Marked for
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Hicham El Aroui 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at CotonTchad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hicham Nouali 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 view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Moussa Abba to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 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.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Gazelle in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A first team debut at 16 for Idriss Djimet
Off the academy pitches and into a senior shirt, at 16. The parents in the stand will keep the programme, and so will he.
Market21 Dec 2026
The name of Zakaria Hadraf keeps appearing in other people's back pages. CotonTchad say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Brahim Mahamat
40 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by CotonTchad, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market2 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to AS Etat Major's wait for a win
4 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ahmat Ndoram 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezechiel Moustapha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to CotonTchad to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Etat Major and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ezechiel Moustapha, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gérard Diarra damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
AS Etat Major will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. CotonTchad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Madaoua Tchiva, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 9.61
A mark of 9.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Madaoua Tchiva, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market2 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 CotonTchad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Hicham El Aroui, 36, rolls back the years — 8.82
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.82 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CotonTchad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Hicham El Aroui 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
Madaoua Tchiva is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. CotonTchad will try very hard not to make too much of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gérard Diarra
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CotonTchad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
What a way to start for Madaoua Tchiva — 8.89
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 8.89 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.34, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
a squad player says CotonTchad went back on their word
“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
Fawzi Ouaamar 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 4‑3 win over Stars Jeunes Talents, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Madaoua Tchiva has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Moussa Abba: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑3, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. 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
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gérard Diarra
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CotonTchad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market19 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CotonTchad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Madaoua Tchiva is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match17 Oct 2026
Zakaria Hadraf scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to AS Algoy, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Hicham Nouali falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.73. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout19 Oct 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 2‑3 Moussa Abba left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gérard Diarra 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CotonTchad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Madaoua Tchiva is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 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 CotonTchad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ezechiel Moustapha has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means CotonTchad have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 29 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
Market17 Aug 2026
Gazelle come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and CotonTchad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Gazelle 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.
Squad17 Aug 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 CotonTchad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and CotonTchad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and CotonTchad know which stage they are at.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Gazelle 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
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CotonTchad will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at CotonTchad would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market17 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CotonTchad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Saleh Mahamat 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ahmat Ndoram 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
CotonTchad join the queue for a squad player
Add another name to the list: CotonTchad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about a squad player. The answer from AS Etat Major has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saleh Mahamat 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Etat Major, another week without a signature from Ezechiel Moustapha.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Esaie Djikoloum commits to CotonTchad for another 1 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Zaid Karouch 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Gérard Diarra is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CotonTchad has been clear about where Gérard Diarra stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Zaid Karouch
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. CotonTchad will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CotonTchad, another week without a signature from Mahamat Adda.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The formation has left Hicham Nouali behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CotonTchad will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.