Marked for Patrick Boateng
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Jul 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Yannick Masra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
This is not rotation. Amos Sulemana has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Renaissance is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zakaria Ajoughlal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
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.
Market8 Jul 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Renaissance, another week without a signature from Emeka Nwabulu.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
Renaissance 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.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
Amine El Maswab 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.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Match26 Jun 2030
The small margins put Renaissance out
Out, 0‑1 to Elect Sport, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market1 Jul 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Jul 2030
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Renaissance will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market1 Jul 2030
The deal that would have taken Patrick Boateng to AS DGSSIE has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Renaissance with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Market1 Jul 2030
The bid was some way short and Renaissance did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Oumar Youssouf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jul 2030
10 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Jun 2030
100 days out for Mathieu Adoassou after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Renaissance will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS DGSSIE waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Renaissance is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Jun 2030
Stéphane Acka 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 Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Mathieu Adoassou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
This is not rotation. Amos Sulemana has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Renaissance is pretending otherwise.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zakaria Ajoughlal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Elect Sport have kept their man, and Renaissance go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
The manager makes an example of Mohamed Ehab
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
A loan enquiry to CotonTchad: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jun 2030
A fracture rules Mathieu Adoassou out for 107 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Renaissance will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Jun 2030
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Mathieu Adoassou 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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Market3 Jun 2030
Add another name to the list: AS DGSSIE have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Patrick Boateng. The answer from Renaissance has not changed — yet.
Market3 Jun 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Renaissance, another week without a signature from Youssef Dalouzi.
Market3 Jun 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Youssef El Omari has his answer from Renaissance; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
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 Amine El Maswab is on it.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
Renaissance can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 May 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad13 May 2030
34 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.
Market13 May 2030
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 May 2030
Mathieu Adoassou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 May 2030
This is not rotation. Amos Sulemana has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Renaissance is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Renaissance training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Ajoughlal 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 dugout13 May 2030
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 dugout13 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moussa Allamine, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 May 2030
“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
Squad6 May 2030
A fracture rules Mathieu Adoassou out for 135 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Renaissance will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad6 May 2030
41 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.
Market6 May 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 May 2030
The numbers do not look good at Renaissance
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market6 May 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Boateng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renaissance the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 May 2030
Oumar Youssouf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Renaissance training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Ajoughlal 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 dugout6 May 2030
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 May 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Renaissance, another week without a signature from Mohamed Ehab.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Apr 2030
62 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
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.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market15 Apr 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Apr 2030
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Renaissance have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Mathieu Adoassou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Zakaria Ajoughlal
10 goals and a season average of 7.41 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Apr 2030
69 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.
Match6 Apr 2030
AS DGSSIE will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Renaissance were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
A brace, and Yannick Masra takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yannick Masra provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market8 Apr 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Renaissance they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Apr 2030
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.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Renaissance now.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zakaria Ajoughlal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Zakaria Ajoughlal
8 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.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Zakaria Ajoughlal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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
Squad18 Mar 2030
Youssef El Omari damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
“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.
Market18 Mar 2030
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
This is not rotation. Amos Sulemana has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Renaissance is pretending otherwise.
Match16 Mar 2030
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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 ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad18 Mar 2030
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.
Boardroom18 Mar 2030
Wages swallow 126% of the Renaissance income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
In brief
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The dugout
The team sheet said everything about Oumar Youssouf
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
The division's best last weekend was a Renaissance man
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad11 Mar 2030
Youssef El Omari damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
A brace, and Youssef Dalouzi takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Youssef Dalouzi provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market11 Mar 2030
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.
Match9 Mar 2030
3 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Mathieu Adoassou 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.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Renaissance now.
Match9 Mar 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Youssef Dalouzi. 3‑1 against Stars Jeunes Talents, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Renaissance training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
A season average of 7.35 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Feb 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Youssef El Omari
118 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Renaissance will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“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.
Market18 Feb 2030
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Mathieu Adoassou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
This is not rotation. Amos Sulemana has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Renaissance is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
Renaissance asked and CotonTchad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad11 Feb 2030
Youssef El Omari damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Match9 Feb 2030
20 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Renaissance will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match9 Feb 2030
5 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.
