Marked for Ezechiel Abakar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stars Jeunes Talents will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adam Djimet
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stars Jeunes Talents lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdoulaye Haroun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stars Jeunes Talents the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Brahim Adoum 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ali Haroun 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stars Jeunes Talents will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 May 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces31 May 2027
The mood at Stars Jeunes Talents 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.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market31 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stars Jeunes Talents they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 May 2027
Brahim Adoum 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 watch31 May 2027
“I did not go to Aiglons to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stars Jeunes Talents and fight for my place.” 14 appearances in 42 matches say the rest.
Squad31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Stars Jeunes Talents training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezechiel 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stars Jeunes Talents will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 May 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces3 May 2027
The mood at Stars Jeunes Talents 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Stars Jeunes Talents is running low.
Market3 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stars Jeunes Talents is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saleh Ndoram and Stars Jeunes Talents agree another 2 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Ezechiel Abakar 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.
Squad3 May 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.
Market3 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stars Jeunes Talents, another week without a signature from Brahim Tokindang.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 124 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Apr 2027
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stars Jeunes Talents they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Apr 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Ngaradoumbe, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 50. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match6 Mar 2027
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Stars Jeunes Talents are no longer polite ones.
Match8 Mar 2027
Position 12, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A brace, and Saleh Ndoram takes the afternoon — 8.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saleh Ndoram provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market8 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdramane Haroun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stars Jeunes Talents the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Mar 2027
Saleh Ndoram scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to AS Algoy, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ezechiel Abakar 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
Crisis
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 48. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match13 Feb 2027
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Stars Jeunes Talents are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Feb 2027
There were 6 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stars Jeunes Talents they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ezechiel Abakar 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ali Haroun
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Brahim Tokindang will call it something else in private.
Market15 Feb 2027
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Stars Jeunes Talents could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Stars Jeunes Talents are no longer polite ones.
Match8 Feb 2027
Position 11 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdramane Haroun will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stars Jeunes Talents the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market8 Feb 2027
AS DGSSIE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stars Jeunes Talents did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match6 Feb 2027
0‑1 to AS PSI, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Oumar Souleymane 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
Uneasy
Match16 Jan 2027
Ezechiel Abakar had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and US Moursal were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Match16 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A brace, and Ezechiel Abakar takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ezechiel Abakar provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market18 Jan 2027
Renaissance come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stars Jeunes Talents did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ezechiel Abakar 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 terraces18 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Jan 2027
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stars Jeunes Talents has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Ezechiel Mahamat at 18 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ezechiel Mahamat did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market4 Jan 2027
AS DGSSIE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stars Jeunes Talents did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
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 Stars Jeunes Talents, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brahim Adoum 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.
Squad4 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.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“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 Stars Jeunes Talents, and 8 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
Match2 Jan 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Elect Sport leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ezechiel Abakar 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
AS Algoy left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Stars Jeunes Talents training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Souleymane 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brahim Adoum 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ezechiel Abakar 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over AS DGSSIE, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Oumar Souleymane 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: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brahim Adoum 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
Match4 Nov 2026
A 4‑3 win over AS DGSSIE, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match4 Nov 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 120th minute. AS DGSSIE will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Brahim Adoum takes the afternoon — 8.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brahim Adoum provided it, and the 8.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.33 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Idriss Youssouf at 20 — 8.08
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Idriss Youssouf did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market9 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 Stars Jeunes Talents, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brahim Adoum 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
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match31 Oct 2026
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Galactik kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Stars Jeunes Talents will be asked about the last half hour all week.
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Stars Jeunes Talents now.
Market2 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stars Jeunes Talents is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stars Jeunes Talents may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stars Jeunes Talents, another week without a signature from Narcisse Mbaiguedem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 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.
Market19 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 Stars Jeunes Talents, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ezechiel Abakar is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brahim Adoum has improved at 31, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ezechiel Abakar 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
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mahamat Ndoram
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stars Jeunes Talents lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ezechiel Abakar is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match10 Oct 2026
Gazelle left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch12 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 Stars Jeunes Talents, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market12 Oct 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Narcisse Mbaiguedem signs something — a contract at Stars Jeunes Talents or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mahamat Ndoram
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stars Jeunes Talents lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stars Jeunes Talents is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brahim Adoum and Stars Jeunes Talents agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brahim Adoum 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 Stars Jeunes Talents this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Saleh Ndoram has improved at 32, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market5 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brahim Allamine 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.