Marked for Benjamin Gomel
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 37, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Noah Nartey 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 Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.96, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 208% of everything Sochaux earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nimes made Sochaux work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elie N'Gatta, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
At 21 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Sochaux are won quietly and lost loudly.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Sep 2026
The small margins put Sochaux out
Out, 1‑2 to RC Strasbourg, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Sochaux
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sochaux are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Julien Masson 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 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Sochaux, and it is a cruel one.
Match19 Sep 2026
Honours even between Sochaux and Dijon
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Paul Reverson 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 Sochaux, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Sochaux
A 1‑4 beating by Red Star was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Noah Nartey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Tavares, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Sochaux
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The one thing Elias Huth could not do
Shots: 11, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 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 Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Sochaux, 2‑1 the final word against AS Nancy in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.99 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sochaux has been clear about where Abdoulaye Konaté stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Victor Monthieu, 18 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 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 Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kapit Djoco, and the manager let it.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over AC Ajaccio, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.