS Etat Major are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Mar 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Issa Abba runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 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.
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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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
“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.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Issa Abba’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS Etat Major needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Aiglons, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match21 Nov 2026
6 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 6.75 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Saleh Oumar 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.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the AS Etat Major 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ahmat Tokindang 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.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Foullah Edifice next, and one man in the AS Etat Major dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Nov 2026
AS PSI ended it 0‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
A cup hiding at AS PSI leaves AS Etat Major explaining themselves
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to AS Etat Major's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS Etat Major has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Late, late show earns AS Etat Major a point
Minute 87, against CotonTchad, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Issa Abba beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the AS Etat Major 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It needed Ali Ndoram to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against CotonTchad, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Bicto Tyonga: 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.” AS Etat Major have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bicto Tyonga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Etat Major can tell you which week it ends in.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foullah Edifice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match31 Oct 2026
AS Algoy left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ezechiel Ndoram after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 20. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ali Ndoram is not saying it is over
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 33 with 2 appearances behind him, and AS Etat Major have to plan for both answers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 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 watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to AS PSI to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Etat Major and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Market28 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Youssouf Doungous signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Marius Oumar 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 Marius Oumar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Abdramane Hissein may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AS Etat Major people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Fee done, terms next for Odrick Bisah
AS Etat Major and PWD Bamenda have settled on $48.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market31 Aug 2026
Adam Djimet hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Djibrine Souleymane reports back to AS Etat Major with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Youssouf Doungous and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Etat Major have done the hard part with Foullah Edifice, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Youssouf Doungous 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmat Ndoram, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Ezechiel Mbaiguedem has come up in conversations AS Etat Major were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Adam Djimet may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.