Marked for Djibrine Allamine
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
Artem Philippov damages knee ligaments — 115 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Andrey Malykh breaks a bone — 98 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match7 Aug 2027
4 matches without a win for Dinamo Kirov
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Kirov are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Aug 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 Dinamo Kirov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Aug 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dinamo Kirov can tell you which week it ends in.
Match7 Aug 2027
Tyumen left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Laurits Õunpuu and Dinamo Kirov agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Nobody could get near Maxim Lauk
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Aug 2027
The name of Evgeny Pesikov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Dinamo Kirov say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Dinamo Kirov will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market7 Jun 2027
Diego Díaz has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Kirov they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Evgeny Pesikov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 May 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 Dinamo Kirov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Andrey Malykh 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 May 2027
Diego Díaz 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 Dinamo Kirov can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 May 2027
Diego Díaz has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Kirov they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Kirov can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 May 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 Dinamo Kirov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Apr 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 Dinamo Kirov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Evgeny Pesikov 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
Words at Dinamo Kirov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Malykh 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 Apr 2027
“I watch every Dinamo Kirov game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mashuk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Dinamo Kirov now.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Kirov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Evgeny Pesikov 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 96% of everything Dinamo Kirov earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Dinamo Kirov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Laurits Õunpuu 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
6 new faces, and Dinamo Kirov are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladimir Zadiraka signs something — a contract at Dinamo Kirov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Kirov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Apr 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 Dinamo Kirov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Diego Díaz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diego Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Kirov the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Kirov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Apr 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 Dinamo Kirov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Evgeny Pesikov 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
Words at Dinamo Kirov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Malykh 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Djibrine Allamine commits to Dinamo Kirov for another 2 years.
Market5 Apr 2027
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at Dinamo Kirov no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Kirov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market29 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.
Squad29 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 Dinamo Kirov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Mashuk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Dinamo Kirov and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Laurits Õunpuu 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The numbers do not look good at Dinamo Kirov
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Kirov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Evgeny Pesikov 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Dinamo Kirov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Malykh 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
105% of the income goes out in wages at Dinamo Kirov
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.
Squad22 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladimir Zadiraka signs something — a contract at Dinamo Kirov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Ali Doungous
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Doungous will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match6 Mar 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ezechiel Oumar commits to AS Etat Major for another 3 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Foullah Edifice to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Etat Major and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
Match6 Mar 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ezechiel Oumar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS Etat Major.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces1 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the AS Etat Major boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Issa Mahamat: 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mohamed Shehata 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Gazelle made AS Etat Major work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Feb 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Moussa Doungous, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Saleh Allamine: 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ahmat Abba 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 terraces22 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Moussa Doungous 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Marius Oumar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS Etat Major.
Squad22 Feb 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Feb 2027
Moussa Abba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ahmat Abba 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Foullah Edifice left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmat Adoum 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Oumar Ndoram
“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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
An afternoon Idriss Ndoram will want back
Marked 4.94. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. 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
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Marius Djimet has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market8 Feb 2027
Ali Doungous has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
At 23 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Idriss Ndoram 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.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match30 Jan 2027
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. CotonTchad kept coming because nothing stopped them, and AS Etat Major will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Boardroom1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mohamed Shehata 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Etat Major have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Idriss 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match25 Jan 2027
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $11.0K sale of Issa Ndoram
He is going to Galactik, the club has $11.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Moussa Doungous, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market25 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and AS Etat Major did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ahmat Abba 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Galactik pay $11.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match23 Jan 2027
AS Algoy made AS Etat Major work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Moussa Doungous 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
AS Etat Major sell a favourite for $6.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Idriss Youssouf was one of the reasons people came, and $6.0K does not replace that by itself.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mohamed Shehata 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Ali Doungous has come up in conversations AS Etat Major were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market18 Jan 2027
Galactik pay $6.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idriss Ndoram 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 watch18 Jan 2027
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market18 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AS Etat Major will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oumar Bechir, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
15 matches without a win for AS Etat Major
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around AS Etat Major are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Aiglons come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Etat Major did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jan 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Foullah Edifice to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Etat Major and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
Match9 Jan 2027
0‑2 to Renaissance, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Etat Major have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Jan 2027
14 matches without a win for AS Etat Major
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around AS Etat Major are no longer polite ones.
The terraces4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market4 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 AS Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ahmat Abba 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Etat Major have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
At 22 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match2 Jan 2027
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Ezechiel Oumar had AS Etat Major level again within 3 minutes, and AS DGSSIE never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
12 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market21 Dec 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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mohamed Shehata 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmat Adoum 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Idriss Ndoram
“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.
Loan watch21 Dec 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 19 matches say the rest.
Match19 Dec 2026
It needed Brahim Mbaiguedem to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Galactik, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to AS Etat Major's wait for a win
9 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ahmat Adoum 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ahmat Adoum 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
5.22 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
8 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Nov 2026
Ali Doungous has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mohamed Shehata 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmat Adoum 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Idriss Ndoram
“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.
Loan watch23 Nov 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 15 matches say the rest.
Match21 Nov 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Nov 2026
7 matches without a win for AS Etat Major
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around AS Etat Major are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ahmat Abba 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
1‑2 to Foullah Edifice, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ali Doungous 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 5.50, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A mark of 5.58 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Nov 2026
0‑1 against AS PSI, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for AS Etat Major
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around AS Etat Major are no longer polite ones.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a goal for AS Etat Major
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A first appearance Hassan Adoum will want to forget — 5.43
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.43, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mohamed Shehata 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Foullah Edifice to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Etat Major and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ezechiel Oumar, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Moussa Doungous 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Idriss Youssouf reports back to AS Etat Major with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Idriss Youssouf is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mohamed Shehata 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idriss Ndoram 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 Foullah Edifice 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
AS PSI come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Etat Major did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ahmat Abba 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brahim Abba and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at AS Etat Major has been clear about where Idriss Tokindang stands, which is more than many ever get.