Marked for Marius Bechir
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Karim Zakaria goes up and wins it — 7.15
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.15 for the rest of it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Esaie Djikoloum 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Mar 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Karim Zakaria. 2‑1 against AS Etat Major, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces13 Mar 2028
At 20 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.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Armhel Yandeme
“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 dugout13 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
7.76, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Gazelle had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Adam Adoum, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Franck Nanfack Ngoufack and Gazelle agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Esaie Djikoloum 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.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match12 Feb 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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 dugout14 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adam Adoum after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead14 Feb 2028
Gazelle take on the side everybody is chasing
Renaissance arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Jan 2028
The small margins put Gazelle out
Out, 1‑2 to Foullah Edifice, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Mahamat Mbaiguedem, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.05, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match22 Jan 2028
It had gone 9 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market24 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces24 Jan 2028
At 19 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hassane Boudina. 2‑0 against Stars Jeunes Talents, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jan 2028
8 matches without a win for Gazelle
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Gazelle are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Mahamat Mbaiguedem, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Osée Natoyoum 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.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match15 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Market17 Jan 2028
The phone has started ringing about Marius Bechir again, and this time the name on the line is AS Etat Major. Gazelle are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Jan 2028
Halfway: Gazelle sit in position 12
8 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Gazelle
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.
Squad20 Dec 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Franck Nanfack Ngoufack has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
7.41, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Gazelle had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adam Adoum chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Esaie Djikoloum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Narcisse Hissein and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Gazelle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osée Natoyoum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Adam Adoum to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmat Allamine, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Nov 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.
Market22 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
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.
Squad25 Oct 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adam Adoum after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Esaie Djikoloum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Adam Hissein 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
Squad27 Sep 2027
Osée Natoyoum damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Pressure builds in the Gazelle boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Sep 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
The dugout27 Sep 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
Pressure builds in the Gazelle boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad30 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osée Natoyoum 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gazelle has been clear about where Saleh Mbainaissem stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market30 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Samuel Boamah Quansah has, at Gazelle, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Gazelle
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gazelle is running low.
Squad2 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Gazelle will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market2 Aug 2027
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Gazelle than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brahim Mahamat, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gazelle lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market5 Jul 2027
Adoum Fachir 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 Gazelle can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2027
AS Algoy come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gazelle did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Gazelle and CotonTchad have settled on $13.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gazelle have done the hard part with US Moursal, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jul 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Gazelle sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
Adoum Fachir 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 Gazelle can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 2027
AS DGSSIE come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gazelle did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The offer went to AS Algoy this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Aziz Sabiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Adoum Fachir 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 Gazelle, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 Jun 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gazelle know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 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 Gazelle, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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
Match3 May 2027
Gazelle sink to position 12
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
Supporters organise against the Gazelle board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The dugout3 May 2027
This is not rotation. Adoum Fachir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Osée Natoyoum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
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 dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oumar Mahamat, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
Gazelle will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market3 May 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marius Bechir has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Gazelle.
Squad3 May 2027
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 2027
Adoum Fachir 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 Gazelle can pretend not to have heard.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Gazelle
6 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Gazelle
Abdelaziz Makine 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gazelle is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match10 Apr 2027
Elect Sport left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
This is not rotation. Marius Bechir has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gazelle is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Adoum Fachir beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adam Adoum after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Every debut is a small story about the future: Hassan Moustapha, 17 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Hasnaoui 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Aziz Sabiri 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Moustapha, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saleh Mbainaissem’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gazelle needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdelaziz Makine signs something — a contract at Gazelle or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Moussa Hissein 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
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with AS Algoy; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $54.8K — a club that wants Bicto Tyonga enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gazelle have done the hard part with Stars Jeunes Talents, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Gazelle
Abbas Maigué and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to AS Etat Major: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hassan Moustapha and Gazelle agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oumar Mahamat, and the manager let it.
Market24 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Brahim Mahamat may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Aigle Royal de Moungo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
César Abaya 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hassan Moustapha is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brahim Mahamat 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marius Bechir is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oumar Ngaradoumbe is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.