Market11 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Boateng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renaissance the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Mathieu Adoassou 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.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
The numbers do not look good at Renaissance
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at Renaissance training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Match9 Feb 2030
It finished 2‑0, and it was Zakaria Ajoughlal’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Renaissance.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Feb 2030
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Renaissance found something the first half had given no notice of, and Aiglons could not hold what they had.
Match4 Feb 2030
First, on 36 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Renaissance will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
A brace, and Zakaria Ajoughlal takes the afternoon — 8.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zakaria Ajoughlal provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market4 Feb 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Renaissance people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $5.9K of what Renaissance paid for Bebeto Tsafack is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match2 Feb 2030
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.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Window shuts: 0 in, 2 out at Renaissance
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Jan 2030
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market28 Jan 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Renaissance people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match23 Jan 2030
A 3‑2 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?
Match26 Jan 2030
AS Etat Major will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Renaissance were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match23 Jan 2030
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Patrick Boateng was at the centre of it, AS DGSSIE were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Market28 Jan 2030
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings28 Jan 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jan 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Renaissance will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Mathieu Adoassou 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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
Renaissance asked and Elect Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Ehab, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
Something was said to Félix Djoubairou and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Dec 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 Dec 2029
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 29. 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 dugout31 Dec 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renaissance may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market31 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Boateng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renaissance the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match29 Dec 2029
Whatever happens, Renaissance do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Mathieu Adoassou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom31 Dec 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Renaissance now.
Match29 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ousmane Hissein. 3‑1 against AS DGSSIE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Dec 2029
“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.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match1 Dec 2029
Nobody wants to play Renaissance 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.
Market3 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Boateng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renaissance the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mathieu Adoassou and Renaissance agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Mathieu Adoassou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zakaria Ajoughlal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Nov 2029
40 days out for Mathieu Adoassou after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Renaissance will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market5 Nov 2029
“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.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Renaissance now.
Market5 Nov 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Boateng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renaissance the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
7 matches without defeat, and then Foullah Edifice. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Nov 2029
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.
Match3 Nov 2029
Foullah Edifice left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad8 Oct 2029
68 days out for Mathieu Adoassou after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Renaissance will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match6 Oct 2029
7‑0, and Youssef Dalouzi took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Renaissance tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
A brace, and Yannick Masra takes the afternoon — 9.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yannick Masra provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad8 Oct 2029
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match6 Oct 2029
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Renaissance have 5 straight wins of it.
Market8 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Match6 Oct 2029
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market8 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Patrick Boateng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renaissance the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AS PSI had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Renaissance they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and Renaissance go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Sep 2029
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.
Market10 Sep 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Issa Abba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Sep 2029
103 days out for Mathieu Adoassou after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Renaissance will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Sep 2029
“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 Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Sep 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Renaissance people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match3 Sep 2029
Renaissance refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 46 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Renaissance close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 15 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad3 Sep 2029
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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Mohamed Ehab arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mohamed Ehab has, at Renaissance, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stéphane Acka and Renaissance agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
This is not rotation. Amos Sulemana has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Renaissance is pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Aug 2029
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.
Market6 Aug 2029
“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.
Market6 Aug 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Renaissance have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match6 Aug 2029
Renaissance refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 46 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
Add another name to the list: Galactik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohamed El Ouardi. The answer from Renaissance has not changed — yet.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oumar Youssouf and Renaissance agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Aug 2029
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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zakaria Ajoughlal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market6 Aug 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Jul 2029
Ulisses Dias 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 Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Renaissance people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market16 Jul 2029
Galactik come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Renaissance did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market16 Jul 2029
Yasri Limam has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Renaissance they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Renaissance had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AS Etat Major, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Zakaria Ajoughlal 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.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Renaissance asked and AS Etat Major said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout21 May 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renaissance may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 May 2029
Yasri Limam 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 Renaissance can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 May 2029
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.
Boardroom21 May 2029
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad21 May 2029
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 dugout21 May 2029
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 dugout21 May 2029
“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.
Market21 May 2029
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Renaissance could get for him.
Market21 May 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Amine El Maswab’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Renaissance did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
Market21 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Yasri Limam
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yasri Limam will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renaissance the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Stéphane Acka 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 Aug 2028
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Youssef El Omari 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 dugout21 Aug 2028
Oumar Youssouf back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Renaissance has worked with Oumar Youssouf before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Stars Jeunes Talents have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
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 dugout21 Aug 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Youssef Dalouzi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.