Marked for Brahim Abakar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
AS DGSSIE say no — this time
The offer from CotonTchad for Hasanboy Tojiboyev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market21 Jun 2027
Brahim Abakar 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 DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Romeo Mfeng Nanga 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 Jun 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rendy Sanjaya 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 Jun 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 May 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 The request is on a desk at AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom3 May 2027
An order from above at AS DGSSIE: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
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 AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Adoum Fachir 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.
Squad3 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad3 May 2027
Rendy Sanjaya knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS DGSSIE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Apr 2027
Desmond Udoka 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 DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 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 AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Adoum Fachir 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
Crisis
Market1 Mar 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 DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Mar 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A goal and an assist for Brahim Abakar — 7.79
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.79 beside his name.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AS DGSSIE are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match27 Feb 2027
Brahim Abakar among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Brahim Abakar on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AS DGSSIE and AS PSI.
Squad1 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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Feb 2027
2‑4 to AS PSI, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Adoum Fachir 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.
Squad1 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
There were 7 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market22 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Rendy Sanjaya 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 Feb 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adoum Fachir 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Adoum Fachir
“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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 7.48 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, AS DGSSIE had the best player on the pitch.
Match20 Feb 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Galactik leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
4.73. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market15 Feb 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 DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Romeo Mfeng Nanga’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS DGSSIE.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rendy Sanjaya 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.
The terraces15 Feb 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
7 matches without a win for AS DGSSIE
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around AS DGSSIE are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The AS DGSSIE 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rendy Sanjaya 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.
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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Dafiq Firdaus
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Jan 2027
AS DGSSIE bow out of the cup
Gazelle go through and AS DGSSIE go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match23 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for AS DGSSIE
A 0‑3 beating by Elect Sport was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for AS DGSSIE
5 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.
Market25 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 DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rendy Sanjaya 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.
Squad25 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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at AS DGSSIE, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.71, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market18 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 DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $10.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Stars Jeunes Talents drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Brahim Souleymane ended with $19.0K changing hands and AS Algoy out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad18 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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
AS DGSSIE spend $19.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $19.0K for Brahim Souleymane, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Abraham Faruk 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.
Squad18 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rendy Sanjaya 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Abdramane Oumar scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Aiglons, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ibrahim Hassan 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market11 Jan 2027
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Timoci Naitini is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Market11 Jan 2027
The name of Moubarak Djibrine keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS DGSSIE say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Chances created: 7. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for AS DGSSIE
4 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
AS DGSSIE leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad14 Dec 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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Dec 2026
He is 14, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market14 Dec 2026
Idriss Hissein is 14, and AS DGSSIE have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hasanboy Tojiboyev and AS DGSSIE agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match5 Dec 2026
AS DGSSIE are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad7 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
There were 8 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.
Squad23 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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.16, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Brahim Abakar yet — 8.83
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play AS DGSSIE right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match14 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS DGSSIE and Stars Jeunes Talents, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rendy Sanjaya 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Gazelle, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to AS DGSSIE's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS DGSSIE has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Hassan Abakar: 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 DGSSIE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Abraham Faruk 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
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rendy Sanjaya and AS DGSSIE agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rendy Sanjaya 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
1 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market5 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marius Djimet 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brahim Abakar, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
AS DGSSIE turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
Market5 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS DGSSIE, another week without a signature from Restu Akbar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brahim Souleymane damages knee ligaments — 98 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Market7 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Brahim Souleymane reports back to AS Algoy with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Abdramane Ngaradoumbe 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
AS DGSSIE pay $3.0K, 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Ali Allamine has left for Aiglons in a $6.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Sep 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 DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Desmond Udoka and AS DGSSIE agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Brahim Abakar from AS Algoy for $3.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Market7 Sep 2026
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Elect Sport come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Algoy did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Renaissance have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Djibrine Hissein. The answer from AS Algoy has not changed — yet.
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 AS Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brahim Doungous and AS Algoy agree another 3 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at AS Algoy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brahim 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Issa Doungous 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
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Algoy have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ahmat Abakar 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Brahim Abakar commits to AS Algoy for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 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 AS Algoy, and both men came out saying it was fine.