Marked for Ezechiel Adoum
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Gazelle
Position 11 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market26 Jul 2027
CotonTchad are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Gazelle will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Koffi Ayivi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gazelle 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
No deal for Cleo Ssetuba at that price
Gazelle offered $36.0K; AFC Leopards said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Gazelle asked and Foullah Edifice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Osée Natoyoum 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 dugout19 Jul 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mark Ojong’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Jul 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
Brahim Adoum 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
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Osée Natoyoum commits to Gazelle for another 3 years.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Gazelle have gone to Foullah Edifice 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.
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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. US Moursal have kept their man, and Gazelle go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Brahim Moustapha 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Brahim Moustapha has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Gazelle.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Dylan Achimi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gazelle say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Gazelle says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Gazelle asked and AS PSI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Achimi, and the manager let it.
Market21 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mark Ojong’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Brahim Mahamat knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brahim Mahamat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arsene Ulrich Daouda Mangana trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Ezechiel Adoum
“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
Steady
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gazelle may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ezechiel Adoum, and the manager let it.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mark Ojong’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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 Ezechiel Adoum is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Apr 2027
Gazelle sink to position 12
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Ezechiel Adoum: 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.” Gazelle have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bedis Matoussi is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Gazelle
Koffi Ayivi 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.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
1‑2 to Foullah Edifice, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A month that belonged to Koffi Ayivi
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Gazelle who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ezechiel Tokindang left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Koffi Ayivi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gazelle know it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Idriss Doungous, and the manager let it.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Mark Ojong talk will not go away
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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Ezechiel Adoum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gazelle 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
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Gazelle
Koffi Ayivi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Adam Ngaradoumbe’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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
George Wallace 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The Mark Ojong talk will not go away
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Ezechiel Adoum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gazelle 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Gazelle has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to AS Algoy
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The dugout
Mark Ojong keeps his manager's vote
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
17 matches without a win for Gazelle
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Gazelle are no longer polite ones.
Match8 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Gazelle
Position 13 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Ezechiel Adoum: 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.” Gazelle have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The Gazelle board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Gazelle
Koffi Ayivi 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Gazelle asked and AS PSI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match6 Feb 2027
A bad afternoon for Gazelle against AS PSI
0‑1 to AS PSI, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Achimi, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ezechiel Tokindang left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Gazelle
15 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.
Match20 Jan 2027
The cup run ends for Gazelle
0‑0 against AS PSI, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ezechiel Adoum decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 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 terraces25 Jan 2027
He is 14 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Abdelaziz Makine 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.
Looking ahead25 Jan 2027
A six-pointer for Gazelle
Galactik next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Gazelle
13 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Stars Jeunes Talents, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Koffi Ayivi 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 targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panthere du Nde have kept their man, and Gazelle go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match18 Jan 2027
Gazelle at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 13, 5 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 7.78 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gazelle had the best player on the pitch.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ezechiel Tokindang after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Gazelle's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gazelle has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Koffi Ayivi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Ezechiel Tokindang chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 16 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Foullah Edifice came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
9 matches without a win for Gazelle
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Gazelle are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ezechiel Adoum is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Koffi Ayivi 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 terraces21 Dec 2026
The crowd has taken to Koffi Ayivi
At 21 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Gazelle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Narcisse Hissein 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.51. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ezechiel Tokindang was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gazelle dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Gazelle's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gazelle has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dylan Achimi and Gazelle agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Dylan Achimi 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Looking ahead7 Dec 2026
AS Etat Major next, and one man in the Gazelle dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Mahamat Mbaiguedem, 16 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑6 by Renaissance, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match21 Nov 2026
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.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 4 of the 20 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match21 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Gazelle and Renaissance, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gazelle
Dylan Achimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Gazelle dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad23 Nov 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ezechiel Adoum knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑6 defeat, delivered by Ezechiel Tokindang to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gazelle may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dylan Achimi 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 Gazelle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Gazelle hit back inside 4 minutes
Stars Jeunes Talents held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Gazelle answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ezechiel Tokindang left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ezechiel Adoum
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Market19 Oct 2026
Mark Ojong linked with a move away
The name of Mark Ojong keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gazelle say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Galactik 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Gazelle
Dylan Achimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ezechiel Adoum commits to Gazelle for another 3 years.
Market24 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Gazelle
Narcisse Hissein arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Wages are the subject a dressing room never discusses and always knows. Everybody at Gazelle has now done the sum, and nobody is saying it out loud.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brahim Moustapha, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Gazelle
Abbas Maigué 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.
Transfer targets17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Gazelle
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market17 Aug 2026
A season-long audition: AS Etat Major still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Gazelle's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with AS Algoy, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: US Moursal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mark Ojong and Gazelle agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Gazelle asked and Stars Jeunes Talents said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ezechiel Adoum 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. Hassan Ngaradoumbe 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. Ahmat Ndoram 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 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.