Marked for Nicolas Fai
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 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 Aiglons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
1‑2 to CotonTchad, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
128% of the income goes out in wages at Aiglons
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Aiglons training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Bechir 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Adam Abakar beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market23 Nov 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.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
He is 23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for AS Algoy. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Foullah Edifice, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Narcisse Bechir 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 dugout23 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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Aiglons to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Algoy and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The Aiglons board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Aiglons
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issa Hassaballah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
128% of the income goes out in wages at Aiglons
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Aiglons
Nicolas Fai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Fabien Djedanoum is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nicolas Fai’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aiglons needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market2 Nov 2026
Aiglons have made Ahmat Abderamane available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aiglons, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market2 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Christian Ramadjingaye’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market26 Oct 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 AS Algoy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at AS Algoy
Adam Abakar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at AS Algoy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezechiel Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
CotonTchad left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ezechiel Mbainaissem, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I watch every AS Algoy game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aiglons runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adam Mahamat after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 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 Aiglons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Renaissance left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Saleh Ndoram after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Abdoulaye Doungous, 15 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Market26 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aiglons know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
6 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Aiglons
Yannick Saleh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Aiglons training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issa Hassaballah 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 Oct 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Aiglons, 2‑0 the final word against AS DGSSIE in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Yannick Masra at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aiglons.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Saleh Ndoram, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Adam Souleymane damages knee ligaments — 101 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Market28 Sep 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 Algoy can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezechiel Mbainaissem 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Issa 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.
Loan watch28 Sep 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 Algoy, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Narcisse Adoum 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. Abdramane Haroun is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what US Moursal would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nicolas Fai 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 Aiglons this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aiglons know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market14 Sep 2026
Aiglons opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Mahamat Ngaradoumbe stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 14 in, 1 out at Aiglons
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with US Moursal 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$40.0K was the most the club would pay and AS Etat Major 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Aiglons
Nicolas Fai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Aiglons than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Aiglons have gone to AS Etat Major with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Aiglons
Yannick Masra 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Narcisse Mbaiguedem again, and this time the name on the line is AS DGSSIE. Aiglons are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ahmat Mbaiguedem and Aiglons agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The formation has left Nicolas Fai behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Aiglons will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mahamat Ngaradoumbe 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yannick Saleh signs something — a contract at Aiglons or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aiglons will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with AS Algoy, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Aiglons
Yannick Saleh 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
AS Algoy 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Issa Hassaballah keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aiglons say nothing, which says plenty.