Marked for Mahamat Abba
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
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
Chastening afternoon for Gazelle
A 0‑3 beating by Aiglons was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match20 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franck Nanfack Ngoufack 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
Mahamat Abba 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 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 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Adam Adoum to a room that had heard them before.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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
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
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
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
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
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Time is catching up with Adam Djimet
Everybody at AS Etat Major saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“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 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.35 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, AS Etat Major had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ezechiel Ndoram chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match17 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for AS Etat Major?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Renaissance? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
Issa Adoum 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Adam Djimet to AS DGSSIE has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AS Etat Major with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 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 watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Gazelle 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yassine Mazraoui’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
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
“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.