Marked for Stéphane Breton
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Dec 2026
23 goals and a season average of 7.72. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Raymond Colin takes the afternoon — 9.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Raymond Colin provided it, and the 9.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Léo Botz, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.37
A mark of 8.37 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match5 Dec 2026
Tours make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Tours have 5 straight wins of it.
Match5 Dec 2026
Tours keep winning on the road
5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Tours
Khalis Merah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Léo Botz is the real thing at 21
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Tours know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match5 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tours and Valenciennes in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Nov 2026
No mercy from Tours
Clermont Foot will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tours were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad30 Nov 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Raymond Colin is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.64 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad30 Nov 2026
65 days out for Stéphane Breton after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Léo Botz, 21, steals the show — 9.37
Marked 9.37 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match28 Nov 2026
Tours cannot stop winning
4 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Khalis Merah 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Raymond Colin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match28 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Tours and Clermont Foot, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Nov 2026
73 days out for Stéphane Breton after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match23 Nov 2026
Tours refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.01, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Nov 2026
17 goals and a season average of 7.54. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Tours 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Khalis Merah 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 Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robin Maulun 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 2‑1 win over AS Nancy, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
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Match
No time for AS Nancy to settle
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The form table has caught Hendricks Cakin
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
3‑0, and Raymond Colin took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Tours tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Stéphane Breton out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Léo Botz, 21, steals the show — 8.59
Marked 8.59 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Benoît Rémy: 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.” Tours have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Raymond Colin is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.47 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Tours
Khalis Merah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
Tours keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
88 days out for Stéphane Breton after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Tours
Khalis Merah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Ba 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
9 new faces, and Tours 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Sékou Doucouré
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tours, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Romain Padovani has written the date down.
Market9 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tours know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Stéphane Breton out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Raymond Colin
13 goals and a season average of 7.38 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Khalis Merah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robin Maulun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Tours. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Rémi Pons
“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
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Stéphane Breton out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Oct 2026
Tours up to position 2
28 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Tours
Émile Schmitt and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
Red Star left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Christophe Roger 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Raymond Colin
11 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match24 Oct 2026
No time for Red Star to settle
The goal that put Red Star ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Tours equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Match24 Oct 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 60. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Stéphane Breton out for 110 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Oct 2026
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Tours found something the first half had given no notice of, and Bourg-Peronnas could not hold what they had.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Léo Botz at 21 — 7.86
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Léo Botz did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match17 Oct 2026
Tours make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Tours have 4 straight wins of it.
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 Tours this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Bourg-Peronnas made Tours work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Tours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Ba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
117 days out for Stéphane Breton after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tours will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Tours 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Tours
Émile Schmitt 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Didier Gonzalez is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Tours training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Lucas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
Tours supporters have found a favourite in Léo Botz
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Léo Botz 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Raymond Colin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tours.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Raymond Colin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 54. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Tours scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Tours
Émile Schmitt and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market5 Oct 2026
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Late improvement for Ousmane Ba
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for Tours, 2‑1 the final word against Stade Lavallois in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jean-Luc Jean, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tours lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Sep 2026
No mercy from Tours
AC Ajaccio will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tours were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Stéphane Breton out for 132 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tours will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Sep 2026
Tours refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 19 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Léo Botz, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.40
A mark of 8.40 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Benoît Roche is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Tours
Émile Schmitt and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.