Marked for Ezechiel Bechir
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 8 in, 4 out at Renaissance
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Youssef Dalouzi 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.
Squad6 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 Renaissance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout6 Sep 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The name of Fawzi Ouaamar keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renaissance say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 26 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Renaissance training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Dalouzi 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
Fawzi Ouaamar has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Renaissance will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Mathieu Adoassou 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Mathieu Adoassou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renaissance say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ezechiel Bechir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Fawzi Ouaamar gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fawzi Ouaamar is on it.
Market19 Jul 2027
The name of Mathieu Adoassou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renaissance say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 May 2027
63 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
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 Renaissance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Youssef Dalouzi 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 dugout10 May 2027
Yaya Kerim has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Renaissance will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mahamat Adda’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 May 2027
Oumar Youssouf 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 Renaissance, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
El Mehdi El Bassil 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Renaissance training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Dalouzi 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
97% of the income goes out in wages at Renaissance
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout26 Apr 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mathieu Adoassou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Something was said to Brahim Bechir and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market26 Apr 2027
The name of Mathieu Adoassou keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renaissance say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
24 starts now, an average of 6.63, and the team sheet at AS DGSSIE has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
24 starts and a season average of 6.78. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mondesir Alladjim damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Market28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Zakaria Ajoughlal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ezechiel Bechir commits to Renaissance for another 3 years.
Market28 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Renaissance know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Renaissance lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Renaissance is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 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 Renaissance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Amine El Maswab has improved at 26, 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youssef Dalouzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch21 Sep 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 Renaissance, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mondesir Alladjim
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Renaissance lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zakaria Ajoughlal and Renaissance agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Renaissance have gone to CotonTchad with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CotonTchad have kept their man, and Renaissance go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ezechiel Bechir has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Djibrine Moustapha 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oumar Mbaiguedem has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ousmane Hissein 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.